hid headlight causing cb problems

[Prairiehammer]

In my case i hear good clean rx , no engine whine or other noise, just the annoying white noise that cuts out the am fm

 

And I can vouch for his transmissions being noise-free, although a bit garbled and subdued. Chris' transmissions come in loud and clear.

[dacheedah]

Kevin, thats a clear violation of the man code

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Thanks guys, I am able to add yet ANOTHER reason to avoid the use of cheap chinese HID lamps on motorcycles.

 

RFI.

 

Previous reasons:

 

Not legal.

Not dependable.

Not designed for incandescent reflector housings.

Ballast misfires on some bikes during starting.

Difficult to fix if it fails on the road.

Internal solenoid HI/LO aim can change over time. or fail.

Offensive to oncoming drivers. Can get the attention of the LEO's.

 

Go LED...you will be MUCH happier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[csdexter]

FWIW, there are a few full replacement HID lamps out there. That is, a kit which completely replaces your 7" headlight with a HID projector. I'm unsure how deep they are (and what's the exact amount of space in the RSV fairing), so I can't tell if they'd fit or not, but the point is there is middle ground between "illegal HID" and "LED" ;-)

One example is here: http://www.hidprojectors.com/product.php?type=1

 

The last time I checked, the price was similar (projector HID vs. LED).

 

 

Also, thanks for answering about garbled or not CB audio. We can now safely conclude the HID messes with the auto-mute circuitry in the radio/amp box and I bet it's conducted EMI via its power leads. Now, the problem in solving that is the vast majority of filters you'd find out there were meant for the other end of the problem: connecting them to a car audio amp and filtering noise going in, rather than connecting them to the noisy equipment and filtering noise going out

 

The best thing I can think of right now (save for designing a filter yourself) is to use one of the automotive DC noise filters around, connected backwards (since the source of the noise is the ballast, not the outer circuit).

For example, this one: http://www.ebay.ie/itm/40-AMP-IN-LINE-ENGINE-NOISE-SUPPRESSOR-FILTER-12v-16v-Car-Audio-/111041813209?pt=US_Car_Audio_Video_Interconnect_Cables&hash=item19da9b9ad9

 

Yes, it's oversized. If you can find a smaller one (say ... a 10A one?), use that one. Normally, those things connect with one wire to ground, the other to the audio amp's power input and the third one to the battery. Since we're trying to filter things the other way around, the initially "battery" cable should go to the HID's power connection and the initially "amp" wire should go to the bike's power wire (while the ground remains to connected to ground, of course). This assumes, of course, that what's in the shiny box is a passive filter (who wouldn't mind being connected in reverse).

Edited June 14, 2013 by csdexter

[Guest tx2sturgis]

With respect to the other opinions here, I think the noise, or RFI, emitted, is being transmitted from the HID components thru the air to the CB antenna.

 

You can verify this by removing the CB antenna and going for a short ride. If the squelch can be set at very low numbers now, you have proved me right. (of course, dont transmit with the antenna removed, just test the radio/cb muting function). In this case, the inline filter will NOT solve the issue, but RFI suppression beads and/or toroids MIGHT. They snap onto the offending power leads.

 

With the antenna removed, if the squelch still needs to be set at 20 to mute the noise and receive the AM/FM, then the noise IS being conducted thru the power or audio leads.

 

In that case, inline filters may help.

 

Again, I think you will find the noise floor is increased due to RFI emitted from the HID unit, and received via the CB antenna. You can also test this by parking another CB equipped motorcycle or car right next to the bike with HID, and listen on the other radio for the interference, and also watch the signal meter of that radio as the HID is switched on and off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dacheedah]

OK, I talked to the Motorola tech at work and he suggested I put some FERRITE SNAP SLEEVES over the power supply wires. I bought a pack of 5 of these, they were cheap, and put them on the supply power and ground by the ballast and on the supply line yo headlights.

 

I also relocated my ground to the wire feeding the HID's to battery. Now we tested these on a long group ride and all I can say is they completely stopped my CB from breaking squelch.

[Guest tx2sturgis]

he suggested I put some FERRITE SNAP SLEEVES over the power supply wires.....and all I can say is they completely stopped my CB from breaking squelch.

 

 

You're welcome.

 

[csdexter]

Awesome, glad to hear it fixed it