Let's assume for a minute that perhaps I have above normal amounts of AC ripple in my charging system, and that's why I keep smoking the eject mechanisms on my cd players (DC motors don't like AC ripple). If that's the case, how do I get rid of it? Is wiring a cap inline going to sufficiently filter the ripple? Anybody have any suggestions for the cap value? I'm not sure I have the equipment necessary to find out what frequency range the ripple is in, though I suppose I should only have to test at idle, because it'll go up with RPM.

Thanks.

 

the only place you could get A/C from is the alternator.
there will always be some A/C voltage from it.
i forget what the maximum amount of A/C can be, its not much,
seems like it should be under half a volt, but don't take that as fact.
you can check it with your DVMM, hook it up just like you would
to check for D/C voltage, but set it for A/C instead.
if you really are getting too much A/C, then a new alternator would probably be in order.

as far as getting an A/C filter, you should be able to get them at your local car audio shop.
i would recommend running 1 filter to the cd player & any other sound system components such as crossovers & preamps/equalizers, + a second filter to the radio to kill the A/C humm or wine.
something else to do to help with both A/C noise & makes the sound system sound better is come directly off the battery through a relay to bring power to the radio, crossover & so on.
i don't know if they make filters for running the high power amps off of or not, but most good amps have voltage inverters to convert the D/C voltage into A/C & then back to D/C.

 

The power line for my head unit is already a direct 14 AWG line from the battery. Perhaps I should buy/build a filter.