Anyone know what causes this? Please Read!

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Hello...

I don't know if anyone here can help me, but I am having a problem with my truck stereo. I installed a amplified subwoofer to my existing cd player, and now I am getting "popping noises" from the subwoofer and drivers. I thought it was only the subwoofer, but I unplugged the subwoofer's RCA cables and I am still getting the popping noise from my other 4 drivers.

At first it just happened intermittently, and I did about two weeks worth of research online and decided it was a "Ground Loop" problem. I then re-routed all of the wires (Power cable, RCA cables, and remote turn-on wire). It did take care of a power wire which was too long. It seemed to solve the problem for a couple of days. All of a sudden it started popping again. I unplugged the subwoofer as I mentioned before and it was still popping in the other 4 drivers.

I removed the cd player and checked all connections, which were done professionally and all of them seemed fine. I have checked all fuses for the truck, subwoofer, and CD Player.
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Just to be on the safe side, I did replace the spark plugs and spark plug wires (Bosch Platinum 4 plugs and Bosch Professional wires), since I saw somewhere where small holes in the wires could cause some kind of noise. I also need to replace my ?ignition cylinder? (where you insert the key),which has been messed up since I bought the truck a couple months ago. I do not know if this could be a problem or not.

Also, just today it seemed to work fine in radio, but when I played a CD the sound was muffled and kept cutting out. It started popping when I press on the brake or turn on my turn signals as well. It is not my "Gain" setting being too high either. It does it even when I have gain set all the way to low. Tonight I went around the block to see if it was still messing up and I did not have a single problem, until I pulled back into the driveway.

I do not have thousands of dollars to spend on car audio, I just wanted something that sounded decent on a low budget. I know the setup sucks, but it's all I could afford right now so save the negative comments LOL.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what this might could be? Any help whatsoever would be very greatly appreciated, and thanks in advance to anyone who may reply. My e-mail is Jefferzzzz@mchsi.com ,please e-mail me with any hints or suggestions.


Vehicle: 1994 Mazda B2300
CD Player: Panasonic CQ-DF400U
Front and Rear Drivers: Sony Xplode 5x7's
Amplified Subwoofer: Pyle PLTBA10 (500 Watt Amp with 10" Sub)
Amplifier Wiring Kit: Scosche EFX Series (500 watt Maximum)
 
Ok I`m going to be the first.
Check the following:
Go to the local autozone and have alt checked
amp ground-short as possible and to frame
engine ground-should be aleast 1 to frame
head unit-ground to frame(not factory harness)
power wire to amp-as far from the rca and speaker wires
Now these are just the things that have helped me in the past and seem to be common problem areas.
Your gain setting shouldn`t have anything to do with it.It`s for setting the input voltage to you amp.
But the tail lights seem to be a factor.Maybe you have your rca`s running to close to the harness for them.A truck that I resently brought had a similar problem and what the person who installed it did was to use the brake wire for the consant hot(yellow wire).
 
offroadbum said:
head unit-ground to frame(not factory harness)

I'd beg to differ here. The factory wiring harness gounds are usually excellent. I find it very rare to have ground loop problems with a factory deck, for example.

I will conceed that it would depend on the vehicle. Some may well have problems there, but I wouldn't consider this anywhere near a "first step" in troubleshooting.
 
check your grounds...

Hi,

If you are talking about an occasional 'plop', as opposed to a continous sound of any sort, you need to check your grounds really carefully. It's not a ground loop problem per se. I had a similar problem where the current load would cause the voltage the amp was seeing to drop enough to shut the amp down, then the voltage would recover and the amp would start up suddently making a distinct plop, and it would cycle every 3-4 seconds.

If the amps are located in the trunk, do you use a direct to frame 8 gauge wire? Whereever the amps are located is going to need a really big gauge of wire to go directly to the body or frame, if the sheet metal is painted, you'll need to clean the paint off to expose bare steel, not much, but enough for the heavy eyelet that you are going to need to bolt against it. Nothing in the cars original wiring harness is heavy enough for the current the amps you list will pull, most harnesses in cars are not heavy enough for a modestly powerful aftermarket head unit...check the original headunit fuse, if it is less than 20 amps you need to run new hot *and* ground cables.

If the power and ground have even a fraction of an ohm resistance they will drop signifcant volts as the amp pulls 10's of amps from the supply, for instance 1/10ohm resistance drops 1v for 10amps(v=ir), you have equipment that can pull 100amps, the result would be bad...even 1/100 of an ohm will cost you 5-10% of your power...you don't need anything fancy here just big wires, clean connections and it will all work fine...

Good luck

Stuart
 
Update

Well,

I regrounded the head unit thinking that had solved the problem, which it doesn't pop when i use my brakes or turn signal. And it sounded great most of yesterday until I got on interstate then all of a sudden it started popping again. And once it started it wouldn't stop. It's like it does it mostly when the engine is warm.

But, After the engine cooled off, it only did it when the car was not started (when i turned the key just to listen to the radio). So I think this rules out the alternator or ignition problems.

I will try new RCA cables since I have tried almost everything else. It is worth a shot. If anyone else has a suggestion please let me know.

Thanks alot guys.

Jeff
 
One more thing.

It is occasional "popping", but when it starts popping it will not stop. It does not do it more when I give it gas. It just does it moreso when bass notes are in the song. On the other hand, it does it sporadically. But whats weird, is the fact that it does it continously like once or twice a second, when the car is not even started. I unplugged the RCA cables and those popping sounds still come out of the subwoofer. I really didn't think it was the RCA's since they are brand new, but it never hurts to check.

It does not do it at all when i first crank the car, or in Acc. But after the car warms (possibly the amplifier warms) up and it begins all over again.

I was so disgusted when it happened again. Thanks to SupraGuy I did fix the brake light/turn signal issue. But for some reason it still pops. I am going to have the alterator/battery tested and rule that out. But it seems unlikely that it's the alternator if it does it with the engine not running.

Anyway, I just wanted to clarify the popping noises.

Thanks Again!

Jeff
 
Re: One more thing.

jefferzzzz said:

It does not do it at all when i first crank the car, or in Acc. But after the car warms (possibly the amplifier warms) up and it begins all over again.

Jeff

So you can get to the point the engine is off but the amp still pops? (Even turning it off and on again)

Repeat it and open the amp if you can, check temperatures and try cooling it (while poping) with a hair dryer, heater off.

If it works, look for ways to improve ventilation.

Rodolfo
 
have you got a DVM with a peak hold function? if so, connect it to the -ve of the amp in pk hold mode and drive until you get the pops, then see what it reads ??

Generally; measure the resistance of all your feeds and earths (back to the battery). If that produces nothing substantial to go on, measure the volt drops as above.

I'm not familure with your car type, but is there a possibilty (pickup truck mainly) that the chassis is not very well electrically connected from front to back?

Good Luck
Mark
 
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