Clicking noise from speakers at zero volume

So I've got a clicking noise from all speakers at zero volume coming from the tower speakers and the in-boat speakers. I have a 2 EQ setup, and thought it was the EQs initally, as they are sometimes noisemakers, but I swapped them out for new ones and I'm getting the identical noise.

I've also disconnected both my tower speaker amp and my in-boat speaker amp separately and I still get the noise.

I didn't have the noise about 6 weeks ago. It's a long story, but essentially, the only new thing I added is the EQs. But as I said, I'm certain it's not the EQs at this point.

Could it be the head unit? Maybe an RCA went bad somewhere? What else can I check? By the way, this is when the boat is not running.

Thanks in advance.

how about bypassing them instead of putting new ones in? If the clicking is still there than it is your deck or your wiring.

are any other electrical accessories on when this occurs?

It sounds like it is your depth finder emitting this noise through your system. Try disconnecting the depth finder and see if the noise is still there. If so, make sure you have good grounds and power connections. And good quality cables.

Make sure the head unit and the eq are wired directly to the battery for power and ground and not to the power block under the dash with everything else. I had this same problem and this solved it for me.

I'm going to try bypassing the EQs one more time to completely rule them out. Then I'll move on to the power and grounds.

Is it possible for it to be the depth finder even when the boat is off? I'm working on it in the driveway and the key is just turned to accessory - the only thing that comes on is the Perfect Pass and the radio...

Classic ground loop problem. Ground your head unit and eq directly to the battery, like mdiddy said, and your click will go away.

The EQs are powered and grounded to distribution blocks near the battery. Is this not good enough?

I can't say the same for the head unit - I'm sure the harness is grounded to something crappy?

(Message edited by tparider on November 16, 2006)

Correction...I should have said that your problem is definitely your grounds or power wires. Everyone is right. These problems usually arise when you connect another device to your headunit. The wiring on the stock headunit is usually the problem.

Depth finders just add to the mess of unwanted noises.

Alright, so I'm going to do this:

1) unplug the radio from the EQ and connect my iPod directly to the Aux inputs one of the EQs. This will rule out the EQs.

If it still clicks, then I'll

2) connect the radio directly to the amps, bypassing the EQs entirely.

If it still clicks, then I'll

3) re-run the ground of the radio and EQs directly to the battery.

Thanks for the help - I'll post back on what happens...

I've never heard a ground loop that clicks, the're always buzzing or whine. I think your HU is bad. Ground loops dont' start/stop...ther're either there or they are not. The first post states the problem has not been there since the initial install. One coudl haev been created when the EQ was installed, but even with the EQ removed the clicking is still there.

I don't know if you have tried this but try unplugging the rca's from the amp. If it stops you can eliminate the amps and the speakers as the problem. If that does'nt work, drape a set of rca's from the eq to the amp.

Take a look at this. The only time I could see a clicking is when the engine is running. Make sure both your power AND your ground wires are a low gauge (4 gauge) wire. Run all of your grounds to the same point - do not run one through the battery and one to the block - this will create a loop problem. Run everything (including your receiver) to the battery. Create one ground loop with one electrical device and you'll cause problems in your whole system.

http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/S-o2ygkBgzppt/learningcenter/car/noise_suppressors_installation_guide.html?page=2

Thanks again for the tips everyone.

Last night I unplugged the RCAs that run from the radio to the EQs, and then plugged my iPod directly into each of the EQs, and low-and-behold, clicking noise gone.

I'm going to try replacing the RCAs that run from the radio to the EQs, and they're the only not brand new cables in the whole system. If that doesn't solve it, I'm going to get a new head unit.

One final question though - could it be possible that the clicking noise is coming from the radio because the radio doesn't like the fact that it is turning on 4 amps and 2 EQs? Could I add a relay for start up of all the devices and the problem could be solved?

David:

Before you start changing out head units do as suggested and connect the head, eq and amps and battery together with a really, really good ground wire.

When you disconnected the head and connected your IPOD you effectively took ground out of the equation because the IPOD runs off its own battery and doesn't have a reference to the boat's ground.

It is common situation for the head unit to be wired to the stock wiring harness and have a ground that references back to the engine block. The amps and probably your EQ would be wired directly to a battery, perhaps even a separate battery than what the engine is wired to.

The amp looks at the RCA cable that is connected to its input and amplifies any *difference* it sees between "ground" and signal. The problem is that what the head unit thinks is ground is different than what the amp thinks is ground. If you connect the head, EQ and amp together with a really good ground then life will be better.

As far as the load on the head unit: the head unit doesn't know that there are amps beyond the EQs. The only load the head unit can see would be the EQ.

Thanks for the post Rod.

So in order to have the amps, radio, and EQs see the same ground, are you saying I need to simply cut the ground wire from the wire harness on the back of the radio and connect a long wire to it and run it to the main ground (which is a distribution block) that the other devices in the system are grounded to?

If this is correct, which wire in the harness is the ground? Is it the yellow?

I have found that the wire color chart is printed on a sticker on the back of a head unit.

I also typically find that yellow is a turn on lead that goes to the amps. The ground is usually black.

These colors are for the wires on the back of the head unit, not necessarily the colors in the wiring harness from the boat mfg.

(Message edited by timmy on November 17, 2006)

Ok I did that from memory, and I just checked...

Yellow is constant +12v for memory of presets, etc. Blue is the turn-on wire.

Black is your ground.

Why is no one taking into account that this problem was not happening after the initial install. This problem all the sudden appeared. Once again, if a ground loop was present from the begining he would have heard the noise right after the initial install. Ground loops aren't like bears, they don't hibernate, lol.

adam, it wasn't there when he added the EQ's, but only appeared afterwards. Therefore it could be a ground loop between the had unit and EQ's.

This is why I originally said to bypass the EQ's and connect the head unit back to the amps. Since he alrady has shown that there is no problem between the eq's and the amps by providing a signal with the ipod, this step would show that the head unit works fine and the issue is how it interacts with the EQs, and the most likely culprit is a ground loop.

I would not cut the existing ground wire. Add another one.

Check to see if the head unit has a fair sized stud or screw mount on the back. This mount is often used to support the back of a head unit in a dash so that all the weight of the unit doesn't tear the dash apart.

This would be an excellent place to fasten a large wire (#8) to the head unit. Run the wire to the EQs, then on to the AMPS.

Tim - the weird part about it is that I actually had an EQ connected to the system initially (a couple of months ago) that I returned because it was missing a feature that I wanted, then I installed another EQ that was borrowed from a friend and each of those times the whole system sounded perfect - no clicking. Then, after purchasing a new EQ with the features I wanted, I got the clicking at that point. Given the circumstances, I thought the problem was the EQ since the system sounded fine before with 2 other EQs. I then bought a second EQ (with the intent to use two in the system) and I got the clicking with that one two.

As I mentioned above, there is no clicking if I unplug the RCAs that run from the radio to the EQs, and plug my iPod directly into either of the EQs. I probably should try to bypass the EQs to rule out the HU as the culprit, but I don't have any spare RCAs to do this with. I'm picking some up tomorrow and I'll test...

So Rod - can't I run the new ground you recommended placing on the back of the HU to my ground distribution block where all of my existing grounds come out of?

Yes, if that is where the amps are grounded.

I would assume that the distribution block is connected to the battery by a very large wire....

Yes, you're right about the ground dist block, Rod.

Just for the heck of it (and so all the RCAs in the boat were identical) I changed out the RCAs running from the radio to the EQs and the noise was still present. I picked up a wire that I'm going to run for the 2nd ground from the back of the radio and see how it goes. I'll post back.

Thanks again for all the help.

On my boat, the depth finder was causing the clicking. You can verify this by listening when the boat is on land (fast clicking) and in deep water (slower clicking)

You could try putting a suppressor on the 12vdc going to the depth finder, that may help. Rerouting the RCA's may help, using high quality ones, of course. My depth finder quit working, so the noise stopped. I never did put the supressor on it's 12v supply, but that was next. It is probably grounded to the same place that the head unit is, that's how the clicking feeds through to the head unit.

I'm not certain my depth finder comes on when only "accessory" is on (key to the left), but you described the problem for sure. I still haven't taken care of it - been playing direct from the iPod the last couple times out...

Thanks again for the suggestions...

You more than likely have a lifted signal ground not power, caused by one of your eq's or other devise. If you have ever jumped started your boat with the system on it is very possible to take out the pre amp signal ground in the head unit or other devise in the loop. Do as Rich Clark said. You should use a meter and check the difference between the battery ground point and point of ground of your other devises for good measure. anything over one ohm should be changed.