[DaFlake]

Mikey or anyone,

I have a stock radio in my MINI and have noticed that in the background there is noise from the alternator and the dit dit of the Ibus. Is there a ground wire on the radio that I should look for that might be bad or loose? Trouble shooting has been done and this does happen in all modes including radio. I'm sure it has to be a ground of some sort.

[Randall Raines]

Quote: Originally Posted by DaFlake (original)

Mikey or anyone,

I have a stock radio in my MINI and have noticed that in the background there is noise from the alternator and the dit dit of the Ibus. Is there a ground wire on the radio that I should look for that might be bad or loose? Trouble shooting has been done and this does happen in all modes including radio. I'm sure it has to be a ground of some sort.

The main ground / earth / negative wire for the stereo system in the 1st Gen BMW MINIs (solid roof models) is up in the roof at the rear just under the ariel (access gained under the roof-lining), I can't remember where it is on the cabriolet models .

[mikeythemini]

Very odd - dit dit dit
I have noticed in both my Minis I had a whine - (like altenator interference) but only coming from the rear.
Took the amp out - still there, took the stereo out & disconnected all speakers - still there
Have never found what it is - its only quiet though
Has this only happened since you added the intavee?
Earth is the thick brown

[DaFlake]

I noticed it before the Intravee but it was very light. Now it is getting louder and louder. I do have HK and am starting to wonder if my amp is dying. I am going to pull the radio and check the ground to ensure that it is clipped in nice and tight, but other than that, I am at a loss.

[DaFlake]

Quote: Originally Posted by Randall Raines (original)

The main ground / earth / negative wire for the stereo system in the 1st Gen BMW MINIs (solid roof models) is up in the roof at the rear just under the ariel (access gained under the roof-lining), I can't remember where it is on the cabriolet models .

Hmmm.... I do have the alarm installed, I wonder if it was not grounded properly?

[mikeythemini]

Ahh didnt know you had HK - HK amps do die quite a lot

[DaFlake]

Quote: Originally Posted by mikeythemini (original)

Ahh didnt know you had HK - HK amps do die quite a lot

True, but this is the only issue that I am having is the noise. Everything else is fine which is why I am confused as to why this noise is happening.

Gotta love the complication behind something that should be pretty easy. I'm hoping that the ground to the radio is loose which is why I have asked.

[Randall Raines]

Quote: Originally Posted by mikeythemini (original)

Ahh didnt know you had HK - HK amps do die quite a lot

The R-53 I'm working on at the moment has had the HK amp removed completely and all the speaker wires are all re-joined, by an untrained monkey by the looks of things .

"mikeythemini" knows his stuff and they do seem to fail quite a lot (HK amps) and I would've thought they'd be quite expensive ££££££££ .

Quote: Originally Posted by DaFlake (original)

Hmmm.... I do have the alarm installed, I wonder if it was not grounded properly?

I'm not sure where the earth wire goes for the retro fit BMW alarm system, but it could be possible , especially if they have fitted the roof sensor, there are better earths in the rear of the MINI for the alarm earth though , if there is an earth at the rear .

I once had someone call me as their CD player had stopped working (intermittent & then it went off completely), his man diagnosed a bad earth but couldn't find the originating point of the earth (up in the roof 1st Gen BMW MINIs solid roof, sunroof models inc ).

The connection point to the body is quite hard (more fiddly than anything) to get to unless you know exactly where it is, mainly because you have to slide your hand in with a 10mm spanner and try to tighten the bolt (especially if you also want to clean the connection as-well) without damaging / creasing the roof-lining which can easily be done (the damage doesn't always come out , I've seen other people do it ), unless you release the complete rear end of the roof-lining and release it a little to avoid any damage (easier said than done (releasing the roof-lining) ).

[Randall Raines]

Is this for the stereo .

(RealOEM.com, SUPPRESSION FILTER)

I may be totally wrong! here .

[DaFlake]

Hmmmmm..... That looks interesting.

[Randall Raines]

I've just remembered something else, as I looked at your MINI profile.

When the 1st Gen pre face-lift MINIs have sat-nav fitted the stereo aerial is actually in the right hand side rear quarter glass (UK MINIs), and I'm not 100% sure if the ground / negative / earth wire is re-routed to there as the aerial amplifier / module is fitted just under the quarter window fastened to the bodywork as they have the shark-fin antenna fitted for the sat-nav and the stereo aerial actually goes through the rear quarter glass.

Also on the 1st Gen face-lift models, the system changed a little as they have the aerial amplifier module is in the tailgate (not an aerial & aerial amplifier / module combined as with the pre face-lift 1st Gen) hence there is a little earth wire fitted from the roof panel to the tailgate to ensure that the aerial module has a proper earth (I think the system was changed to accommodate the cabriolet models), I know for certain that the stereo ground earth negative wire is still in the roof for models without sat-nav, but I'm not 100% certain about models fitted with the sat-nav. Because on the face-lift models they have different aerial bases depending on the spec of the car ie. sat-nav, bluetooth etc... etc... and no more shark-fin antennas and I don't think they have the rear quarter glass aerial (I could be wrong on the quarter glass ).

Sorry! if I have now confused the issue (or gave you some inaccurate info), I should have checked your MINI profile first or asked.

[DaFlake]

It is all good info for me. I will start with the head unit first and work my way back to see where this is getting the interference. I have done quite a bit of work to my car, so it is possible that it is something I screwed up. Add to that the harmon kardon and I have a problem that I may never get resolved. I also need to get a lot of the other items I have connected removed and returned to stock to see how it sounds after that. It is going to be a bit of a tasking to get this resolved....