I have 5 tv's in my car. One in each visor, one in each head rest and then the head unit. I had circuit city install the headunit and the headrest. Everything worked great. Now I am installing these two visors and so the video out from the head unit is going to 4 tv's instead of just 2 now. The problem I am having is that now that the visors are also cutting into the RCA signal there is interference and it gets progressively worse when I accelerate while driving. So we figured that the signal wasn't strong enough for all 4 tv's so we got an RCA signal amplifier with one video in and 8 video outputs. It makes the screens much better but STILL there is interference in them. The back head rest screens aren't nearly as clear as they use to be but if I disconnect the visors and plug the headrests back in the way they were before they look excellent again. so it is something in the new wires but I just can't figure it out. Here is a picture of my current setup:

 

the interference could be from the alternator. i would check any grounds related to this system and would get some better quality RCA cables that are shielded against this type of stuff from the amplifier to the visor TV's. It just may be some low grade cables allowing some interference in.

 

That is what am hoping it is... That will be my next thing. I will go to Circuit City tomorrow and buying new cables then... Thanks!

 

Tell me you didn't splice into any RCAs... it sounds like you may have. that will do it right there.

The interference growing while driving is due to the alternator. That is the symptom of the disease, which is RF. Properly wired and shielded you should be good.

 

I am thinking that it has to be the wire from the head unit into the RCA amp because that is where the problem is coming from... somewhere between the head unit and the amp and that is the only thing there so hopefully that is the problem and a nice insulated wire will fix it. Why would the alternator interfer with the rca signals?

 

if the rca's are shielded properly, the alternator should not create a problem. Unless they share a noisy ground.

But it sounds like the rca shielding was cut to splice in another connection. Now that the shield is gone, there is now a door way for electromagnetic interference, which the alternator generates plenty of. The alternator is like a tv broadcasting station transmitting electrical and magnetic energy for anyone to listen to. when the shielding is cut. the exposed rca wire appears like an antenna to receive the noise being sent out by the alternator. I'm not sure if it was magnetic or electrical interference that caused the problem, but obviously something is picking up noise and reducing the quality of your signal.

hope it helps.

 

hrmmm... think I should wrap the ends of the RCA cables in electric tape where they are connecting to each other? That would insulate the signal a little more eh? Now that I think about it Circuit City did have it wrapped in electric tape but I thought it was just so that they would come apart accidentally... hrmmm... ok first I am going to try the tape then if they are still bad then I will try a new cable. I will keep you all updated and thanks for the help!!!

 

so, you do have exposed wire connecting the two leads together?

electrical tape doesn't shield anything, all it does is hold it all together, as you stated.

you need new cables and appropriate splitters to replace any hacked / spliced / exposed wires and cable runs, otherwise you're just treating the symptoms.

 

no I don't have any exposed wire. Everything is like you would of bought it at the store.

 

The RCA signal amplifier will introduce some noise on its own. it also gains up any noise that it was fed, so make sure the input is a clean signal. hope this wasn't a cheap signal amp; otherwise, it will just degrade the signal. If the video was looking worse after you put it inbetween the source and the display, then it didn't cleanly amplify the signal.

When you unplug the rca connection to the visor, does the headrest video look cleaner? I'm curious if its partly the RCA ground ring connection to the visor. if the other video gets worse when that rca connection is connected, then an ugly ground loop has been created.

where do the visor tvs get their power?
Where does the RCA signal amplifier get its power from?
either power or ground connection could cause noise issues

 

Well today I bought just a single male to male plug so that I could cut out the long 2ft m-to-m wire hoping that it would fix the interference. It didn't. They play great when the car is off but when it is running they have waves going thru them and when I punch the gas the are almost 100% jumbled.

 

Definitely sounds like a bad ground somewhere. I would check all the grounds. Especially the one for the dvd player.

 

i would say get a video signal amp beacuse yo are running too many monitors off one video source making it weak and also with that video amp get new rca wires for your video signal

 

Any recommendations of a good video amp?