i turn dock lights on, radio fades?

bobbo268 · Sep 9, 2013

Did some rewiring, added dock lights, upgraded wiring.

I installed led dock lights (bright as hell and cheap to boot). 17w each, two of them. If i have my am/fm radio on, and turn on the dock lights, the radio fades to almost silent, until i turn them off. They are power and grounded independantly, however on the same fuse box. I have 12ga wire to the fuse box, and thats all thats running at the same time.

I don't care that much about it, but wondering if its a radio wave thing, or an electrical or fuse thing, and if I should worry about it or not. The wiring that was on the boat was a lot a thinner and lasted for 15 years so I'm not sure what it is.

NYBo · Sep 9, 2013

Re: i turn dock lights on, radio fades?

You probably have a loose or corroded connection. Start at the battery and work forward. Your feed to the fuse block is a little undersized; the usual is 10 or 8 gauge.

bobbo268 · Sep 9, 2013

Re: i turn dock lights on, radio fades?

I know I skimped on the fuse box wire a little. Literally all I have is the radio a depth finder and dock lights and nav lights. Nav and dock lights are led

Silvertip · Sep 9, 2013

Re: i turn dock lights on, radio fades?

Measure the voltage at the radio when the issue occurs. If it is low you need to determine why. Connections, connections, connections -- unless you have a weak battery.

Splat · Sep 10, 2013

Re: i turn dock lights on, radio fades?

It's one of three things.

Voltage drop

A ground loop

Or if they are lower quality dock lights with a driver circuit it's possible the circuit is causing rf problems and burying the front end of the radio

bobbo268 · Sep 10, 2013

Re: i turn dock lights on, radio fades?

Awesome leds And bright as hell. The cost was cheap so usually that means low quality but not always, so could be that. If I ran them straight to the battery bypassing the fuse box, would the rf interference still be present if that was the issue? I don't have a volt reader handy so this method would be easiest.

tpenfield · Sep 10, 2013

Re: i turn dock lights on, radio fades?

What else changes when the docking lights go on. . . ? Gauge readings, Instrument panel lighting, etc.? If so, I would suspect a weak ground connection. Nothing to do with RF really.

Having a multimeter is sure handy especially when you are doing electrical work. So, maybe you should get one . . . they are not too expensive. That way you can see if the voltage on the ground side of the speakers is rising when the docking lights go on, etc. as would be indicative of a bad ground connection back to the battery.

At 17 watts (each) the docking lights would be drawing about 3 amps when on.

tab2 · Sep 11, 2013

Re: i turn dock lights on, radio fades?

Don't post here often, but another forum I read speaks about LED interfering with radios, however it mostly refers to static. Thread here:
static in radio with led flood lights ??? - Pirate4x4.Com : 4x4 and Off-Road Forum

bruceb58 · Sep 11, 2013

Re: i turn dock lights on, radio fades?

bobbo268 said:
Awesome leds And bright as hell. The cost was cheap so usually that means low quality but not always, so could be that. If I ran them straight to the battery bypassing the fuse box, would the rf interference still be present if that was the issue? I don't have a volt reader handy so this method would be easiest.

You have a link to these lights? I highly doubt they have any kind of circuit in them causing RF interference but anything is possible.

Splat · Sep 12, 2013

Re: i turn dock lights on, radio fades?

Indeed it would be rare, but I had a pair of cheap Chinese LEDs once that were driven with a pwm circuit, they would make my ham gear in my truck go wild. Was just tossing it out there.

bruceb58 · Sep 12, 2013

Re: i turn dock lights on, radio fades?

Splat said:
Indeed it would be rare, but I had a pair of cheap Chinese LEDs once that were driven with a pwm circuit, they would make my ham gear in my truck go wild. Was just tossing it out there.

If they are dimmable they may have one. Not sure why you would have dimmable dock lights. Kinda why I wanted to see a link.

i turn dock lights on, radio fades?

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