Speaker Pop

[finman]

I have a 2002 Supra SSV. When I press the wakeplate button the speakers pop.
The speakers are powered by a Kenwood 4 channel amp that is grounded directly to a spare battery.
I figured the problem is a ground.
Where should I start trouble shooting first?

Thanks,
Fin

[ckligor]

Sounds Like you have a power strain. Are the power cables on the amp wired to the battery or a fuse box? I understand the ground is to the battery but hot lead?

[finman]

i wired the hot and the ground wire direct to the battery.

Thanks,

[ckligor]

What size wire did you use?

[finman]

i believe it was #10.
about 15' long.

Fin

[ckligor]

The pop is a drain in power from the activation of the motor on the wakeplate. You can try and move the leads to the #1 batt and see if that fixes it. But more then likely The fix without spending any money is shut off the deck when you put the plate down, then turn it back on. I suppose this is a dumb question but did you hook the remote lead on the amp to the blue wire on the deck? I know that you can fix the problem by getting a CAP for your line. If it where a ground problem you would have a hum in the speakers when the motor was running. My guess is the motor on the plate takes a good amount of power on start up and is consuming a bulk of the battery power and it makes the amp lack power.

[ckligor]

I suppose I should ask how large the amp is too?

[finman]

the amp is a Kenwood 400W 4 channel.
it actually isnt popping as bad as it was the other week.
I just replaced the battery for the amp and that seems to helped.

Thanks,

Fin

[ckligor]

Just and FYI you can clip your speakers if you keep doing that. I would look in to A CAP to put in the line.

[jjaszkow]

I agree 100% with ckligor, buy a capacitor to place inline with the power supply to the amp to even out your power feed.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-NLhkBf6up5T/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=725&I=120PP912U&search=capacitor would be a good example of one that should do the job.

[WattsBar=Perfect]

well if you are running the ground cable 10ft long you should prob think about doubling it up cause thats not good for the amp...for the popping try a noise filter on the wire going up to the speakers

[finman]

[finman]

[jjaszkow]

finman, I think that what WattsBar=Perfect is thinking is that the ground wire is too small for that long of distance, so he suggested running a second ground wire (doubling up). Personally, I am a much bigger fan of using the correct gauge wire for the application rather than doubling up two smaller wires. How much current does the amp draw?

The other problem with long wires is that they do have more of a tendancy to pick up noise along the way, but I suspect that that is not the case in your situation.

[finman]

[kmagnuss]

Try to get ahold of some 4 ga. wire, minimum. I wouldn't use 10 ga. for anything over 50 watts total RMS power. Like it was said before, 15' is WAY too far to travel for 10 ga. wire. In most car situations, you like to keep your ground wire under 3', and you still need the same ga. as your power wire. Also, keep in mind that the ground under your dash is only as good as the wire going to it...so most likely it isn't any bigger than 8 ga, but probably still 10 ga. Try the 4, it'll work.

You could also try a ground loop isolator. About $10 at radio shack or best buy. There's a chance it might work, but unless you're gettins some alternator whine, I doubt it.

[ckligor]

[kmagnuss]

He has a 400w amp with a ground wire spanning about 15'. Get a clue before you come on here trying to second guess my reasoning. What he SHOULD do is move his amp closer to the battery to minimize the length of cable needed, but it's not possible for him. So, increasing the wire size is the only other option. And if you read my post above in it's entirety, you would have noticed that I said it's most likely NOT a ground loop. A-town down yo.

[ckligor]

Ok lets look at this. you say 4 ga MIN in your post leading us to believe that 2 ga or 1 ga would be best. My assumption being your so passionate about your post is that you know something about amps. Now lets cut to the chase. Kenwood stamped 400w on their amp but you should know that's peak not rms. With that said look at specs.

Product: KAC-6402

High Quality 4-channel Power Amplifier

This 4/3/2ch power amplifier has a built-in selectable LPF/HPF and MOSFET switching power supply.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-Qs5BdNAdDzB/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?search=KAC%2D6402&i=113KAC6402

Details:
» 4-channel car amplifier
» 40 watts RMS x 4 at 4 ohms (50 watts x 4 at 2 ohms)
» 100 watts RMS x 2 bridged output at 4 ohms (4-ohm stable in bridged mode)
» variable high-/low-pass filters (50-200 Hz at 12 dB per octave)
» Tri-way capable (Tri-Way Crossover required)
» MOSFET power supply
» CEA-2006 compliant
» preamp- and speaker-level inputs
» requires 10-gauge power and ground leads — wiring and hardware not included with amplifier
» fuse rating: 25A x 1
» 15-1/4"W x 2-3/8"H x 9-9/16"D
» warranty: 1 year


Oh, whats that requires 10-gauge power and ground leads — wiring and hardware not included with amplifier


40*4= 160 Watts RMS

Now let's see what monster has to say

22 ft. of 8 gauge power cable, 4 ft. of 8 gauge ground cable. In-line ATC fuse with 30 amp fuse.
Superior power kit with fusing and accessories to install one amplifier, up to 200 watts.

Assorted installation hardware included.
ORDERING INFORMATION: MODEL: INVENTORY: PRICE: BUY ONLINE: 200 Watt Amp Connection Kit MPC P200 BAP200 120883-00 $29.95 EA


Feed Your Amplifier the Current It Craves for Loud, Clean, Head-Turning Sound
You want to experience your music with loud, clean sound quality that transports you right into the action. But your amplifier can’t fully or accurately reproduce the high resolution soundtracks found in today’s CDs, DVDs, MP3s and other sources without maximum power transfer. Monster Performance Car 200 Series 200 Watt Amplifier Power Hookup Kit includes all the cables, fusing and connections you need for low-loss, high-current power transfer to your amplifier. 8 gauge Monster power cable delivers the current your amplifier needs to produce up to 200 watts of total power, and an in-line ATC fuse holder with 30 amp ATC fuse protects your system against dead shorts or when current draw exceeds safe limits. Unleash your amplifier’s performance potential and break sound barriers without breaking your budget.

Now lets look at the price difference

8Ga = $ 29.95
4ga = $ 69.95

So I say to you again.....Talk about using a tank to hunt a rabbit.

A-town up

[Cyclonecj]

If it is a hard switch that turns the motor on, then it's something else but if it is switched by a relay, the pop is caused by the expanding and collapsing of the magnetic field when you have an inductive load like a relay switch on and off. I solved all of my pops by using a diode in a little wire jumper on everything that has a relay switching power to it. Even the horn caused a pop. The diode ( I used a 1n4007 ) is a 1KV diode. It is installed across the two wires at the coil connection of the relay with the white band on the positive lead. Put two male spade connectors on one end of two 2" wires of appropriate gauge, usually 16 gauge. Put two female spade connectors on the other end with the diode (heat shrinked) crimped between the black and the red wire. Plug it inline with the 12vdc on the relay coil.

[acurtis_ttu]

your dealer shoudl knwo about thsi issue, the fix is go to radio shack buy a $2 cap ( can't rememebr what size, but they cna tell you) Hook one end to the pos. and the other to the neg. problem solved.