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Subwoofers popping... driving me crazy.

D

Damien

CEG'er
Joined
Jun 27, 2006
Messages
169
Location
Ohio and Melbourne, Florida
I had a system for a good long while. all was well. I traded in the old pioneer headunit for a newer one (with a USB port). After hooking up the new cd player, it would not power on. There was no power from the constant power wire. Circuit City ended up patching fused lines from the ignition circuit and it worked. Problem is that now it makes horrible noises. Even if the car is not running there is interference noise in the subs... like a rumbling. if I turn the volume all the way down, right when I go from 1 to 0 it pops. If I hit my brakes it pops, same if I turn on the headlights... anything I do that uses power will make a noise through the speakers... subs and the components. It's making me crazy. Any ideas? how can I check to see what is going on?
 
are your power and signal wires for your sub ran along the same side of the car? if they are your getting whats called alternator whine and it happens even when the car is off. the power wire has an electromagnetic field around it and it actually distorts the signal, which could cause a "popping" sound.
 
Upgrade your ground from your battery to your chasis with a wire that is the same gauge or bigger than your amp's ground wire.

My setup I ran power and ground from the battery straight back to the amp, and I had a pop when I first turned on my headlights and touched my brake, then it didn't happen until I shut the car off and turned it back on after a little bit. Ground upgrade took care of my issue...

Damien said:
I had a system for a good long while. all was well. I traded in the old pioneer headunit for a newer one (with a USB port). After hooking up the new cd player, it would not power on. There was no power from the constant power wire. Circuit City ended up patching fused lines from the ignition circuit and it worked. Problem is that now it makes horrible noises. Even if the car is not running there is interference noise in the subs... like a rumbling. if I turn the volume all the way down, right when I go from 1 to 0 it pops. If I hit my brakes it pops, same if I turn on the headlights... anything I do that uses power will make a noise through the speakers... subs and the components. It's making me crazy. Any ideas? how can I check to see what is going on?
Click to expand...

Sounds like someone doesn't know how to check fuses....

What exactly is your system... 4 channel, 2 channel sub woofer amp....??? :shrug: more detailed you are the more we can help you...
 
Yeah... I guess details would help. I have my factory battery in the factory location, then I have 0/1 gauge going to 100 amp circuit breaker then to an SVR gel cell in the back, with 1 guage going to the ground. Don't remember where it is grounded to though... Anyway then it goes from there 1 guage to a distribution block with 2 4 guage going into the 2 power + terminals on a 2 channel fosgate punch 800a2 there is goes into 3 punch he 2 10's pulling 1.667 ohms. I will have to check he ground and make sure it isn't on something stupid, but I think it is currently going to the antennae mast or something. As for the previous post, the power wire goes up the middle, ane rca's go up the door sill. plus it does it whether the car is started or not. poppity pop... fog lights, power windo switched... anythuing electrical makes it pop.
 
Damien said:
Yeah... I guess details would help. I have my factory battery in the factory location, then I have 0/1 gauge going to 100 amp circuit breaker then to an SVR gel cell in the back, with 1 guage going to the ground. Don't remember where it is grounded to though... Anyway then it goes from there 1 guage to a distribution block with 2 4 guage going into the 2 power + terminals on a 2 channel fosgate punch 800a2 there is goes into 3 punch he 2 10's pulling 1.667 ohms. I will have to check he ground and make sure it isn't on something stupid, but I think it is currently going to the antennae mast or something. As for the previous post, the power wire goes up the middle, ane rca's go up the door sill. plus it does it whether the car is started or not. poppity pop... fog lights, power windo switched... anythuing electrical makes it pop.
Click to expand...

Make sure the ground is either to a battery or the chasis, not sharing a ground on a bolt or something like that... If all else fails, try a different HU and see if that has the same issues, process of elimination
 
Sounds like your getting some type of voltage spike. Everytime you turn something on you get a pop right? I would try and find a new source for you power, peferably one that doesn't share to many things. You could use your cigarette lighter, that doesn't have to many things on it. To me it sounds like your power wire is causing all your problems.
 
sportracer said:
Sounds like your getting some type of voltage spike. Everytime you turn something on you get a pop right? I would try and find a new source for you power, peferably one that doesn't share to many things. You could use your cigarette lighter, that doesn't have to many things on it. To me it sounds like your power wire is causing all your problems.
Click to expand...
why would you want to power a sub amp off the cig lighter circuit? that makes no sense.
 
Disconnect the signal wires from the HU to the amp. If it continues to pop, then you know the problem is interference in the power wires to the amp (unlikely). If it stops popping, then you know the problem is either your HU or interference in the signal wires.
 
Another cause for popping is when the amps turn on before the HU signal does... but from what your describing about the brakes and light turn ons, I still go with my previous statement...
 
suprise suprise.... 5 days after I moved someone broke into my car :( Never bumped hrd around here or anything.... Luckily my alarm scared then away and they didn't get anything... I ran ou there before it even finished going off and there was no one there... no car speeding away... it was like a ghost did it. 155.00 for NEW window and back to normal (except the paranoia) Well, I took out my subs until I move somewhere better, and the componenets pop too, so it must be the power lead to the head unit.. also another strange tidbit... I am reading 18 volts at the power wire... I have a duralast battery and a SVR audio battery.... 18 volts... could that be causing a power spike? I should be making good power at the amp though :)
 
Damien said:
suprise suprise.... 5 days after I moved someone broke into my car :( Never bumped hrd around here or anything.... Luckily my alarm scared then away and they didn't get anything... I ran ou there before it even finished going off and there was no one there... no car speeding away... it was like a ghost did it. 155.00 for NEW window and back to normal (except the paranoia) Well, I took out my subs until I move somewhere better, and the componenets pop too, so it must be the power lead to the head unit.. also another strange tidbit... I am reading 18 volts at the power wire... I have a duralast battery and a SVR audio battery.... 18 volts... could that be causing a power spike? I should be making good power at the amp though :)
Click to expand...

Sounds like your alternator is overpowering..... may want to have that check out :shrug:

http://cf.linnbenton.edu/eit/auto/krolicp/web.cfm?pgID=2086
 
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