Clicking/Ticking noise from Stereo

[shurgot]

I need some help troubleshooting a problem with my boat's stereo.

When my key is in the accessory position (turned to the left) and my stereo is on I hear a constant clicking/ticking noise in both my cockpit and tower speakers (approximately 3 clicks a second). (Also occurs while the boat is running, but it is harder to hear over the engine noise) The clicking is more noticeable in the left speakers in both the cockpit and on the tower, but can be heard all around.

The noise is constant and does not increase or decrease with volume. It disappears when I mute the stereo or volume down to 0. Fading/balance has no effect.

The installation was done by a professional audio shop here in Los Angeles, and has a lifetime warranty. I weary of taking it back to them without some knowledge of what the problem might be. Any input is appreciated.

Equipment:

2005 Mastercraft X-2
Clarion XMD3 Head Unit

Amp 1:
Rockford Fosgate P4004 running:
4x JL Audio Separates (2ohms parallel channels 1&2)
1x JL Free Air Subwoofer (4ohms bridged channels 3&4)

Amp 2:
Rockford Fosgate T8004 running:
2x Skylon Rubicon 450s (bridged 3ohms channels 1&2 left, 3&4 right)

Clarion ce-NET iPod Adapter
Clarion ce-NET Sirius Receiver

[WakePowell]

Do you have remotes at the helm or transom? My boat had a very similar issue and it ended up being the transom remote. Try unplugging them from the deck to see if it cures your problem.

[jvbaca]

I need some help troubleshooting a problem with my boat's stereo.

When my key is in the accessory position (turned to the left) and my stereo is on I hear a constant clicking/ticking noise in both my cockpit and tower speakers (approximately 3 clicks a second). (Also occurs while the boat is running, but it is harder to hear over the engine noise) The clicking is more noticeable in the left speakers in both the cockpit and on the tower, but can be heard all around.

The noise is constant and does not increase or decrease with volume. It disappears when I mute the stereo or volume down to 0. Fading/balance has no effect.

The installation was done by a professional audio shop here in Los Angeles, and has a lifetime warranty. I weary of taking it back to them without some knowledge of what the problem might be. Any input is appreciated.

Equipment:

2005 Mastercraft X-2
Clarion XMD3 Head Unit

Amp 1:
Rockford Fosgate P4004 running:
4x JL Audio Separates (2ohms parallel channels 1&2)
1x JL Free Air Subwoofer (4ohms bridged channels 3&4)

Amp 2:
Rockford Fosgate T8004 running:
2x Skylon Rubicon 450s (bridged 3ohms channels 1&2 left, 3&4 right)

Clarion ce-NET iPod Adapter
Clarion ce-NET Sirius Receiver

I know this is an ancient thread but....What did you do to resolve this issue? I have a very similar issue. The difference being that the clicking noise is constant through all speakers no matter what volume you have the stereo at. If you turn it up you won't hear the clicking but muting or turning it down to have a conversation, etc....it' still there, from all speakers....Have even had the stereo run off an independent 3rd battery sitting in the middle of the boat and not connected to any "boat" electronics and the clicking is not present until you turn the key to "acc" or "start" position. This is driving me nuts and the "professionals" are stumped. They install a lot of boat stereos and say they've never seen this before.

[MariStar-Man]

I had a similar if not the same clicking/poping noise while engine was on. i spent 2 days tracing wires to see if I had an open ground and as I was looking at the alternator, I saw that the unit had broken free from it's location and had lost it's Ground. Replaced the unit with the same size and all popping/clicking is gone...

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x203/DocHoliday1964/1999%20Maristar/alternator/DSC01662.jpg

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x203/DocHoliday1964/1999%20Maristar/alternator/DSC01659.jpg

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x203/DocHoliday1964/1999%20Maristar/alternator/DSC01663.jpg

[jvbaca]

Thank you very much! I'll look at this on Monday when I pick the boat up from the car toys audio shop where it's been for the last week while they tried to fix it......So in the 2nd picture, the unit is free floating, does it go connected anywhere other than at the end of the pigtail? The black box just free floats? Never mind I think I see where it connects to the plate just above it.....By the way what is that unit a resistor or ???

[h2oskifreak]

I would bet Big $ you are on the right track w/ the ground.

[JLeuck64]

Looks like a capacitor...
Alternators have them in the circuit to reduce radio noise that is generated by the charging system.

[MariStar-Man]

I'm sorry i didn't explain myself very well. I'm sure you got it already but just to clarify. The resisor in my posts, is when it broke away from the alternator. It should be connected to both the pigtail as well as the square piece of metal that broke off.

I contacted an alternator shop and they gave me one the same size. I didn't take a picture of the repaired capacitor/or resistor.

Here in the following picture is what it should look like. However, this alternator has 2 fastened...

http://www.fag.hiof.no/~frodehaa/pics/P2260022.jpg

Heres 2 places that might carry them in your area...

Autozip Alternators & Starters Arvada - maps.google.com
1465 Wadsworth Blvd, Lakewood - (303) 232-2593
Directions and more »


Autozip Alternators & Starters Arvada: Northglenn - maps.google.com
12121 Washington St, Denver - (303) 451-6165

I hope this is the problem, or it may be the location of the ground wires.

[bturner2]

I'm certain there's a ton of better stereo guys out there than me but every glitch electrical problem I've had on a boat had to do with noise and grounding.

My last noise issue I had was with my non Marine Kenwood amp (installed by the previous owner) and tower speakers. I resolved the issue by completely rewiring all the power leads of the sound system from scratch and using high quality marine wire that was at least one gage over sized from the recommendation charts. I made sure to solder all the ends and any place where multiple connections were required were done using high end terminal blocks. I also isolated the stereo and amps from the boat starting / accessory circuit using a dual battery set up with an isolator switch. When I finished and turned the system on for the first time the noise was gone and hasn't returned since I completed the project two years ago.

Thrall posted a couple pictures of his installation which I used for ideas to install mine. You may want to do a search to see how he did his.

[jvbaca]

Thanks for your help! I'll be following up on this and report back to you all with results (hopefully successfully quiet results).

[TallRedRider]

I'm certain there's a ton of better stereo guys out there than me but every glitch electrical problem I've had on a boat had to do with noise and grounding.



X2 for sure.

Your head unit, amps, and any EQ's should all be solidly grounded to the same place.

[jvbaca]

X2 for sure.

Your head unit, amps, and any EQ's should all be solidly grounded to the same place.

They are all grounded out to the Negative on the 2nd battery. Should they be grounded someplace else?

[jvbaca]

I'm sorry i didn't explain myself very well. I'm sure you got it already but just to clarify. The resisor in my posts, is when it broke away from the alternator. It should be connected to both the pigtail as well as the square piece of metal that broke off.

I contacted an alternator shop and they gave me one the same size. I didn't take a picture of the repaired capacitor/or resistor.

Here in the following picture is what it should look like. However, this alternator has 2 fastened...

http://www.fag.hiof.no/~frodehaa/pics/P2260022.jpg

Heres 2 places that might carry them in your area...

Autozip Alternators & Starters Arvada - maps.google.com
1465 Wadsworth Blvd, Lakewood - (303) 232-2593
Directions and more »


Autozip Alternators & Starters Arvada: Northglenn - maps.google.com
12121 Washington St, Denver - (303) 451-6165

I hope this is the problem, or it may be the location of the ground wires.


Hi Maristar-man:

My alternator is slightly different from yours. the back of the housing appears to be abs plastic, here are some pics to start with. Looks like an exposed positive cable is there, why would that be there? Now I'll have to trace it back.

[brianinpdx]

JVB - These issues can be very simple and sometimes very complex. Before I'd go riping into the alternator / charging system, I would do some poking around with your equipment. I typically start at the headunit and work my way back thru the audio system components to look for clues. When I say clues, what you want to do is isolate the problem. Once you do that, you can then dig down on that specific area and either replace, or modify the bad gear. I'm not saying this problem couldnt be charging... but start with the gear you have.

you said the problem remains constant in all zones. i.e. tower / sub / cabin? confirm
Can you fade your head unit and make changes to the problem in any of the zones?
If you replaced the audio input and by bypassed the headunit completely by driving an ipod directly into one of the amplifiers (turn the volume down a bit first) does the clicking go away?
If you unplug one , two all of the amplifiers from the source unit, does the clicking continue?

See where I'm going with all this?

My hunch is -
1) bad headunit
2) bad grounded amp or headunit
3) charging system ground issue (as star man suggested)

I dont get on TMC as much as I should but If you want help offline, email at Brian.exile@gmail.com and I'd be happy to help ya.

-Brian
Exile Audio

[shunra]

Thanks for your help! I'll be following up on this and report back to you all with results (hopefully successfully quiet results).

Did you ever solve your problem? Was it the alternator? I am chasing a problem that sounds excactly like yours. Been through all the stereo wiring and it is good.

[Thrall]

I had a couple buzzing speakers and a faint engine noise in my X2 when I bought it. Stereo wiring was a mess anyways (except factory wiring to the head unit and speaker wiring). It was OE wiring, but looked like I turned my 8 year old loose in the boat with some wire and crimp on connectors!
I planned on upgrading amps/speakers/batteries anyways so didn't trace teh problems, just ripped it all out and started over. Like bturner, I got done, hooked up the batteries and it worked like a charm, clear sound everywhere.
A friend of mine just bought an 06 X15 with a pretty hot rod stereo setup in in already (4 tower speakers, 3 subs, 4amps, etc). I haven't even seen the boat as he lives 2000mi from me, but he said it sounded like shiat! He spent a fair amount of time tracing wiring, cleaning up connections, etc and traced the problem to 2 things. 1. Bad ground in hte head unit. An additional ground wire screwed to the hu case solved that. 2. Bad RCA cable ground.
The issues can be a pain to trace, but most of the time lead to bad/insufficient grounding in my experience.
My 190, the nice new hu and speakers I installed would always cut out at just above 1/2 volume (no amps or big watts). The deck had insufficient power from the ignition switch connection. Used that connection as a trigger wire for a relay that controlled a good source right off the battery, problem solved....for a while. Started doing it again at higher volume, couldn't figure it out. Hacked in a good ground wire from the hu direct to the engine block, that fixed it.

[shunra]

Well after a lot of searching I finally found the source of my "ticking" sound through the stereo. Ready for it..... I am 100% sure it is the depth finder.

I can stop the "ticking" by either pulling the power from the depth finder or by removing the connection to the transducer. My guess is that the ticking correspods to when the unit sends the pulse to the transducer causing a noise pulse in the stereo system.

For now I am running with the transducer disconnected, but am wondering what I should to to ultimately solve the problem. The transducer cable looks somewhat suspect so I could try replacing that. Any ideas?

BTW, I discovered with a bit of searching that is quite common for depth/fish finders to cause interference, but usually in VHF radios (not usually found in a wake boat).

[jvbaca]

Do you have any pics of the Cable you disconnected, where it was connected to and what it looked like connected and disconnected?

[shunra]

Do you have any pics of the Cable you disconnected, where it was connected to and what it looked like connected and disconnected?

Sorry I didn't take any pics of the connector. I can try to get some this weekend.

It is a round looking connector under the dash. You have to twist a locking mechanism a quarter turn or so then it then it can be disconnected. There was a second flat connector back near gas tank close to the transducer, however disconnecting at this point didn't solve the problem. This makes me suspect the cable has something to do with it.

Pulling the power from the depth finder display unit also made the noise go away.

[jvbaca]

I'll look for that this afternoon or tomorrow morning when I'm loading up and let you know what I find. Thanks for the info, hope it helps!!

[shunra]

I'll look for that this afternoon or tomorrow morning when I'm loading up and let you know what I find. Thanks for the info, hope it helps!!

Yeah your problem sounds very similar to mine, right down to me hooking up a completely independent battery.

On my boat the connector looke simiar to the one below. It was hanging down above the driver's feet under the dash.

[jvbaca]

Thank you.