Lights give problem to radio signal?!

[ScottyBoy]

I have heard of static interference with the radio when an HID ballast is going bad. Do you have HIDs or regular lights?

 

[vansdonk]

I think you have a short somewhere.




Mark

 

[OG-Unleashed]

I have heard of static interference with the radio when an HID ballast is going bad. Do you have HIDs or regular lights?

i have all HID's on my truck lol

my head lights are about 2 years old and my fog lights are about 5 months old, but i have a load tester at my shop and i doubt its from my battery because i changed that to lol

 

[That Crazy Squirrel]

I'm a little late to the party but... ever get this figured out?

 

[OG-Unleashed]

I'm a little late to the party but... ever get this figured out?

some old thing, never got to the bottom of this

 

[That Crazy Squirrel]

I'm a little late to the party but... ever get this figured out?

some old thing, never got to the bottom of this

I take that even though you didn't figure it out it's not a problem for you anymore?

 

[OG-Unleashed]

I'm a little late to the party but... ever get this figured out?

some old thing, never got to the bottom of this

I take that even though you didn't figure it out it's not a problem for you anymore?

oh ya it does brother me but havent had time checking it out....

 

[That Crazy Squirrel]

I'm a little late to the party but... ever get this figured out?

some old thing, never got to the bottom of this

I take that even though you didn't figure it out it's not a problem for you anymore?

oh ya it does brother me but havent had time checking it out....

Okay, a fast way to diagnose it is to take a small portable AM/FM radio, tune it to the same frequency you're getting the noise at on the truck radio, then use it as a portable "sniffer" to check the ballasts. If you don't get the static on the portable than it's coming into the radio via the power lead, and a noise filter will probably fix it. If you do get it on the portable it should get worse the closer you get to the source. That should help localize it to either one or both ballasts, or something else that might be causing it.

If it's just one ballast, then that one is probably bad and may need to be replaced. If it's both, then they could just need ground straps or a bit of RF shielding around them.

 

[That Crazy Squirrel]

It is entirely possible though that it's RF from the bulbs themselves. Any type of electrical arcing gives off a considerable amount of RF. (Early Morse code sets were "spark gap" transmitters - which is exactly what it sounds like) HID bulbs work by causing a high voltage arc between two contacts, so they're what are called "unintentional radiators" and, while most bulbs are pretty well shielded, cheaper models may not be (particularly cheap imports from China), or you may just have a receiver that has poor filtering and noise rejection.

If you find it's the bulbs, let me know and I'll see what I can do about getting you a filter that may stop it.

 

[OG-Unleashed]

Thanks I'll try and do that today or tomorrow but great Info really appreciate it