radio breaks up and becomes staticy

[findinghomer]

once it starts moving. Recently upgraded to dual battery. i suspect ground issue? If so what do i need to do? Works fine w engine off

 

[Bondo]

Re: radio breaks up and becomes staticy

i suspect ground issue? If so what do i need to do?

Ayuh,... If it was fine Before you did what you did...
Go back,+ See what you did Wrong...

 

[findinghomer]

Re: radio breaks up and becomes staticy

there is not much to wiring up a battery dial.

 

[Bondo]

Re: radio breaks up and becomes staticy

Ayuh,... Which makes it hard to believe ya screwed it up....
So I'll ask once again,...
Did it work properly Before you did the job,..??

 

[stylesabu]

Re: radio breaks up and becomes staticy

did you try another input source,cd player or ipod? If only the radio then either antenna isn't grounded, or your getting interferance from plug wires. but you said all you did was wire 2 batteries. reverse what you did, see if problem still exists. you may have done something your not aware of.

 

[findinghomer]

Re: radio breaks up and becomes staticy

Ayuh,... Which makes it hard to believe ya screwed it up....
So I'll ask once again,...
Did it work properly Before you did the job,..??

yes worked right before i added the second battery

did you try another input source,cd player or ipod? If only the radio then either antenna isn't grounded, or your getting interferance from plug wires. but you said all you did was wire 2 batteries. reverse what you did, see if problem still exists. you may have done something your not aware of.

yes i tried different source. infact i wasnt using the radio, i was using ipod and tv (aux)

 

[findinghomer]

Re: radio breaks up and becomes staticy

hmmm. No ideas?

 

[stylesabu]

Re: radio breaks up and becomes staticy

if using an ipod you should be getting any static, check actual voltage at radio when on, if it low you can get static, below 11.5 volt use volt meter.what is voltage drop when you turn radio on?

 

[findinghomer]

Re: radio breaks up and becomes staticy

if using an ipod you should be getting any static, check actual. voltage at radio when on, if it low you can get static, below 11.5 volt use volt meter.what is voltage drop when you turn radio on?

well it works fine w engine off. I suppose i could test voltage when engine running. Just doesn seem likely im losing voltage because of adding a battery?

 

[findinghomer]

Re: radio breaks up and becomes staticy

if using an ipod you should be getting any static, check actual. voltage at radio when on, if it low you can get static, below 11.5 volt use volt meter.what is voltage drop when you turn radio on?

well it works fine w engine off. I suppose i could test voltage when engine running. Just doesn seem likely im losing voltage because of adding a battery?

 

[stylesabu]

Re: radio breaks up and becomes staticy

something has happened since you added second battery. I was an ASE master auto for 20 plus years, i can't tell you how many something I get caused the problem. If something doesn't work after you worked on it the odds of it being something you did is about 99.8% your fault. are you sure both batterys are good? try starting over, but use second battery as main. check for noise. it shouldn't be radio interferance as the ipod doesn't use an antenna.so it could be alternator noise but that is usually a whining noise that changes with engine rpm. I have an old radio noise manual from when i installed radios many years ago I'll dig it up tomorrow, once we find source of noise I should be able to filter it out.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: radio breaks up and becomes staticy

If your ipod is charging at the same time, you can get static through the charge port of the ipod...very common problem with Ipods.

 

[findinghomer]

Re: radio breaks up and becomes staticy

well its def not static from ipod charger, its not engine noise, its like a power loss, kind of sounds like a blown speaker. remember it works fine and clear with engine off. When wiring up my battery dial, do i put all my accessory wires on the center terminal of the switch with the engine positive? Or leave them on the positive of the deep cycle? maybe i have this wrong?

 

[bruceb58]

Re: radio breaks up and becomes staticy

Maybe you should explain what you did when you went to dual batteries. What wiring did you change in your boat other than adding another battery and switch and the assosciated battery cables to the switch.

 

[findinghomer]

Re: radio breaks up and becomes staticy

Maybe you should explain what you did when you went to dual batteries. What wiring did you change in your boat other than adding another battery and switch and the assosciated battery cables to the switch.

ok, i have a cable goin from the positive terminal of the deep cycle, to terminal one of switch, then a cable from starting battery positive terminal, to terminal two of switch, i then i have the positive cable from the engine goin to the center terminal.

then i have the accesory wires still tied on to the wingnut positive terminal of the deep cycle. i have the engine ground tied to the wing nut terminal of the deepcycle battery (basically exactly the same as before i had the second battery) Then i have another cable (ground) bridging the two negative terminals of the batteries, extending one to the other (the actual terminal not the wing nut terminal).

so basically i didnt change anythin, i just added the necessary cables to put a dial in (perko)

 

[findinghomer]

Re: radio breaks up and becomes staticy

ok, maybe someone can help after this update? i undid everything. went back to my old one battery setup. still does it. so has nothing to do with the switch, second battery , or cables..... now the ONLY other thing i have done to this thing since last season is change the spark plugs, could this have anything at all to do with it?

a good way to describe the symptom is to think of how a radio sounds when you touch a negative and positive speaker wire together while its playing. that weak, inconsisitant, crackly sound. ONLY when the engine is running...

i wonder if it could be the radio? just weird works fine till engine runs.

 

[McBoatin]

Re: radio breaks up and becomes staticy

do you have resistor spark plugs on your motor? if not put one in and see if it helps. It helped me. you might need to use more than one? i dont know much about them but my local mechanic recommended it to me so I got the marine version for my motor (same # w/ a Q in front) and solved radio static when motor ran.

hope it helps!

 

[stylesabu]

Re: radio breaks up and becomes staticy

see, I told you it was something you did. spark plugs and spark plug wires can cause your problem. You never said anything about that. did plugs solve noise concern?

 

[Boatist]

Re: radio breaks up and becomes staticy

Plugs is usually a very easy sound to trace to the motor. It will increase with engine speed.

I think you should also check to make sure your battery post are clean and tight and the wires to your switch are clean and tight.

Check your power plugs going to the radio.

Another common problem is loose antenna or a bad antenna or coax. Works fine with the motor off but when you start the motor the vibration causes the power connection or antenna connection to vibrate and shake. Also antenna also fail this way. The thin felexable antenna often use tuned coax inside the antenna as the element. When they go bad then vibration cause the coax to break connection and make noise. So with the engine off try shaking the radio power and antenna connection. Also flex or shake the antenna. Check the coax where it goes thru the deck.