Static electricity

  Ok guys, first of all I'm an aircraft/auto mechanic by trade with only basic knowledge of audio systems.  I have installed a very basic system in my tacoma 4wd and it sounds great, but when it's cold and dry outside I get popping noise through my speakers when I get out of the truck.  I know it is the static build up that used to shock me when I got out of the truck.  Now it doesn't shock me any more but instead the shock seems to go through my amp.  I have the amp grounded to the cab and 12 volts from the battery to the amp.  I'm wondering if maybe it's because the amp is not mounted but setting on the carpet under my seat.  Does the amp case need a seperate ground if not mounted? Any tips would be appreciated, thx.............

When you "slide" out of the truck and grab the metal on the door to close it, you're grounding any static build up that occured while driving. Grab the metal on your door or frame before you hit the ground, see if that helps

Ya, try to Solder a decent size wire from the amp chassis right to a bare metal spot on the floor under your seat. Just cut I Little hole to fit the wire through.  I don't think this will stop your truck from shocking you but it might stop it from going back through your system to your speakers. 

And once again, just double check the wiring you already have installed. Is you ground wire for your amp as big or bigger than the power wire you have on it?

Let me know how it turns out.

How does the static electricity travel to the amp?  How does a grounding strip dissapate the buil-up?  Maybe the popping is associated with some other problem in the installation or a cheap amplifier.  I really don't think the roads you drive on can be as bad as some of the music the competition amplifiers go through.  What amplier brand and model is it?

How can the static electricity go to the amp?  Electricity always takes the path of least resistance right, so should you be grounding the foam or seat somehow.  To find out what wires go to which speaker some people connect a battery to the positive and negative wires and the speaker makes a poping noise.  Maybe the static electricity is going directly to the speakers.  In this case the speaker wires might have been undesireably grounded somewere.

He said this was happening before with another amp but the truck shocked him. I suggest getting a grounding strap for the actual bottom of the vehicle. Lots of people do this. that way when you step out, there is no difference in charge between the earth and the vehicle.

You don't need to ground the seats they are bolted to the frame of the vehicle. But yes maybe do as Hurtado said and double check your speaker leads to make sure nothing is shorting or touching metal.  If any are leads / wires are touching metal, it will pop or make an audiable noise when the static gets dishcarged.

#1. Dont ground the chassis of the amp, that will cause a path for a possible ground loop

#2. Check the length of your ground wire. I have seen this static sort of pop from a the amped speakers when the ground is either to long or inadiquate. Try for less then 2".

#3. Check the voltage drop between your Negitive battery terminal and the ground point. It should be no higher then 1v.

What is the amp? What type of power are we dealing with here?

Not sure why some other guys haven't replied here but I coulda sworn there was a topic in this or general discussion within the past month concerning popping. Might be worth searching the forum.

On a side note, I don't know if Jay is entirely getting what John is saying... Could be mistaken, just seems to be some miscommunication.