HID Ballasts interfering with radio reception?

[RDH]

Anyone had this?

Fitted my HID's this morning and haven't been able to pick a single radio station up since haha.

 

[Nick_P]

Yup i experience this also

 

[Xundi]

Does this happen to all of them?

 

[Has]

Can with cheaper HID units.

I take it these are retro kits youve fitted?

 

[Nick_P]

yup aftermarket

 

[Has]

Depending on the make of the unit, a lot are american/asian knock off units or manufactured "on the cheap".

There has been cases of them igniting and causing fires on a few forums.

 

[Nick_P]

Mines from HIDS 4 U so i should hope i dont burst into flames :quiet:

 

[Budgie]

Mine are fine!

 

[RDH]

Got mine off a member off here.

Doesn't seem to be doing it as much now I've changed my ariel (even though it is to a smaller one)

Was just wondering if it was a common problem.

 

[caister]

Just noticed mine is doing this. Are there any possible fixes, like issolate the case of the ballast from the car etc?

 

[Sym0n]

Not happening for me. Where have you mounted the ballasts and how have you fixed them?

 

[SBV116]

Basically no, me and gaz have tried all things on his 197! Given up, looking for some gen 197 xenons.

Had the bumper off more times than silly mick!

 

[caister]

Not happening for me. Where have you mounted the ballasts and how have you fixed them?

One is bolted to the engine fuse box and the other is bolted to the passenger wheel arch where the carbon canister normally is

 

[caister]

Basically no, me and gaz have tried all things on his 197! Given up, looking for some gen 197 xenons.

Had the bumper off more times than silly mick!

Rubbish they were quite expensive ones as well

 

[SBV116]

We moved the ballasts, wired them to a seperate battery to check for loom interference, wrapped them in foil, tried everything!

Nothing works.

 

[Gaz_]

Bin might work? I blame the hid's4poo ballasts, it even f**ks up the workshop radio!!! PMSL!!!

I've contacted them, and they say my car is 'sensitive' PMSL!!! Here's the thing, Andy kev Birchdown has a set in his Phase 1 with nay bother, Biohzrd has some in his MK3 with nay bother, both non hid4u kits. Cheapy chongpetang ballasts imo

 

[caister]

As much as I would like to bin them I like them too much when its dark! My radio reception is terrible before I turn the lights on anyway so theres definately something else that needs looking as as well. Luckily I dont really listen to the radio that much but its still annoying.

 

[Gaz_]

Knows, i wanna bin mine, but love the look. The interference is REALLY bad on light start up, but does come back.... just annoyingly crackles. w**k. I'm tempted to try some ballasts from another supplier

 

[Dink]

i'm not 100% sure on electronics

but i'm sure you might be able to fit a capacitor on the input connector and it might filter the interference out

 

[caister]

I'm going to try a new base, lead and aerial first and then see how bad it is when the lights are on. It can't be helping that my reception is dire in the first place.

Has anyone ever seen a reception booster for a car like you can get for a tv aerial?

 

[Gaz_]

i'm not 100% sure on electronics

but i'm sure you might be able to fit a capacitor on the input connector and it might filter the interference out

Nope. It seems to be the frequency the caps/transformers in the ballasts give off......... If the shielding of the cases is cack, it 'leaks', thus interfering with the FM signal (must be the same). You might lol, but i think wrapping the ballasts in lead would cure it:rasp:

 

[Dink]

well that's how they suppress rfi with motor brushes lol

are they a complete metal case or are the back just like a resin sealed?

 

[Gaz_]

Metal case. I work with cctv/alarms and we have suppressors for rfi, but nothing seems to work on the car Just cheap components tbh. Done some major google searches on it, and nothing sems to work

 

[Dink]

yeah must be a poorly designed psu for it to emit rfi through a grounded metal case lol