2017 Mojo Stereo Noise

[rdlangston13]

So we just finished our install in our new 2017 Mojo and we are trying to fight some noise issues. Below is what we have an how it is installed.

4 Rev10s powered by an SD2
6 XS650RGBs power by channels 1-4 of an SD6
1 XS12 Sub powered by channels 5-6 of the SD6
WS420

So I have two golf cart batteries wired in series to terminal 2 of the battery switch and one starting battery wired to terminal 1.
Coming off of the common post on the battery switch is the wire going to the starter, wire going to the breaker for the house accessories, and my power wire going to the my added distribution block.

Coming off my distribution block I have 4 gauge going to the SD2, 4 gauge going to the SD6, and 8 gauge going to a bus bar that I added on the back of the amp rack. The bus bar that I added provides power and ground to the factory Fusion head unit (turn on and actual power) and the 12V power for the WS420. The added bus bar also provides power and ground to relay I added for the remote turn on of the amps and WS420. When the fusion head unit is powered on it sends remote turn on power to the relay which in turn sends power to the amps and WS420.

My RGB controller gets its power from one of the stock acc switches at the helm and is grounded to the stock bus bar at the helm.

I have slight noise when the stock courtesy, nav, or anchor lights are on. Medium noise when the RGB lights are on. And bad noise when the ballast pumps are on. What did I do wrong here??


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[Woody929]

Sounds like an install issue [emoji6]

[rdlangston13]

Sounds like an install issue [emoji6]

Please point me to where I went wrong on the install loo


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[mmandley]

I am leaning to the buss bar, when you tied the Acc switch into your Power and Ground of the stereo buss you introduced that noise in the system.

You can use the Remote turn on Relay in this junction to send the remote turn on signals.

I have the ACC switch powering my head unit, my head unit is grounded the same location as my stereo amps.
How ever nothing else on my ACC switch have any common ground to my stereo system.

I would move > My RGB controller gets its power from one of the stock acc switches at the helm and is grounded to the stock bus bar at the helm <
Move the ground. I think this needs to be grounded with your stereo buss ground.

My other concern is you have the Power to the head unit tied into your Amp buss, noise from your ACC might be traveling to your head unit, and because power and ground are on your buss traveling to the stereo.

I kept my head unit power in the factory power location and only moved the ground.

[rdlangston13]

I am leaning to the buss bar, when you tied the Acc switch into your Power and Ground of the stereo buss you introduced that noise in the system.

You can use the Remote turn on Relay in this junction to send the remote turn on signals.

I have the ACC switch powering my head unit, my head unit is grounded the same location as my stereo amps.
How ever nothing else on my ACC switch have any common ground to my stereo system.

I would move > My RGB controller gets its power from one of the stock acc switches at the helm and is grounded to the stock bus bar at the helm <
Move the ground. I think this needs to be grounded with your stereo buss ground.

My other concern is you have the Power to the head unit tied into your Amp buss, noise from your ACC might be traveling to your head unit, and because power and ground are on your buss traveling to the stereo.

I kept my head unit power in the factory power location and only moved the ground.

So I don't have an acc switch for the head unit turn on. The 12V turn on for the head unit is always seeing power. I just use the on off button to turn it on and off. The Acc switch ONLY controls the RGBs.


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[mmandley]

Then my only other thought is the power wire from your Battery Switch power wire going to the my added distribution block.

Is the added distribution on your stereo side?

I have all my stereo power ground distribution blocks ran directly to the golf cart battery bank. My golf cart bank goes to my battery switch.

The only downside is if my golf cart batteries go dead, I have no stereo. I have to start the boat up and let them charge up.

I have my golf cart bank completely isolated from the house power other then a ground wire connecting the two banks, and the battery switch getting power on post 1 and 2.

[rdlangston13]

The added distribution block goes from the common terminal of the battery switch and deploys off to all the audio components. I think I found the problem. I think I need to move the house ground to my added distribution block as per this

"All audio source unit and processor supplies and grounds will be removed from the factory harness and procurred from the same distribution blocks as feeding the amplifiers. You will fuse the source unit supply at or close to the positive distribution block. Use a 14 ga. min./ 12 ga. max. + & - for the source electronics run. You'll have no noise with this scheme.







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[mmandley]

If you have a House ground sharing anything with Audio then you can expect to hear house noise in the audio

[rdlangston13]

If you have a House ground sharing anything with Audio then you can expect to hear house noise in the audio

Hhhmmmm not according to that. Interesting


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[MLA]

All grounds end up common, but the difference is the distance separating their terminations. In some cases, a common BUS is not as good as the main audio trunk ground being battery direct.

Are the head unit EQ sharing a common B+ and B- that branch off to each behind the helm or does each have its own B+ and B- coming off the audio distribution block on the port side? A little difference in resistance could create a ground loop.

Also, have you moved the ground reference jumper in the WS-420?

[rdlangston13]

All grounds end up common, but the difference is the distance separating their terminations. In some cases, a common BUS is not as good as the main audio trunk ground being battery direct.

Are the head unit EQ sharing a common B+ and B- that branch off to each behind the helm or does each have its own B+ and B- coming off the audio distribution block on the port side? A little difference in resistance could create a ground loop.

Also, have you moved the ground reference jumper in the WS-420?

On the head unit and ws420 b+ and b- they have independent power and ground wires that run from them around the bow and terminate at the added bus bars that then terminate to the audio distribution blocks.

I have not done anything with a ground reference jumper in the ws420. This is the first I have heard of this.


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[ian ashton]

I have yet to find an RGB controller that doesn't introduce noise, so much so that I don't use one, just solid green wired to a switch.

Get a piece of small gauge wire and test ground your head unit directly to the EQ, then each amp - once the sound goes away you've found the ground loop. If it's not the HU repeat the test with the EQ

[MLA]

On the head unit and ws420 b+ and b- they have independent power and ground wires that run from them around the bow and terminate at the added bus bars that then terminate to the audio distribution blocks.

I have not done anything with a ground reference jumper in the ws420. This is the first I have heard of this.


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manual page 3 & 4, item marked #12.

[David Analog]

David,
A couple of thoughts.
I think I read about the HU power and ground. But the HU has two powers, one constant, and one switched. Both powers should access the same physical point, at least during diagnostics.
The HU should be totally disconnected from any previous or existing dash ground whether that be through the harness or chassis.
Switching the lighting module from the dash is convenient. But I would have the dash switch control a relay and source both the lighting module positive and ground directly to the non-stereo cranking battery, and fuse the positive side at the source. I don't like bypassing the battery switch but this might be helpful with RGB lighting.
I would ground the factory helm ground buss on the cranking battery. Double check that all factory grounds are very well secured.
Batteries should be fully charged.
All gains should be properly set.
Experiment with EQ internal ground reference per MLA.
Verify whether or not you have alternator whine upon starting the engine.
There's more to the diagnosis process, but it would help to eliminate the above potential causes. This is a good start.

[MLA]

In regards to the LEDs, take the controller and LEDs out of the mix for now. Disconnect the controller and solve any and all audio noise first. Then, reintroduce the LED controller. This is because RGB LEDs can introduce EMI due to their PWM.

That should keep some of you busy on google for a while :p

[rdlangston13]

David,
A couple of thoughts.
I think I read about the HU power and ground. But the HU has two powers, one constant, and one switched. Both powers should access the same physical point, at least during diagnostics.
The HU should be totally disconnected from any previous or existing dash ground whether that be through the harness or chassis.
Switching the lighting module from the dash is convenient. But I would have the dash switch control a relay and source both the lighting module positive and ground directly to the non-stereo cranking battery, and fuse the positive side at the source. I don't like bypassing the battery switch but this might be helpful with RGB lighting.
I would ground the factory helm ground buss on the cranking battery. Double check that all factory grounds are very well secured.
Batteries should be fully charged.
All gains should be properly set.
Experiment with EQ internal ground reference per MLA.
Verify whether or not you have alternator whine upon starting the engine.
There's more to the diagnosis process, but it would help to eliminate the above potential causes. This is a good start.

Ok when tuning the system initially I just set all the gains at 50% and that is where they still are. I was planning on having a local shop (mobile innovations) tune the system this week.

Tomorrow I will try to move the RGB power and ground to the cranking battery like you recommended.

I have not heard any alternator whine on start up

The head unit main 12 volt power and turn on power are both tied to the bus bar I added on the port side that gets its juice from my stereo distribution block. This also applies for the 12 volt power for the 420 and both units grounds.


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[rdlangston13]

Ok so it seems the RGBs only really make noise when fading from color to color. I moved the power and ground from the RGB controller to its own separate battery so it was in no way tied into the same power as the stereo and it still makes noise. Even makes noise with a ground loop isolator installed. The ballast pump noise I can't seem to duplicate today. That may be to the pumps being so loud out of the water that I can't hear or maybe the engine needs to be running, I don't know.


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[ian ashton]

Did you try my idea?

60% of the time, it works every time.

[rdlangston13]

So I know they are not recommended but I picked up a ground loop isolator and it has two ground wires coming out of it. Where do I need to ground these too?? I tied them into the ws420 ground and whoa that made some noise


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[russellsmojo]

Unhook and return the led lights. Nothing good happens after dark and cops like to visit with you about them anyway. Combine those two and you will be doing some esplaining to the ossifer.


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[MLA]

Like a said, just disconnect the LED controller for now. Ignore its noise as its not related to any of the other audio noise. Fix the audio noise first.

[rdlangston13]

Like a said, just disconnect the LED controller for now. Ignore its noise as its not related to any of the other audio noise. Fix the audio noise first.

Well I tried to duplicate the noise from the ballast pumps with no luck. The pumps are too loud out of the water so I couldnt tell if there was a noise or not.


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[rdlangston13]

I'm going to just role with it as is right now. Next week I'm going to pick up some more power and ground wire and make one run from the distribution block to the helm and then come off of that for the head unit and WS420 to see if that helps at all.

Also I think maybe the Cat5 for the RGBs being twisted, could be creating a coil effect and inducing interference in the RCAs that run along side it. I ordered some 18 gauge RGB wire and I'm going to replace all the Cat5 in the cabin with actual RGB wire to see if that helps. Couldn't make it any worse I don't reckon.


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[Woody929]

Do you still have the noise when your cabin/anchor/nav lights on? Did you remove the RGB from the setup entirely, or are you just ignoring that reco for now?

RGBs are very noisy, I run 1,317 of them for the holidays :-)

[rdlangston13]

Do you still have the noise when your cabin/anchor/nav lights on? Did you remove the RGB from the setup entirely, or are you just ignoring that reco for now?

RGBs are very noisy, I run 1,317 of them for the holidays :-)

Today i turned on the other lights with the radio on and didn't hear a thing so I'm all kinds of confused haha. Maybe it's a problem with the engine running?


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[MLA]

Yes, but that are not always equal where audio is concerned.