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took ground to battery...

W

Whiplash-265

Active Member
Aug 14, 2011
280
17
28
59
Ontario, Canada
and damn what a mistake that was
everyone is always saying +/- direct to battery, but holy crap the engine noise now is whack...even with the volume all the way down i have this nice pulsating whine
i even added a ground to the radio casing
back to chassis ground for me
should only take an hour to rip it all apart again lol
 

If you're getting more noise now that the radio +/- is connected directly to the battery I would suspect it is due to the radio's wiring harness running close to/parallel with other wiring and picking up the noise from them. The capacitive nature of the battery will usually suppress noise, not increase it. YMMV
 
WR0220 said:
If you're getting more noise now that the radio +/- is connected directly to the battery I would suspect it is due to the radio's wiring harness running close to/parallel with other wiring and picking up the noise from them. The capacitive nature of the battery will usually suppress noise, not increase it. YMMV
Click to expand...

Agreed, most likely pick up from a dirty source.


Robb said:
. . . Or the alternator is getting old and noisy.

Run a filter inline from the battery to the radio.
Click to expand...


If that was the case going directly to the battery would be the best place as it offers the best filtering from alternator hash. Picking up a ground from the chassis would make things worse. This situation is just the opposite.
 
Is it a ford?

The fuel pump on my escort gave me fits. Sounds like fuel pump noise but I have been wrong before. I don' t stay at the Holiday Inn often enough! :D

Good luck hope you figure it out.
 
better not be an alternator, the truck's only 6 months old :)

k, turns out it wasn't the battery connection...my bad for jumping to conclusions (what, no smiley for slapping one's self in the head??)

i switched it to the main ground immediately off the battery and it was still there...BUT what it was was the chassis ground i attached to the radio
i didn't think adding a ground to an already grounded piece of equipment would have an adverse effect...a quick snip and a reconnect of the battery tomorrow and "this" part of the "hunt for range" is concluded
next we look at bonding, after that?? we waits and sees....i'm still not getting out as well as i should be

lightning coming, time to shut the puter down

73 and thanx for the feedback guys!!!!
 
If it is either the fuel pump or the the alternator - or both - that static is going to be transmitted and picked up by the power wires feeding the radio.

So; why wouldn't putting an inline filter not work?

I would replace the noisy alternator - or replace the filter cap on it first.

When driving cross-country the last few years, I passed a few of trucks and cars that had a LOT of alternator noise. They stand right out in a crowd. Not like fuel pump noise.
I couldn't wait to pass them by and be clear of it.

Arcing between the commutator and the brushes in worn old alternators can get real nasty sounding. If it is so bad that replacing the filter capacitor on it won't help; then it may well be time to replace it. That is, if you want to lose the noise.

IF you cannot track down the source of the noise or are able to fix it yourself; then take it to a shop that specializes in in auto electrical systems (used to work doing that - as well as auto air conditioning - many years ago).
 
Last edited:
I did fix it Robb
3 posts up (y)

i hear what you're saying about external noise...got stuck in traffic a while back (it was raining) and this semi kept slapping me every time he used his wipers when he came within 50 feet of me

i've got TONS of RX, now it's on to improving my pathetic TX...ergo, next thing to try is some bonding :)

cheers guys!!
 
Whiplash-265 said:
better not be an alternator, the truck's only 6 months old :)

k, turns out it wasn't the battery connection...my bad for jumping to conclusions (what, no smiley for slapping one's self in the head??)

i switched it to the main ground immediately off the battery and it was still there...BUT what it was was the chassis ground i attached to the radio
i didn't think adding a ground to an already grounded piece of equipment would have an adverse effect...a quick snip and a reconnect of the battery tomorrow and "this" part of the "hunt for range" is concluded
next we look at bonding, after that?? we waits and sees....i'm still not getting out as well as i should be

lightning coming, time to shut the puter down

73 and thanx for the feedback guys!!!!
Click to expand...


Sounds like a classic case of ground loop problems to me.A single point ground should always be used.
 
Whiplash-265 said:
and damn what a mistake that was
everyone is always saying +/- direct to battery, but holy crap the engine noise now is whack...even with the volume all the way down i have this nice pulsating whine
i even added a ground to the radio casing
back to chassis ground for me
should only take an hour to rip it all apart again lol
Click to expand...

Which radio are you using, might just be a crappy radio that nothing will help.
 
257HP :) barely a month old, latest version (the one that will do talk-back w/mic getting power from radio)

i don't have a 259 to test out the fs etc, but the swr is showing 60+w output at high setting...drops down to about 3w at low
swr also shows 1:1 to 1.5:1 up and down the range

there's a guy somewhat local who's running a booming mobile, i'll see if i can reach out and pick his brain
 
Whiplash-265 said:
257HP :) barely a month old, latest version (the one that will do talk-back w/mic getting power from radio)

i don't have a 259 to test out the fs etc, but the swr is showing 60+w output at high setting...drops down to about 3w at low
swr also shows 1:1 to 1.5:1 up and down the range

there's a guy somewhat local who's running a booming mobile, i'll see if i can reach out and pick his brain
Click to expand...

I had a 257 for 1 day, put it in my car and drove to work, as I pulled up to the first stop light after leaving home, the needle started to climb up to the red with white noise/interference, it pegged the meter with noise as I pulled away it started to come down, same thing at every stop light, I work on the strip in Vegas, the meter was pegged constantly on Las Vegas Blvd, I never had that problem with any of my other radios, I bought the 257 because of space issues in my Mustang GT, I sold that radio on E-Bay to a guy who wanted it as a base, I explained why I was selling the radio to him, probably worked good for him in the country but, never looked back at the 257 because of the noise/interference it had, I know others who don't have any problems with interference with theirs and swear by them but, for where I live and work, it just didn't work out. Widowmaker
 

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