History:
As some of you may know, I have been fighting quite a battle with a pop/click/thump (henceforth referred to as p/c/t) when I turn off my radio. I have a long history of car stereo installation (amateur and professional) and I have an associates degree in electronics engineering. I am currently employed as a commercial electrical designer. I know my way around electricity and have a pretty decent grasp of electronics.
I have had issues with turn-off p/c/t in the past, but it was always a grounding issue, and it was always with aftermarket radios/amps/eq's.
When I installed my amp and sub into my camaro, I googled the Boston Amp wiring diagram which eventually lead me to
these forums. I found the wiring diagram and began hacking away at my factory harness. Originally, I had an Alpine 3527S and my Rockford T1000-1BDCP. The Alpine was running mids/highs (all car speakers, including center channel) with the Rockford handling sub duty. It sounded pretty damn good. I was smiling ear to ear, until I turned it off.
When I turned it off, there was a p/c/t. It wasn't super loud - I didn't expect it would destroy speakers or anything, but it was very noticeable. I was mostly worried about it damaging my amps. Now I had just spent over $1000 and it was like a stick that poked me every time I turned off my car. Being proud of my car and my high-end (to me anyway) equipment, I was embarrassed by the p/c/t.
I started a little troubleshooting - having my wife operate the keys while I watched how the amps and sub reacted when the keys were removed. I noticed that after the keys were removed, the amps stayed on for roughly 2 seconds. When they turned off, there was the p/c/t. So I looked around for something that would change the sequence of operation. I found 2 things I thought might work - the Metra Axxess Trigger and the P.I.E. EIS-PS2 (pop-stopper). Now the
Metra Axxess Trigger I'm pretty sure was expensive and mostly unavailable when I first started looking - I'm sure I remember seeing it on ebay for $90+
. So I figured I'd try the P.I.E. EIS-PS2 since it was only $25 and it's a pop-stopper - win, right?! It provided a 2 second turn-off delay. I figured that if the amp stayed on after the signal dropped, it would not pop. Wrong.
So next I tried removing the amp remote as soon as my wife removed the keys. Viola! No pop! Now I was getting frustrated because I figured that no one made anything that would disconnect the remote at that second. I figured that the factory radio was sending a mute to the factory amp through the mute wire and that the amp was disconnecting the inputs when it got the mute signal. I couldn't think of anything that would do
that for me, so after living with the p/c/t for several months, I finally had a breakdown and removed all of my aftermarket equipment and returned it to stock. Yes, I threw a hissy-fit.
I was pretty sad. I love my car, but I missed my overkill sub. I started looking for answers on the internet, on these forums, everywhere. I started asking questions, and thought several of the answers had merit and were worth at least trying. $1000 worth of stereo sitting in boxes in my garage annoyed me. I wanted to use it again, so I started trying anything and everything that I thought might work. Then I tried some things that I didn't think would do anything to help. I figured that honestly, if nothing else, what I learn could at least help others that might have the same problem. I was determined to find the answer.
Below, I will detail the causes some said were causing the p/c/t and some things I tried and the solution that is semi-working for me. As a note, none of the solutions are perfect. My opinion is that the only perfect solution is replacing the factory radio, since the p/c/t is all it's fault,
