need some help: fog lights cause radio problems

[Drcoffee]

This is the second set of fogs I put on and when I turn on the lights the sound goes softer and there is a static on the speakers. Once I turn it off, the radio is normal again. The radio is an aftermarket Alpine and the fog lights are 18W LEDs 4" with 6-3W leds in each. What can I do to fix this this?

Thanks

 

[jgue467]

Sure you have a good solid ground on the radio?

 

[Drcoffee]

Sure you have a good solid ground on the radio?

Its grounded to the radio chassis. Is there a better place?

 

[Drcoffee]

did a google search and came up with Ferrite chokes. Has anyone used them effectively?

"My son gave me a nice LED bar for my 05 Ford f350 duallydiesel, I wired the ground back to both batteries and used the ford Upfitter switch's. When I use the LED's I too find any FM signal that is weak will get static. I than searched the web and could only find people saying Sorry out of luck. I work with fine electronic where any ripples can cause major problems. I checked the LED bar and it already has built in filters, I than hooked it up to a scope and found that the drivers for the LED's are pulsing at a very high rate, I assume this is to get the most light from the LED's and limit heat in the electronics. I also found that most vehicles that use a CAN-BUSS system have problems with LED's and even after market HID's. After all this I can tell you that for $10 or less this problem can be fixed. I bought 2 ferrite clamps or as some call them Ferrite chokes on e-bay, I got the clamp on style and made sure that the size was good enough for me to wrap the 12vdc power wire twice thru the Clamp,( note the wires have to be snug in the clamp or they will not properly filter the RF out.) I also did this for the ground/negative wire. I did this as close to the light as possible. I than tested and No longer do I have Static on my radio and the scope shows minimum hi frequency in the lines.
I hope this helps you guys out."

 

[Dezert4Runner]

I had an old Kenwood receiver in the runner when I bought it. Every time I used my windshield wipers the radio would have static (just while the wipers were actually moving). I bought a new Kenwood receiver and checked the wiring that was done on the old radio and it was half assed to say the least. Factory connector was gone and the wires were twisted together and they used electrical tape to button it up.

I soldered the new harness wires to the factory wiring and the static went away. Have you looked over all the connections closely? Did the aftermarket receiver use an adapter to hook up to the factory connector or was it hard wired?

 

[jeremyc74]

Its grounded to the radio chassis. Is there a better place?

You need to ground it to the vehicle chassis. That's probably your problem. The radio can't be effectively grounded to its own chassis, as it's all mounted in plastic.

 

[Drcoffee]

Good news. I ran down to the local Radio Shack before they shuttered the doors and bought the ferrite chokes. Grabbed the last 3 packs they had @ $3 each, popped them on the (+) leads pre & post relay, on the relay ground and on the (+) & (-) on each lamp. Worked like a charm. No buzz and no radio fade when the fogs are turned on.

Its nice when you can find a cheap fix to solve an elusive problem.

To answer the question above, I used a harness adapter and soldered it in. The factory harness is still intact.

 

[Drcoffee]

I thought you might be interested in seeing the lights installed. The driver's side light is a spot light pointed straight in front down the road. The passenger side is a flood light to illuminate the road right in front of the truck.

The old fogs were bigger so there's a cutout below. Its not so noticeable from a distance.

OEM lights alone

Fog/spot lights alone

Both together

 

[BrianSD_42]

Did you run all new Power and Ground and speaker wire for the alpine radio?

At a minimum run complete new 10 or 12 gauge power and ground for the Alpine.

I believe this will help eliminate speaker whine. To be fully sure though I recommend running new speaker wire.

I've had 4 different stereos in my rig and running all new wires has worked out great.

 

[BrianSD_42]

ferrite chokes

glad to hear that solved it.

 

[Drcoffee]

The radio is clean and sounds great. The chokes worked.

 

[Robb235]

Had the same problem when I installed my Lifetime LED headlights. Radio would go to static whenever I turned my headlights on.

I tried those ferrite chokes from Radio Shack, but they didn't seem to do anything. Where exactly did you install your chokes? I had 4 per headlight with no results.

I ended up calling Lifetime and they sent me an interference harness to me for no charge. The harnesses (1 per headlight) plugs in inline between the LED driver and the stock headlight wiring harness. Haven't had a problem with radio static since.

 

[Drcoffee]

I didnt wire my fog lights into the factory harness. So mine might be different from yours in that respect. I have a dedicated fused wire from the the battery thru a relay, to the lights and an aftermarket toggle on the dash.

I put a choke on the positive and negative wires about 6-12" behind both fog lights, on the positive lead on the relay, and the ground from the relay.