We just got the new '06 Prius and much to our surprise, it had an audio line-in port. So we bought a mini plug to mini plug cable at radioshack. At first we were happy with it, but there is a very noticeable sound problem. The ipod has to have the volume up all the way in order to get any sound at all. When we turn the car radio up, it creates a very annoying white noise. This effect is more noticable on some songs than on others. On the really bad ones, the shrill, white, ear-piercing noise is always present. We try to sync the car radio volume with the ipod volume, but that doesn't help. It seems like we are not getting enough signal to the sound system. Is there something wrong with my car?
Lousy iPod Sound - even with direct line-in
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As a general rule of thumb, you will get more distortion as you raise the pre-amp volume output on the iPod as opposed to the amp volume on the stereo. Try to keep the iPod output at a max of 2/3 (more like 1/2 if you can) and then adjust your listening volume with the stereo.
Solved ipod problem
Turns out it wasn't the cable or the audio level. I had it plugged in the to the cigarette lighter in addition to the audio line in, so I would never have to remember to charge it. As soon as I unplugged the power supply, the ipod sounded great. Go figure.
Turns out it wasn't the cable or the audio level. I had it plugged in the to the cigarette lighter in addition to the audio line in, so I would never have to remember to charge it. As soon as I unplugged the power supply, the ipod sounded great. Go figure.
In that case, you need a ground loop adapter. I had a similar problem hooking my laptop to my Aiwa car stereo. Lots of noise if I had the laptop powered with an inverter. I blaimed the inverter not providing adequate isolation (which probably wasn't far from the truth). The laptop has a ground pin on the plug, and I bet they grounded it to the car chassis. Didn't think to use a ground loop isolator adapter.
ipod noise
I've been complaining about the hiss from my ipod as well. I always keep the volume at 2/3 on the ipod, but when I turn up the stereo volume, I hear the hiss.
Is it possible I'd benefit from thie "ground loop" as well, DanMan? I almost always keep the ipod plugged into the outlet inside the center console.
While you're at it, what exactly is a ground loop, anyway??
Thanks,
marlowe
I've been complaining about the hiss from my ipod as well. I always keep the volume at 2/3 on the ipod, but when I turn up the stereo volume, I hear the hiss.
Is it possible I'd benefit from thie "ground loop" as well, DanMan? I almost always keep the ipod plugged into the outlet inside the center console.
While you're at it, what exactly is a ground loop, anyway??
Thanks,
marlowe
If the noise goes away when the ipod is used strictly on its own battery, then yes, a ground loop isolator will possibly work. If using its own battery doesn't help, then probably neither would the isolator. The isolators aren't that expensive, so it doesn't hurt to try.
What's happening is that you have 2 ground level references: one from the amp, and one from the power supply, yet even those 2 sources are partly tied to each other. Wire is not a perfect conductor, so there's resistance, even if it is very small between the amp (the car's radio and the adapter) and the power supply. Since the two grounds aren't at the exact same potential, current flows. Probably not much current, but at signal levels, at a high enough level that it causes noise in the signal lead.
A ground loop isolator breaks the ground so that no current flows.
The problem with ground loops is often a problem with farms, as grounded metal items end up having a slightly different potential than the physical ground that animals walk on. The animals touch the metal, and they close an electrical path. It usually isn't enough to damage them, but it is shocking enough to be uncomfortable at best.
What's happening is that you have 2 ground level references: one from the amp, and one from the power supply, yet even those 2 sources are partly tied to each other. Wire is not a perfect conductor, so there's resistance, even if it is very small between the amp (the car's radio and the adapter) and the power supply. Since the two grounds aren't at the exact same potential, current flows. Probably not much current, but at signal levels, at a high enough level that it causes noise in the signal lead.
A ground loop isolator breaks the ground so that no current flows.
The problem with ground loops is often a problem with farms, as grounded metal items end up having a slightly different potential than the physical ground that animals walk on. The animals touch the metal, and they close an electrical path. It usually isn't enough to damage them, but it is shocking enough to be uncomfortable at best.
I had the same problem, when I lower the pre-amp volume output on the iPod as opposed to the amp volume on the stereo the sound improved. Try to keep the iPod output at a max of 2/3 (more like 1/2 if you can) and then adjust your listening volume with the stereo.
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The 2006 Owner's Manual, Page 306, indicates...
"When using a portable audio device connected to the power outlet or cigarette lighter, noise may occur during playback. If this happens, use the power source of the portable audio device.
Perhaps Toyota discovered this problem too late to provide the ground loop isolator in production models. I'll be curious to hear if it solves the problem for any owners who will try that solution.
Frius
"When using a portable audio device connected to the power outlet or cigarette lighter, noise may occur during playback. If this happens, use the power source of the portable audio device.
Perhaps Toyota discovered this problem too late to provide the ground loop isolator in production models. I'll be curious to hear if it solves the problem for any owners who will try that solution.
Frius
Joined
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6 Posts
Hi yoda87960,
I had this same problem but when I was showing my new Prius to my father, who was a electrical engineer in the Air Force, he and I ran over to the closet Radio Shack and picked up a Ground Loop Isolator and a RCA to 1/8 inch mini Y-cable. All for just under $20 and cured the problem immediately. Just Hook the isolator to the component - mine's a 5G iPod so I use the optional IR Universal Dock Connector that has the 30 pin built-in base that fits well inside your front center console cup holder. I then tuck the cables down along the side and into the center console's new for 2006 AUX input jack and power source. Connect the RCA's to the mini and than into the car's AUX input. Turn on the AUX Mode and the humming is gone - including the whirring I also used to get from just accelerating hard. All gone. I can now even listen to the iPod much lower in volume as all that white noise is out of the way. Lo-Fi fix and you'll have a bunch or cables but you can hide them inside the console and get back to appreciating those Seinfeld episodes you've ripped to your iPod - or am I the only one?
Hey, all,
Isn't this just what this site was created for---to share information & help solve each other's problems? Great solution, motorcityapplepro! Maybe we need to have "good ol'" Pete move & consolidate (a big job I'm sure) tips like that of "motorcityapplepro (& his dad) & many other past ones (to numerous to mention & give proper credit to) to a new category (maybe called something like "Fixes & Cures") so that anyone with a problem can go directly there, not to hear "did you try this or try that", but instead to have in this one place only items that have been tried & have been proven to work.
What say, Pete & moderators? A major undertaking to be sure, with all the hundreds of pages of topics & history here. Would probably have to be divided into 2 sub-categories : Prius "Classic" & Prius "2G". Please don't look to me for help in this, as I am NOT computer literate (I just barely get by here & it takes me forever to type anything). I'm just making an unrealistic(?) suggestion. I'm only the messenger---DON"T SHOOT THE MESSENGER!!. As Winnie the Pooh's Eeyore would say "Thanks for listening".
Ken(in Bolton,Ct)
Isn't this just what this site was created for---to share information & help solve each other's problems? Great solution, motorcityapplepro! Maybe we need to have "good ol'" Pete move & consolidate (a big job I'm sure) tips like that of "motorcityapplepro (& his dad) & many other past ones (to numerous to mention & give proper credit to) to a new category (maybe called something like "Fixes & Cures") so that anyone with a problem can go directly there, not to hear "did you try this or try that", but instead to have in this one place only items that have been tried & have been proven to work.
What say, Pete & moderators? A major undertaking to be sure, with all the hundreds of pages of topics & history here. Would probably have to be divided into 2 sub-categories : Prius "Classic" & Prius "2G". Please don't look to me for help in this, as I am NOT computer literate (I just barely get by here & it takes me forever to type anything). I'm just making an unrealistic(?) suggestion. I'm only the messenger---DON"T SHOOT THE MESSENGER!!. As Winnie the Pooh's Eeyore would say "Thanks for listening".
Ken(in Bolton,Ct)
A
I won't shoot you. I think it is a good idea to have an FAQ that only a select few should edit. This would consist of common questions with their answers, with a link to a thread where a discussion of the FAQ was made.
The reason I suggest limited editors is so that it doesn't get clogged up with redundant and off topic posts. It should be more of an index to existing topics.
I won't shoot you. I think it is a good idea to have an FAQ that only a select few should edit. This would consist of common questions with their answers, with a link to a thread where a discussion of the FAQ was made.
The reason I suggest limited editors is so that it doesn't get clogged up with redundant and off topic posts. It should be more of an index to existing topics.
will give a ground loop isolator a shot!
Thanks! I posted this question 2 months ago at http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopi ... t&p=194587 and nobody gave me a reply. I was having the exact same problem of lots of extra noise when listening to my iPod via the aux in jack ONLY when powered by my Monster iCarPlay charger and FM transmitter. I was guessing it was some sort of grounding problem (being no EE myself).
I'll report back as to whether it helps.
Thanks! I posted this question 2 months ago at http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopi ... t&p=194587 and nobody gave me a reply. I was having the exact same problem of lots of extra noise when listening to my iPod via the aux in jack ONLY when powered by my Monster iCarPlay charger and FM transmitter. I was guessing it was some sort of grounding problem (being no EE myself).
I'll report back as to whether it helps.
it worked!
In short: A ground loop isolator was the ticket!
It took me awhile but after asking a bunch of people at Fry's including a car stereo guy who didn't know, another customer pointed me to where they had the ground loop isolators. I picked up the cheapest one I could find in a hurry: a Raptor GL15 ground loop isolator (http://www.raptor-online.com/product_in ... php?id=223 says the GL15 is something else) which was $7.99. All of theirs had RCA phono jacks on both ends, none were 3.5mm (1/8th" headphone).
I had to buy some female to female RCA couplers and I had spare RCA to 3.5 mm headphone jack cables. It's a ton of wires and crap but it all fits in the bin.
If only some stores carried some that just used headphone jacks, preferrably male to male.
In short: A ground loop isolator was the ticket!
It took me awhile but after asking a bunch of people at Fry's including a car stereo guy who didn't know, another customer pointed me to where they had the ground loop isolators. I picked up the cheapest one I could find in a hurry: a Raptor GL15 ground loop isolator (http://www.raptor-online.com/product_in ... php?id=223 says the GL15 is something else) which was $7.99. All of theirs had RCA phono jacks on both ends, none were 3.5mm (1/8th" headphone).
I had to buy some female to female RCA couplers and I had spare RCA to 3.5 mm headphone jack cables. It's a ton of wires and crap but it all fits in the bin.
If only some stores carried some that just used headphone jacks, preferrably male to male.
Here's a link to Crutchfield's. It's a 3.5mm ground loop isolator.
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-OI5MPZQtQZN/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=181150&I=127SNI135
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-OI5MPZQtQZN/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=181150&I=127SNI135
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