Adjusting Wakeplate affects Tower Speakers

[TN_Boarder]

I have an 06 Mobius LSV with 4 speaker light bar combo. When the sterio is on and I adjust the wake plate, it causes a popping noise from the tower speakers. Only seems to affect the tower speakers and not the others. I mentioned it to my dealer and he said they had a boat last year that did the same thing and he told that boat owner to set the wake plate where they wanted and leave it alone. I find that unaccetable as wakeplate adjustment is often necessary. I was just wondering if anyone else has had similar problems and what you may have done to fix it. To me, it sounds like a ground issue but I'm not sure where to start looking.

[pjtatro]

That is totally unacceptable. You adjust the wakeplate all day, all the way down when getting out of the hole, and then for the riders preference. I would report the dealer to SC for being stupid. I am amazed that you spend 35-45K on an item and they give you that type of solution......

Sounds like a power or grounding issue. So when you unplug the stereo from the power amp (just drive the onboard speakers with the stereo) you do not have any popping?

Pete

[pjtatro]

I would give Brian Raymond a call at SC and see what he thinks. Obviously this is the second call this dealer has received about this so there are most likely others and Brian has probably already addressed this.

Pete

[TN_Boarder]

Thanks Pete.

I haven't tried disconnecting the amp. Just by listening it sounds like its only coming from the tower speakers and not the onboard ones. I'll give SC a call but I just wanted to see if any of you guys had experienced similar problems.

[EUSTACE]

Sounds like a grounding issue!

The response from you dealer is ridiculous,, Stay on them till they resolve to proplem.

Good luck, E

[lowdrag]

This is a common issue on Skiers Choice boats. I've heard that a lot of dealers are telling people that it is normal. At least one person has reported that their dealer knew of a fix. Still waiting to see if he gets the info out as to what that fix is. Same problem on my Supra.

[TN_Boarder]

I tried to call Brian today and got no answer but I left him a message. If he doesn't return my call, I'll give it another try tomorrow. Good to hear that I'm not the only one, but sorry you guys are suffering as well. I'll keep you posted on what I find out. thanks

[05mobiusxlv]

Last fall I asked the same question. I had a loud popping sound coming out of only the tower speakers when I would use the wakeplate. Someone told me to check all of the connections under the dash in the control panel. Sure enough a found a nut that was almost ready to fall off, and that was the end of that problem.

Hope that helps.

[zabooda]

Ensure you have a filtering coil on the positive lead to filter any transients from the wake plate motor. The filter looks like a 3/4" square or round blob on the positive lead. Another method is to go directly to the battery from the amp. You can get a filter coil at Radio Shack and they're cheap. The transients can mess up an amp over time (excessive heating) so a fix is important besides the annoyance to your listeners.

[Gharvin]

my amp came from sc with no heavy duty wire or fuses, I installed a quality amp kit and from what I can tell the pop is gone.

[JoeTechie]

Yup - as stated above - it is a filtering problem. ALL motors and solenoids create magnetic interferance down the power lines - simple line filters resolve about 90% of this (enough so that it is inaudible to you, and much better for the gear). I'd bet that the ballast pumps may do the same thing if you listened closely enough. Amps are notorious for finding little problems and amplifying them... oh, wait - that is what they do - amplify signals based on a good reference power line... Doh ! So I guess the amp is jsut doing its job - your job (er... the installers job - SC in this case) is to crate the cleanest power line it can. Do the other checks as stated above as well - loose connections and bad grounding can cause other problems simmilar to this, so better to find them while you are at it.

Hope this helps,

Joe

[kdog12]

I have a 2006 LSV and they are fixing my popping sound as we speak. SC has released a fix and I will let you know how it worked after this weekend!

[TN_Boarder]

Good deal man. Let me know how it works out. I'll probably be taking my boat in for the initial service after this weekend and I'm going to have the dealership make this fix then as well. Give me all the info you can so I'll have some ammo to throw at them. I don't think this is something I should have to attempt to fix myself as my boat is brand new and this is an obvious defect. Thanks for all the great advice though guys.

BTW....I love this freaking boat!! I been sick all week being separated from it, but come friday we will be united again.

[lowdrag]

I've heard rumor that the fix is nothing more than a relay that gets hooked up to the wakeplate switch but haven't been able to confirm anything on that. My amps both have quality install kits put in by the dealership and the speakers still pop.

[TN_Boarder]

Good news guys. I spoke with a Rep from SC yesterday and Lowdrag is correct. The fix is called a Wakeplate Relay. Basically the motor that operates the hydraulic tubes for the wakeplate is creating some noise in the electrical system. The amp picks up the noise and amplifies it (imagine that), which then creates a popping noise from the speakers. The Rep said that I have to get my dealer to file a waranty claim and they'll send the relay to my dealer so that I can have it installed (free of charge) when they perform my first service. My only question is if SC knew about the problem and already had a fix, why the heck didn't they slap it on my boat during production. My boat was just built the first part of this month, so I'm sure they were already aware of the problem form what I've heard. Definitely could have saved me some grief, but it looks like everything is going to be resolved in the end.

[JoeTechie]

In SC's defense - they buy simple parts like this (relay's, etc) from wholesalers and they can change lots or manufacturers and as long as it does the same job - it will fall under the same part number. Like buying memory for a PC - lots of 512 MB DDR's out there - most of them stink, and cause terrible intermittent problems. The good news is SC is willing to fix the problem at their expense. Compare this to auto makers that take thousands of claims, or many thousands of dollars in suits to actually have a TSB issued.

I also doubt it is a relay that turns off the stereo while the wakeplate is being used as said above - it is probably a replacement relay for the hydraulics that is less noisey.

-Joe

[Nafplio]

I did the tower speaker and amp installation myself. I tried to avoid being close to any boat power wires. I grounded the amp directly to the battery. Also, I run an extra ground from the frame of the head unit to the battery. Read about it on one of the boating forums. I don't know if that helps, by I don't have the speaker pop.

[TN_Boarder]

Just thought I would update this since someone asked about it again recently and I realized I didn't reply after I had the relay installed. I had my dealership file the warranty claim for the Wake Plate relay. SC sent me the relay. I took it to my dealer when I went in for the next service. They installed it and I have had no trouble since. Problem solved and I give a big thumbs up to SC and Denney Marine for handling this issue.

[Roachman]

Good thread.....I had forgot that my new LSV06 had this exact problem. I dropped it off for its 20 hr service and was able to call them back to fix the problem after I read this thread yesterday. Now I just hope they had the parts to fix it.