Proper grounding

is it better to ground all components to the same spot on the frame or different?

Depends on how long the ground is. If you can ground them all to the same spot - and each ground is less then a foot long... then yes, that is ideal. Can you do seperate spots? Absolutely - just make sure its a clean ground with no paint and is less then a foot long and you are all set!

ok thanks. i have both amps grounded to the same spot, i just thought that might have been the problem. one more thing. if i have the rca's going from the hu to one amp, and then from that same amp to the input of the other, can interference transfer through?(this relates to my "subs popping" post)

my amp for the mid/highs is the one going into safe mode. but im hearing the interference/popping from the subs.

is the best set up to have separate rca's from the hu to each of the amps?

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[B]ok thanks. i have both amps grounded to the same spot, i just thought that might have been the problem. one more thing. if i have the rca's going from the hu to one amp, and then from that same amp to the input of the other, can interference transfer through?(this relates to my "subs popping" post)


you don't want to run more than one amp to one ground, that is one why you will get that dam popping. change that and see if that did anything, and if your rca has been cut or splice.

I still think the problem is in the amp if it only happens during turn on/off. The single point grounding scheme works in some car/stereo combo's, doesn't work for other. The best scheme is usually to make the ground wires as short as possible - just think, the car's body is the rest of the ground wire .... NO wire can compete with that.

Why is the mid/hi amp going into protection ? this only should happen if the amp is bad or there is a short circuit in the speaker wires

well i still never figured out what was wrong with it, but i took the sony amp out. about half the time now it pops a little when i turn it on, but thats it. it never pops while its playing or when i turn it off. i still dont know whats causing it, but ill just deal with it for now.

have you ever had any experience with lanzar amps? i have the sl800d, and its a mono amp but it has two sets of rca inputs. it says im supposed to split the rca's from the HU so all 4 inputs are used. why do i need to do that? cause right now i haven't done it, could that cause any problems?

is it possible that the interference is coming from the receiver and has nothing to do with where the 12v and rca's are? i pulled out the deck and ran a rca from the HU to the amp, but i held the rca up to the roof, the furthest possible from any power supply, and that same exact noise was still there. can it just be caused by a pos receiver?

all connections are tight, 12v is down the left side and the rca is down the right. what other problems could there be? i took it to a shop and they didnt even fix it. they recrimped everything, from behind the deck to the amps, but that didnt do anything, so they just put one of those groundloop things in. and if i take it off, the noise is terrible.

i tried delaying the remote turn-on for the sub amp. but even when i switched it on in the middle of a song, it would still make a couple of slight ticks, then a pop.

it's probably just the amp

P.S. The (metal) roof is also part of ground return

i thought it was just a bad amp too, but ive gotten interference on all 3 amps.
can something cause interference in the 12v or ground? or is it only that the 12v affects the rca's?

reason is, i hear the pop even when the rca's arent connected, so the interference cant be coming from them. and it also happens when the engine is off, so it cant be from that either. and i recently reground everything, so theyre all clean and tight.

can noise be created by a bad battery?
i thought about the alternator, but thats not on either if the car isn't.


and thanks for all the help paulD.

now I'm starting to think it might be a problem with your deck. :bloated:

Originally posted by kicker1_solo
now I'm starting to think it might be a problem with your deck. :bloated:
thats what i used to think... aiwa mp3. hugest pos, but 2years ago it was the only mp3 receiver. anyways, i kinda got rid of that possibility when the pop happened, and the rca's werent even connected. or could it have something to do with the remote lead?

I dont think that it is the remote. The remote either works or doesnt work. All that it has to do is send a small power signal to the amp telling it to turn on, stay on, or turn off. It has nothing to do with the way anything sounds.

pops usually do come thru the 12 volt line, not the RCA's. Do you get these pops only when you turn the amp on/off or at just random times or is it pretty constant ? If it is only on turn-on/off, it sounds like the amp. Otherwise, you have some troubleshooting to do. The other alternative is that some accessory is causing it, you will have to track it down and fix the problem.

yea, its only at turn-on. guess im just stuck for now. but since i couldnt stagger the turn-on, i installed a small switch in the door panel, and with it i can turn on the ground wire for the speakers. so i just start the car, and any time after about 2seconds, after the amp fully turns on, i can flip the switch. its also pretty convient, cause if i have to drive my mom anywhere, she hates the bass, now i can just turn it off.

well, that's certainly the most interesting solution I have heard for this problem. You could further this implementation by hooking the speaker outputs to a relay right at the output of the amps, then just control the relay. One switch could be used to trip relays for every speaker if necessary. The ultimate would be to power the relay off of the auto turn-on wire ....... run that thru a delay timer of 2-3 seconds then that signal would trip the relay to turn on the speakers. P.S. this is essentially what the amps with no turn-on/off thumps do.

that sounds good. ive never seen a relay timer before, ive only delt with simple relays for fog lights. where could i get one if possible?

for those amps that DO have the turn on/off thump, is there always something wrong with them or is that just how some are made?

it's not a relay/timer ... I am saying put a small timer IC on the to the input leg of the relay that turns it on.

Some amps just have that thump ..... it caused a LOT of concern in the competition circuit about 10 years ago. Competitors were getting dinged for turn-on/off thumps that were just common to certain amps. At one time, the magazine reviews even rated the thumps for volume as part of their specs. And some of the better amps even had these problems.