pulsating subs

[BASSINMYSUBS 10+ year member]

i have had this problem for about 2 weeks. im not sure what it could be. when my hu is not on my sub will pulsate like its drawing power. i thought it could have been the ground so i moved it then i thought the rca's and i tried to change though's but still the same thing. can anyone help me with this? it makes the noise when my hu is off and when i turn the key back it does it when i change songs.

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[snb778 5,000+ posts]

this happened to me recently... try taking 1 pair of your RCA's and touching the ends to the other 2 pairs... thats what stopped it for me... I dunno why, but it worked

 

[BASSINMYSUBS 10+ year member]

alright i will.. but they arent just pulsating.. its like they are getting alot of power.. when it does it its loud..

 

[iamamp3pimp 5,000+ posts]

what amp do you have?

it might be messed up.

try disco the RCA's and see if it still does it.

if it does, the amp might be messed up

personally, i think its a ground or power wire too small issue

 

[BASSINMYSUBS 10+ year member]

the amp is an orion wcc-5001 ill try unhooking an see what happens

 

[snb778 5,000+ posts]

what amp do you have?
it might be messed up.

try disco the RCA's and see if it still does it.

if it does, the amp might be messed up

personally, i think its a ground or power wire too small issue

not necessarily true... mine did the same, when I disconnected it stopped, but I also ran a jumper RCA pair and it still did it.

To OP.. it was loud when mine did it also, as I jiggled the wires it would THUD hard.... also if you have a power antenna.. try disconnecting that and see if the sound weakens at all..... I have a feeling for me it was a bad H.U. RCA out., but I will never know for sure

the strange thing is that is still does it when you're power is turned off... you might have a short in your RCA's... try just running another set of RCA's just to test em..... also try disconnecting the RCA's from your 4ch. amp and see if it stops.... gotta try it all man.. it sucks. I must have taken my radio out 6=7 times before I figured it out!!!

 

[herbykw 10+ year member]

my wifes car does almost the same thing, in two different cars. when the car is turned off, a few seconds later it pulsates very loud. and goes off when the car alarm is turned off. we took it to a couple shops and they can figure it out. found out it you wire a toggle switch to the remote wire you can kill the amp, and it doesnt happen. Easy fix, plus the wife likes the toggle.

 

[BASSINMYSUBS 10+ year member]

not necessarily true... mine did the same, when I disconnected it stopped, but I also ran a jumper RCA pair and it still did it.
To OP.. it was loud when mine did it also, as I jiggled the wires it would THUD hard.... also if you have a power antenna.. try disconnecting that and see if the sound weakens at all..... I have a feeling for me it was a bad H.U. RCA out., but I will never know for sure

the strange thing is that is still does it when you're power is turned off... you might have a short in your RCA's... try just running another set of RCA's just to test em..... also try disconnecting the RCA's from your 4ch. amp and see if it stops.... gotta try it all man.. it sucks. I must have taken my radio out 6=7 times before I figured it out!!!

i got another hu but i dont have a faceplate for it..

 

[Ferendon 10+ year member]

WOB WOB WOB

It's called motorboating, at least that's what I've always heard it called.

 

[thevic24 5,000+ posts]

notice you have a pioneer hu. they have rca grounding problems sometimes. try grounding your rca's to the raido frame, i dont have any pics put search it here and you should find it. i think there is a whole thread on just the pioneer units.

mine had a " thump and thud" issue and thats what the problem was and grounding it fixed it.

-vic

 

[snb778 5,000+ posts]

my wifes car does almost the same thing, in two different cars. when the car is turned off, a few seconds later it pulsates very loud. and goes off when the car alarm is turned off. we took it to a couple shops and they can figure it out. found out it you wire a toggle switch to the remote wire you can kill the amp, and it doesnt happen. Easy fix, plus the wife likes the toggle.

THAT.. is usually a ground issue.... Do you have a cap??

 

[herbykw 10+ year member]

THAT.. is usually a ground issue.... Do you have a cap??

No cap. Stock HU. It did the exact same thing in a previous vehicle. Wiring and ground has been quadruple checked and is grounded to bare metal. I had my system hooked up the exact same way, to the same place(both cars Monte Carlos) and never had the problems, and i was pushing more power.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

Unplug the RCA's at the amplifier. If it still does it, your amp has issues. If it stops, the problem is upstream from the amp, either the RCA cable or h/u, in which case Id try grounding my RCA cable next, as you said trying another cable did not help. Finally, to isolate the h/u, grab any other stereo/radio you have that has RCA outputs (I have a boombox with them) and use it as a temporary h/u to see if the problem goes away.

The key is to isolate each component, and/or cable, to find out when the problem stops. Troubleshooting 101.