Steve Kolenda Posted April 19, 2006 Share Posted April 19, 2006 Wondering if anybody else is using a Garmin 276C with an intercom system. I had discovered an annoying ticking sound through my Autocom system when receiving spoken directions from my brand new Garmin 276C. I was able to narrow the noise down to the GPS and sent the GPS back to Garmin with instructions stating if they could not hear the ticking sound please do not return the unit to me but give me a call. Well, today I received a unit back from Garmin which is a different serial# than the one that I sent to them and it does exactly the same thing. The only difference is the one that I sent them was brand new and the one I received back is not quite brand new, a few minor scratches here and there. Has anybody else experienced this noise? Link to comment
johnlt Posted April 20, 2006 Share Posted April 20, 2006 Nope. I use the 276C with an Autocom Pro M1 with no problems. Link to comment
jrparodi Posted April 20, 2006 Share Posted April 20, 2006 I've got my 276C hardwired into my Autocom, no ticking sound... I do get occasional interferance from my cell phone (a Treo) if I forget to turn it off, same interferance we get when the Treo is near speaker phones in the office. Link to comment
Mainuh Posted April 20, 2006 Share Posted April 20, 2006 I've input the 276C into my HJC Chatterbox FRX2 aux input with no issues. Link to comment
wuli959 Posted April 21, 2006 Share Posted April 21, 2006 Wondering if anybody else is using a Garmin 276C with an intercom system. I had discovered an annoying ticking sound through my Autocom system when receiving spoken directions from my brand new Garmin 276C. I was able to narrow the noise down to the GPS and sent the GPS back to Garmin with instructions stating if they could not hear the ticking sound please do not return the unit to me but give me a call. Well, today I received a unit back from Garmin which is a different serial# than the one that I sent to them and it does exactly the same thing. The only difference is the one that I sent them was brand new and the one I received back is not quite brand new, a few minor scratches here and there. Has anybody else experienced this noise? First, I'd have them send me my unblemished unit back. I using a 276/Autocom M1 combination without ticking sounds. GPS is plugged into one of two Autocom splitters that have noise suppression and handle my cell phone, GPS and V1 into the M1 mono input. (when I tried direct plugging the GPS into the Autocom I did have some "ticking" sounds) Link to comment
Steve Kolenda Posted April 21, 2006 Author Share Posted April 21, 2006 David, I am also using the Pro M1 with the special Autocom cable. Both of the units that I have had have this ticking sound when giving the spoken directions. This ticking noise is in no way related to anything but the GPS. I have plugged an external speaker into the motorcycle power/audio cable with the unit off the bike and running only on its on battery and with the volume down very low, the ticking is very obvious. I have a digital recording that I have sent to Garmin and if I can figure out how to I will post it here. Link to comment
GelandeStrasseWayne Posted April 23, 2006 Share Posted April 23, 2006 Does the special Autocom cable include a ground isolating transformer? You may need one of those to fix the problem. I needed one on my Starcom system. Link to comment
Lion_lady Posted April 23, 2006 Share Posted April 23, 2006 I've got a 276C that I'm using with the Pro7 Sport. I get a 'crackling' sound along with voice commands. Then eventually (as time passes) the voice commands become inaudible, and only a quiet crackling noise is heard when a prompt comes up. Am I misinterpretting here? I think of 'ticking' as a regular-interval noise, a 'crackle' is more random. P Link to comment
bojohnson Posted April 23, 2006 Share Posted April 23, 2006 I'm getting the same ticking sound when I connect my Kenwood radio to an Autocom Pro 5 unit. Link to comment
Steve Kolenda Posted April 24, 2006 Author Share Posted April 24, 2006 The noise is not being caused by the intercom system. I believe the noise is coming from some processor within the GPS. I also believe that when you increase the GPS volume the volume of the ticking sound does not increase. I think that you would not normally hear this noise when using an external speaker because the volume level is set considerably higher than when being fed to my Autocom system which amplifies the sound. With my system I would typically have the volume set to one or two max. If my analysis is correct, this would mean the volume level of the ticking in comparison to the volume of the spoken directions would be much greater using the amplified Autocom verses an external speaker. Having said that, if nobody else has this problem it would seem that it is unique to the unit that I have although this is the second unit that I have had that does this. Link to comment
Burnie M Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 When you tried the sound into an external speaker did you have the power/audio cable wired to the bike battery ? Almost certainly this noise is NOT generated by the GPS but is generated on bike and leaking into one of the cables. I have setup and tested over 50 276C (I work for a dealer) and have never observed this noise on a unit not wired into a bike. I agree that they should not have sent you a marked unit but I suggest that you were unwise to tell them not to return your original unit. Link to comment
Steve Kolenda Posted April 26, 2006 Author Share Posted April 26, 2006 Burnie, My first experiment was to connect the speaker from my Streetpilot III to the audio out on the Garmin power / motorcycle cable and with the volume down low and the speaker to my ear the ticking is there. Keep in mind the 276C is running of its own battery, I'm in no way connected to the bike, matter of fact I'm not even near the bike. Last call to Garmin they said they would send me the automobile cigarette adapter and speaker and if the unit still made the noise through that, they would send me a new unit. Today I received the cable and speaker and ran the same test with the same results. Spoke with Garmin this afternoon and a new, not refurbished unit will be here on Friday. It seems extremely unlikely but not impossible that two units would have a problem that no one else seems to have. Link to comment
Steve Kolenda Posted May 2, 2006 Author Share Posted May 2, 2006 Well I just received my third unit from Garmin. This time a brand new unit not a refurbished one and as I expected it also has the ticking noise. Apparently the noise is inherent in the 276C. I will keep the unit, the ticking is annoying but seeing that the only time you hear it is when directions are being spoken it is tolerable. My Streetpilot III does not have this problem. Maybe my hearing is too good, nobody else seems to hear it. Link to comment
Chugger Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Well I just received my third unit from Garmin. This time a brand new unit not a refurbished one and as I expected it also has the ticking noise. Apparently the noise is inherent in the 276C. I will keep the unit, the ticking is annoying but seeing that the only time you hear it is when directions are being spoken it is tolerable. My Streetpilot III does not have this problem. Maybe my hearing is too good, nobody else seems to hear it. Steve, I have had the 276C for over a year with no ticking noise. Battery power, Bike power, Boat, car - I would think somehow your connection configuration must be the problem. Link to comment
Steve Kolenda Posted May 3, 2006 Author Share Posted May 3, 2006 Paul, I suspect it is there but you can not hear it. The odds of getting three units with the same defect are extremely slim. The ticking is there with the automobile speaker connected and the unit not anywhere near the bike. Link to comment
Mainuh Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Paul, I suspect it is there but you can not hear it. The odds of getting three units with the same defect are extremely slim. The ticking is there with the automobile speaker connected and the unit not anywhere near the bike. Steve, I like so many others also have a 276C and run it in many configurations and have loaned it to at least 3 other peolpe who used it on their dash. They never heard any ticking, nor have I on the bike or in the car (and I do have the power cable with the audio port on my bike, but have only used it a couple of times). You either have superman's hearing, or are getting some minor electrical interferance via your vehicles. I would try putting a cheap ferrite core (like a small magnet, often in a plastic snap on case to go around a cord) snapped on up near the unit and see it that mitigates your issues. You should be able to get one at rat shack for a buck or two. Here's an example of one. They are often seen on computer screen power cords to prevent interferance. Good luck. Link to comment
Paul_Burkett Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 My problem on the bike while using the 276, is the volume is so low that I can not hear it well even with the volume turned all of the way up on the 276. Link to comment
Steve Kolenda Posted May 3, 2006 Author Share Posted May 3, 2006 Don, The noise is there when the unit is not anywhere near a vehicle. You probably would not normally hear it through an external speaker because you would have the volume up and I believe that the noise does not increase with volume level of the voice. It is very noticeable (to me) through the Autocom system because I run the GPS volume at 2. The noise is being produced by the GPS itself so I don't know if the ferrite core would help. I think if I had some way of reducing the amplification through the Autocom so that I would have to turn the GPS volume up it might solve the problem. Link to comment
Chugger Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Paul, I Had the same problem until I changed the connector on my GPS extension lead from Mono to Stereo and used only the shield & center contact on the plug. Now there is more then enough volume. Link to comment
Chugger Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Steve, Can you give us a wiring Diagram of your current system? Link to comment
Steve Kolenda Posted May 3, 2006 Author Share Posted May 3, 2006 Paul, I have an Autocom ProM1 using the noise reducing Autocom cable with the 2.5mm mono plug. Power and audio are provided through the Garmin motorcycle power/audio cable. Link to comment
Chugger Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 If your GPS volume is that low and you here the ticking. Could you add a resistor so you would need to increase the GPS volume? I'm using the pro7 and volume is set at 5. Are you using a amplifier somewhere? Or are you using in ear speakers like the ER6 or similar? I'm going to hook up the er6 to the gps and see if I can reproduce your ticking sounds. Link to comment
Paul_Burkett Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 Of the three points on the stereo female side, which is the sheild, tip or base? Link to comment
Steve Kolenda Posted May 4, 2006 Author Share Posted May 4, 2006 Paul, No amp and the standard Autocom headset. I am electronically challenged so I don't know if a resistor somewhere would make a difference. Thanks for taking an interest. Link to comment
Chugger Posted May 5, 2006 Share Posted May 5, 2006 Ground is connected to the shield Link to comment
Paul_Burkett Posted May 5, 2006 Share Posted May 5, 2006 Thank you Chugger, I'll re-solder the connectors and see how well it works. Link to comment
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