Weird Issue with popping system?

[Lasherž]

Eclipse CD 3000 HU (Still run this one from time to time Simple use)and a couple 8 v older Hu by Eclispe I had like the 7100. and couple others 5v I sold on here couple years back. May have been on MAF.com. Monster cables are pretty lagit, If sitting in place for quite a while, almost impossible to remove them generally have to pry them off, only thng i didnt like about them, But if you have an Off Road vehicle They arent going to come loose

Yeah that must be it, I was using a HU with only 2v preouts. Not to say the cable wasn't part of the equation, but shielding is a lot harder to pull off over a 17ft cable than just having a stronger signal. My beef with monster cables isn't their products actually, it's that they're a patent troll who uses vague patents to go after other cable manufacturers. Some of their threatening cease and desist letters are downright infuriating given that they didn't invent anything, they just patent vague ideas and then some dumbass from the patent office who doesn't know any better approves it for them and they go after companies with newer products than their patent dates.

Blue Jeans Cable Experience with Monster Cable

Monster Cable threatened to sue Blue Jeans Cable over IP property relating to an audio connector. What Monster didn't realize is they woke the monster within Blue Jeans owner. See what went down.

www.audioholics.com

 

[ac19189]

Well kids figured it out. After loads of testing and throwing a bunch of noise filters on everything I could think of it turns out the stupid relay for the light bar was the issue the whole time! I had to put a 1 amp diode on the relay to help with spikes from the relay coil. After throwing the diode on the relay the pop is totally gone.

Another note is when we turned the light bar off I noticed at times I wasn't just getting a pop but a volume jump as well. At times the deck would jump in volume from 10 to 15 so we originally though it was the steering wheel controls causing the issue so we disconnected them still had it jumping with just the deck.

In the end we disconnected the power lead coming off the relay for the feed to the bar which would power the relay but not the bar so near nothing for a power load and we still had a pop so we dropped a diode onto the relay like some old school decks had back in the days and BAM no more pop no more volume jumps.

 

[Maverick38344]

He called me after this post. It's a 60amp remote relay. It sounds like the coil discharges back to ground after the circuit is opened on the relay side. I believe that the operation is causing a one-sided operation off of the coil to induce a DC offset, which is causing noise when the contactors open. I previously wasn't familar with the phenomonon, but I did a little research and it is a common occurance with magnetic relays when used in DC circuits. Newer ( and more expensive ) digital releays aren't as prone to this event.

 

[Lasherž]

Well kids figured it out. After loads of testing and throwing a bunch of noise filters on everything I could think of it turns out the stupid relay for the light bar was the issue the whole time! I had to put a 1 amp diode on the relay to help with spikes from the relay coil. After throwing the diode on the relay the pop is totally gone.

Another note is when we turned the light bar off I noticed at times I wasn't just getting a pop but a volume jump as well. At times the deck would jump in volume from 10 to 15 so we originally though it was the steering wheel controls causing the issue so we disconnected them still had it jumping with just the deck.

In the end we disconnected the power lead coming off the relay for the feed to the bar which would power the relay but not the bar so near nothing for a power load and we still had a pop so we dropped a diode onto the relay like some old school decks had back in the days and BAM no more pop no more volume jumps.

Awesome, glad you figured it out. I suppose in hindsight that makes sense, so those voltage spikes were actually very high, much higher than the alternator. A lot of circuits put reverse diodes due to coils reversing when they're deactivated, sorry I didn't think of that. Kudos for seeing it through to a solution and posting it, relay switching causing reverse voltage spikes is probably going to come up on these forums again.

He called me after this post. It's a 60amp remote relay. It sounds like the coil discharges back to ground after the circuit is opened on the relay side. I believe that the operation is causing a one-sided operation off of the coil to induce a DC offset, which is causing noise when the contactors open. I previously wasn't familar with the phenomonon, but I did a little research and it is a common occurance with magnetic relays when used in DC circuits. Newer ( and more expensive ) digital releays aren't as prone to this event.

It's a pretty well known thing in all DC electronics, but many commercial relays come with the diode built in or the part utilizing a relay has it as part of the circuit. It's the inverse of how caps discharge nearly unlimited current when the voltage drops, coils discharge nearly infinite voltage in reverse direction when the current drops. It's fried many sensitive chips in many breadboard designs so it's good the car electronics are pretty robust against discharges.

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

He called me after this post. It's a 60amp remote relay. It sounds like the coil discharges back to ground after the circuit is opened on the relay side. I believe that the operation is causing a one-sided operation off of the coil to induce a DC offset, which is causing noise when the contactors open. I previously wasn't familar with the phenomonon, but I did a little research and it is a common occurance with magnetic relays when used in DC circuits. Newer ( and more expensive ) digital releays aren't as prone to this event.

Man..Great Read here and Excellent research. Ill Keep this info copied and pasted.Great Info.
I am seeing that most Relays bought these days are not as much as made in Tiawann anymore and being flooded by made in Mexico/at well known parts houses. Nappa is where I usually get mine at.

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

Well kids figured it out. After loads of testing and throwing a bunch of noise filters on everything I could think of it turns out the stupid relay for the light bar was the issue the whole time! I had to put a 1 amp diode on the relay to help with spikes from the relay coil. After throwing the diode on the relay the pop is totally gone.

Another note is when we turned the light bar off I noticed at times I wasn't just getting a pop but a volume jump as well. At times the deck would jump in volume from 10 to 15 so we originally though it was the steering wheel controls causing the issue so we disconnected them still had it jumping with just the deck.

In the end we disconnected the power lead coming off the relay for the feed to the bar which would power the relay but not the bar so near nothing for a power load and we still had a pop so we dropped a diode onto the relay like some old school decks had back in the days and BAM no more pop no more volume jumps.

Great read and I am glad you got it figured out.Never crossed my mind.Some Crazieness for sure.

 

[Andrewinnewyork]

Awesome, glad you figured it out. I suppose in hindsight that makes sense, so those voltage spikes were actually very high, much higher than the alternator. A lot of circuits put reverse diodes due to coils reversing when they're deactivated, sorry I didn't think of that. Kudos for seeing it through to a solution and posting it, relay switching causing reverse voltage spikes is probably going to come up on these forums again.



It's a pretty well known thing in all DC electronics, but many commercial relays come with the diode built in or the part utilizing a relay has it as part of the circuit. It's the inverse of how caps discharge nearly unlimited current when the voltage drops, coils discharge nearly infinite voltage in reverse direction when the current drops. It's fried many sensitive chips in many breadboard designs so it's good the car electronics are pretty robust against discharges.

Hey great read. I just found this thread (in 2024). I have an amp that produces 2500watts rms and it was working nice until one day popping sounds started to sound out my amp almost every 3 seconds. I installed everything myself and I knew the ground wasn't legit since I didn't even grind it but it worked so I left it like that. After about a month is when the problem started and now I get no sound other than the popping sound. I got the ground professionally installed and bought and installed a 0gauge power wire from SMD. I installed another amp and no problems. I tried testing out the old amp and still with the same problem. Could you help me figure out what I have to do? It's an old amp so sending it to get fixed would probably cost as much as a new amp and I like this amp. I think it's a capacitor on the amp but I don't thi k I could fix it myself. Thanks in advance