Another suggestion for those that are having problems. Did you adjust the gain higher? Does the static appear at higher volumes or at all volumes. Try turning the bass down and seeing if the problem is still there.
FWIW. I installed mine last week but haven't had to much time to play with it (spent 6 days in Cancun Mexico. )
Jes

 

I had the same problem with the first sub I received, but it was the wrong color (brown). When I unplugged the sub the radio reception was back to normal. I received another one today, the right color, no reception problem and the sub works great! I would like to thank all who's positive input lead me to puchase this sub.
Regards,
Darl

 

ATLscrewdriver said something about shielding the wires. You can shield the wires with sometype of foil, but one end of the foil has to be grounded. Don't ground both ends just one, if you ground both ends it would create a loop. I don't have one of those sub's, but I have shielded stuff in the past.

 

Okay guys, here is an update. I don't have it eliminated yet, but I do have some progress. Some of this stuff probably requires pictures, and if I get it figured out, I'll try to take some for posting. First, I am using the supplied harnesses and nothing else (to start with). With the radio on to a weaker (but normally no noise) FM station, it will be very "hissy" and the stereo light will not indicate. If I disconnect the harness at the sub, or take out the sub fuse, the radio reception instantly clears up. Plug it back in and it goes back hissy. It is VERY repeatable. Various clip on ferrites have provided some improvement, but have not eliminated the problem. The level of the noise is very supseptable to the harness location around the sub. I have tried umpteen million harness locations, but cannot get it to improve consistantly. We took the sub apart and found that the amp board is not shielded at all, other than the ground plane of the circuitry is tied to the additional ground pigtail. I have built a box shield to put the amp into. It is an aluminum, prefab, standard box that you can buy in many sizes at electronics stores (can't remember the name for these at the moment). A steel box would be better, but I didn't have one available at the time. Next, the two pins in the board mounted connector that go to the ground on the board have a very small pattern tying them to the larger copper circuit (called wagon wheel in the business). This could possibly cause some problems, so I scraped the resist off of the copper around the wagon wheel pattern and then flowed a solder bridge from the pins to the large area of the copper, to provide a better ground path. The WW pattern is used for production reasons, although it can compromise circuit design. I have also added a ground braid from the ground circiutry to the box shield. Now I have put the sub back together. Still noise problems, although there seems to be some improvement. I have twisted the harness and have added a clip on ferrite to it next to where it plugs into the sub. A little better, but still sensitive to harness location. We had tried connecting the pigtail ground wire directly to the radio case (there is a spade terminal on the back of the case) earlier. This seemed to help before the amp mods that I just did. Now the connection to the case seems to hurt the reception. Reattach it to the IP metal structure at the bottom edge of the IP and tried removing the ground that is in the harness from the radio to the sub. This makes an improvement. Next I try removing my ground connection on the amp board to the box shield that I made (the box still shields the amp, but "floats" away from the ground). This makes a very noticable improvement. Now, the harness is hardly supseptable to location, and only the weakest of the FM stations are getting noise induced to them. When I get more improvement, I will make a list of the changes that I have done, hopefully with pics, so that if someone wants to try it, they can see what I have done. If I had paided $399 for this, it would have gone back to Crutchfield. If I didn't have the resources available to me, even at the $149 price, it would have gone back. Yes, it sounds good and I love the way it fills out the (marginal) factory speaker system, but what I have done so far is WAYYYY more that anyone should have to do to make it work right. I guess I like how the enclosure is "factory" styled and looks nice in the truck. I know about the under seat or behind the seat subs, but I probably wouldn't have put a sub in except for this "easy" hookup and good looks. CD's only is not an option for me, there are some stations that I like to listen to. Since I have made mods to the amp, I am committed to making this work now. I do have a "last" reasort, but it is not available to everyone else (use one of "our" sub amps. It is not a "switching" amp and it would be free to me. On the outside, the amp is not available just by itself, but part of an assembly that is put in by one of the big three car companies)
I don't know why some are saying that they do not have any reception problems. It could be any combination of varibles that makes it work OK for them, but the rest of us have something different that screws it up. I could be fighting a marginal ground connection at the antenna base to the body (good enough that it doesn't affect the stock audio setup, but with the amp noise, blows away the radio signals). I suppose I should check it out, but I would think that I would have intermittant noise probs before (didn't).
BTW, a small, battery AM radio tuned to around the top end of the dial makes a very good noise locator. Once you get it about 8 to 10 inches away from the sub box and harness, it will start squealing big time. We use this to locate problem equipment in the plant that interferes with the test equipment (quick and dirty method). Sorry for the long post. I hope that this and my future info helps.

Regards,
Mike

 

Additional response to questions. In mine, it is not gain related. At any gain or radio volume setting, the noise is there. Disconnect the sub and "poof", the noise goes away.

Regards,
Mike

 

i thought i may throw in my $.02. have you tried cutting the ground wire to the radio (from the harness) and re ground the radio to a better spot?

it could possibly be a "ground loop". re-grounding the head may eliminate the interference.

*its not hard to do and its worth a try*

chris

 

I don't have this sub but wanted to highlight the team work and cooperation here. Reminds me of the old days... Great work guys keep it up. It was this kind of information that brought most of us here to begin with ... Kudos

Doug

 

Dam Mike,

I was only kiddng about it being on you You are one serious electroninc wizard over there. Thanks for all the input.
I'll sent these post along to Crutchfield again which CLEARLY ANSWER'S the 2 test they asked for. (Is it the gain) and (Does it go away when you unplug the Sub) I'll post the response when they write back again.

And Doug,
Your right about how great it is "WE ALL" pulled together on this one. Makes me feel good to be part of this. But now I feel bad about all the terrible things I said about you
Can we start fresh

 

Man!!!
I was just about to pull out the radio to make sure my attenna was plugged in. I thought I had knocked it loose when I put the radio back after I installed the sub.
I listen to three stations that are not extremely powerful but I got them in perfectly clear before the sub box. Now all I get is fuzz.

Eric

 

I have no problem.But I did clip the ground wire and added a eight inch pig tail with a bigger eye.I mounted it to the tube suport were I wire tied the sub to.That stud goes right to the body.I just put this same sub in our 97 F-150 4x4.And I did not notice this problem in that truck.but i will check tonight.Thanks all of you guys you are a great bunch.

 

Are all you guys having problems hooking this to factory HU with the "T" harness?
I hooked mine up with the other harness for power, ground and remote turn on since I used the RCA connections off my Alpine HU. I have no static or hiss at all and all my stations still come in fine. Just wondering if its something that happens with the "T" harness and factory HU unit only. Just got me thinking about it and maybe the harness is causing the interference with the factory HU only........

 

 

Just checked the 1997 4x4 and it is fine.That is two that i have and they both work great.

 

No problem with mine now that i have the correct gain and bass adjustment on the radio. Doesn't affect the stations i pick up and sounds good for the money.---Jim

 

Static seems to be worst when the radio is just powered on...for approx 10-15 seconds I get large amount of static...then it gets better and I only get intermittent fffft...fffft...fffft static.