VHF noise when battery charging

[Wainui]

I get a noise on my Standard Horizon VHF when I have the Xantrex battery charger charging on shore power. What can I do to cure this?

[smac999]

A bad battery sometimes does this. Could also be issue with charger.

[Paul L]

You can try adding ferrites to the goes in and out wires on the charger.
If it is only a low 60 hz hum, you could ignore it and turn off the charger when you needed to use the VHF with weak stations.

[transmitterdan]

Originally Posted by Wainui

I get a noise on my Standard Horizon VHF when I have the Xantrex battery charger charging on shore power. What can I do to cure this?

Your problem is not unheard of but also not that common. So it should be easy to find the cause and fix it.

Tell us a little about how the battery charger is connected to the battery bank. Also, how is the VHF connected to the battery bank. And then tell us where the VHF antenna is located and how far it is from the battery charger.

Battery chargers can cause lots of noise if they are not connected directly to the battery terminals.

[BocaIII]

You need to determine how the noise is getting into the radio.

This is easy, take the antenna off the radio while the charger is on. If the noise is still there it is coming in through the DC power cable, which is the most likely. In this case you need to filter the DC cable...hopefully good ferrites will work. If ferrites do not fix it...it gets a bit complicated.

Second case, if the noise goes away when removing the antenna the issue needs to be addressed in the charger. If its under warranty, you have claim for RFI. If not, I would sell the charger and get a different brand. You can try ferrites on the charger output but this is very difficult due to frequency of RFI, types of ferrites, etc.

Good Luck
Jack
W4GRJ

[S/V Illusion]

Originally Posted by BocaIII

You need to determine how the noise is getting into the radio.

This is easy, take the antenna off the radio while the charger is on. If the noise is still there it is coming in through the DC power cable, which is the most likely. In this case you need to filter the DC cable...hopefully good ferrites will work. If ferrites do not fix it...it gets a bit complicated.

Second case, if the noise goes away when removing the antenna the issue needs to be addressed in the charger. If its under warranty, you have claim for RFI. If not, I would sell the charger and get a different brand. You can try ferrites on the charger output but this is very difficult due to frequency of RFI, types of ferrites, etc.

Good Luck
Jack
W4GRJ

This is good advice.

Noise can be either radiated (through the air as RF) or conducted ( through the wiring). You will differentiate by doing what he suggests so as to determine the best cure.

Any other method or quesses anyone might offer are just over-complicating the problem.

[BocaIII]

Originally Posted by BocaIII

You need to determine how the noise is getting into the radio.

This is easy, take the antenna off the radio while the charger is on. If the noise is still there it is coming in through the DC power cable, which is the most likely. In this case you need to filter the DC cable...hopefully good ferrites will work. If ferrites do not fix it...it gets a bit complicated.

Second case, if the noise goes away when removing the antenna the issue needs to be addressed in the charger. If its under warranty, you have claim for RFI. If not, I would sell the charger and get a different brand. You can try ferrites on the charger output but this is very difficult due to frequency of RFI, types of ferrites, etc.

Good Luck
Jack
W4GRJ

Need to clarify my suggestion, in the first paragraph I am referring to the radio DC power cable.
Jack
W4GRJ

[sailduggar]

Originally Posted by Wainui

I get a noise on my Standard Horizon VHF when I have the Xantrex battery charger charging on shore power. What can I do to cure this?

Check your ground connections for the VHF and for the battery charger. Just a small amount of resistance in the battery charger ground connection can cause there to be a few millivolts difference between the two grounds and that can lead to noise in the VHF. I had the same thing with the VHF connected to the ground block from the refrig and a poorly crimped cable connector from the ground block to the keel -- got noise on VHF every time the refrig. came on.

[akprb]

Diode on the 12V supply to the VHF might do the trick.

[BocaIII]

Originally Posted by akprb

Diode on the 12V supply to the VHF might do the trick.

Adding a diode is not a solution for noise on dc power.
You may be thinking of adding a capacitor across the pos and
Neg dc line. Just need to know noise frequency to select correct
capacitance value.

Best to follow my original suggestion.

Jack
W4GRJ

[akprb]

There ya go, knew it was one of those :-) We had an issue with a propane solenoid years ago making noise over something when energized. I forget what. Put a diode in there somewhere and solved the prob.

How's that for a non answer!?! :-)

Follow Jack's advice!

[continuouswave]

Originally Posted by Wainui

I get a noise on my Standard Horizon VHF when I have the Xantrex battery charger charging on shore power.

If the battery charger has some fancy DC switching power supply, it could be making noise at radio frequency.

To test if the noise is introduced to the radio via the power line or via the antenna, leave the antenna connected. Run the radio temporarily off a completely isolated 12-Volt battery with nothing else connected to it. For a short test with just the receiver, almost any sort of 12-Volt battery will have sufficient current to power the radio.

[BocaIII]

Originally Posted by BocaIII

You need to determine how the noise is getting into the radio.

This is easy, take the antenna off the radio while the charger is on. If the noise is still there it is coming in through the Radio DC power cable, which is the most likely. In this case you need to filter the DC cable...hopefully good ferrites will work. If ferrites do not fix it...it gets a bit complicated.

Second case, if the noise goes away when removing the antenna the issue needs to be addressed in the charger. If its under warranty, you have claim for RFI. If not, I would sell the charger and get a different brand. You can try ferrites on the charger output but this is very difficult due to frequency of RFI, types of ferrites, etc.

Good Luck
Jack
W4GRJ

Just disconnect the antenna as I suggested above to determine if it is RFI or coming in via dc power.

Unless there is a specific question for me I will end my participation in this thread.
Good Luck
Jack
W4GRJ

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Wainui

I get a noise on my Standard Horizon VHF when I have the Xantrex battery charger charging on shore power. What can I do to cure this?

Well, your not likely to need it tied to the dock. You can probably buy a filter to put in the DC supply to the radio. Bite my tongue, Radio Shack may be the easiest place to go.

[SeaSon]

Originally Posted by Cadence

Well, your not likely to need it tied to the dock. [emoji3] You can probably buy a filter to put in the DC supply to the radio. Bite my tongue, Radio Shack may be the easiest place to go.

Agree that's it doesn't sound like an issue worth messing with. But, some people. ..

After you've id'd if it's rf or dc, if dc then check resistance of AC ground to DC ground. Do this at your shore power plug and to the ground at the radio, with all power off at the breakers. Should be under a couple of ohms.