radio whistling

[fla 9]

When i put the charging lead into the TomTom and connect it to the ciggie socket, i get a huge amount of whistling on the radio. any reason for this and how can i get around it? Thanks

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

not sure why thats causing the noise when you hook up the tom tom mate,but i would add a supresor( spelling?) to the live going to the cig lighter to sort the problem out.

[fla 9]

Cheers for that James. Funny thing is, when the cooling fan trips in this also causes noise and interference. Maybe a loose earth somewhere?

[Fanjita 1]

I might be off here mate, but some of the tomtoms also have an fm transmitter, you sure it's not coming on when you fire it up? Is it one station you're getting interference on or multiple? If it's just one then this may be why.

[fla 9]

not sure why thats causing the noise when you hook up the tom tom mate,but i would add a supresor( spelling?) to the live going to the cig lighter to sort the problem out.

 

How should this be wired James?

[tyler 0]

are you running amps? if so have installedall cables next to each other? if so remove the rca leads from the power cable this can cause issues.

[fla 9]

no, no amps im afraid :( . perhaps one day. when i do, i'll bear that in mind tyler.

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

Cheers for that James. Funny thing is, when the cooling fan trips in this also causes noise and interference. Maybe a loose earth somewhere?

 

Its more than likley a poor earth to the cig lighter or the charging system is not up to scratch...or the radio has a poor earth? has the radio got its own ground or has it been added into the loom some how?

[fla 9]

It could be a poor earth to the ciggy socket as i removed it to get a power feed for the dial lights. I'll take it a part over the weekend and post some pics up. Not sure if the head unit has its own ground, i guess there's not short cut to pulling it out...

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

It could be a poor earth to the ciggy socket as i removed it to get a power feed for the dial lights. I'll take it a part over the weekend and post some pics up.

 

 

It would be better to add a cig lighter earth to ground to rule out any problems there bud.

 

P.S did you get the lead?

[fla 9]

yep, sorry, should have mentioned that - many thanks, it arrived last saturday.

 

iirc there were 4 spades in the lighter socket, no? Presumably the earth should be on the spade to which the metal housing is fitted? What about the engine cooling fans interfering with the radio? Is this, as you've mentioned above the head unit earth? From what i remember i just connected teh aerial, the main block connector and the speaker leads. No separate earth though...have i missed something?

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

There should be three wires iirc for the cig lighter,one body earth,live to the centre then the bulb that earths via the cig lighter body.

 

The Radio will need its own earth,i have seen radios that have used the ariel wire as the earth and cause all kinds of problems,you will need to double check your radio again mate as if this is the case then you have found your problem.

 

Have you an aftermarket radio? one yellow for aux,red for batt and black for earth?

[fla 9]

yes aftermarket. I think you're right, as i dont remember putting in a separate connector to earth the radio.

[zak 0]

Ive had similar problems before with an alpine a seperate earth for the stereo solved it.

[mrparamedicdawson 0]

check the ground on your battery, what's happening is you are pulling more voltage than your electrical system was originally designed. If you are having problems when the fan turns on then that would mean one of the primary grounds in the engine compartment is faulty. You also can place an additional ground lead on the cigarette lighter, i have had to do that with older GM cars.

[fla 9]

I've since fitted an earth from the radio chassis to the earthing junction behind the rhs vent (spade on this end, screwed into the hed unit chassis at the other). There's continuity but there is still interference, albeit less. The cable is 2.5mm (mains cable). I'll add a suppressor to the ciggy socket (best way to do this?) and perhaps an additional earth, but any other suggestions?

[fla 9]

this is still a issue - the HU has a separate earth, the earths in the engine bay seem fine (bonnet and the connecting plate behind the head), but when the fans kick in it still whistles, moreso when it rains???

[fla 9]

where does the earth wire from the head unit actually connect to? Is it just to the aerial connector? Just checked the earth strap behind the battery - also OK. are there any other earthing points to check (part from behind the head)? It also whistles when any electrical circuit comes on, eg the cooling fans, and the wiper relay clicks are also picked up and amplified, as is the indicator relay

[fla 9]

Reviving my own thread! I've since changed head units area times and added an amp. Thanks to advice here I've run the amp wiring well spaced. However I've not been able to get rid of the noise when charging from the cigarette lighter socket. And the cooling fans also create interference. I'll install some capacitors on them when I take them out.

The cabin fan now causes radio noise on speeds 3 and 4. But strangely this is not on all radio frequencies. So often the solution is to change channel. Charging n the other hand affects all AM stations.Suggestions?

[SteveM 10]

I had a whistle on my storm after fitting a head unit to it shortly after I bought it. The wiring was plugged directly into the factory fit plug, everything worked as it should but the whistling was there. I have since rewired the ignition live feed on the plug so it's a permanent live so I don't have to have the keys in the ignition when using the radio and the whistling has since disappeared.

[fla 9]

I had a whistle on my storm after fitting a head unit to it shortly after I bought it. The wiring was plugged directly into the factory fit plug, everything worked as it should but the whistling was there. I have since rewired the ignition live feed on the plug so it's a permanent live so I don't have to have the keys in the ignition when using the radio and the whistling has since disappeared.

 

Which wires in which connectors did you swop over?

[SteveM 10]

Quite often you can do this on the head units wiring harness rather than cutting about the original cars loom. On most modern head units, the red and yellow power input wires are simply joined together and then connected to the permanent live connection on the vehicles power plug. A multimeter will confirm which connection on the plug this is.