Radio interferance from DRLs

[Roymundo]

My motorcycle...2015 BMW R1200RT LC.

I have fitted some cheap LED after market additional DRL lights to my bikes engine bars.A kit from Amazon complete with wiring harnes, relay and switch. 
They work fine, however if the DRLs are turned on they interfere with the bikes factory fitted radio, as in no radio stations just interferance noise.Turn the DRLs off and the radio  reception is fine. If I disconect the DRLs the radio reception is fine.
I assume the cheap LED lights are the problem.

Has anyone had the same problem and resolved it?

If I were to purchase some better DRLs, without buying the BMW lights (out of my budget)what do I need to look for? I assume quality LED chips but some are a Cree type, is that what I need?

All I need is to have DRLs on and listen to the radio. 

[Jimmy2Time]

As I was researching a replacement low beam H7 bulb with a comparable LED bulb, I saw that some LED manufacturers do sell a radio interference kit.  

Google searching now for one, I see that Walmart does sell some.  Unfortunately, I have no real world experience with this issue.

https://www.walmart.com/c/kp/led-lights-radio-interference-filter

[6speedTi]

My 2012 has radio interference on the AM dial when I use my LED auxiliary lights. 

[Paul De]

I do believe any LED light requires an on/off duty cycle to work and that duty cycle can get into the kHz range. I suspect that a poorly designed, or unshielded circuit could be putting out plenty of RF interference.  My first thought would be that any LED lighting circuits be kept as far way from the radio antenna as possible might help. Working in your favor is that the intensity of that RF inference would  fall off at the square of the distance… A swag based on what I remember from my HS physics class, but I could be very, very wrong too.  Any EEs out there?

[Roymundo]

All comments are very interesting. The radio interference is on FM radio which the only band I listen to, thats apart from MP3 tracks which are on a memory stick. 

[Cap]

On 2/8/2024 at 5:08 AM, Roymundo said:

I have fitted some cheap LED after market additional DRL lights to my bikes engine bars... if the DRLs are turned on they interfere with the bikes factory fitted radio,...

 

I had a similar problem.  Cheap DRLs from eBay.  The lights were very bright, but they caused RF interference that affected the connection between my key fob and the bike.  My radio reception was fine.  On a long trip to the Big Bend area in Texas, a rock took out one of the cheap lights.  So, I replaced both of the cheap lights with a slightly more expensive DRL from eBay, and these were direct clones of the OEM design from BMW.  And these new ones work great, and don't have as much RF interference.  They are also more robust.

 

Here is a link to a current eBay listing for the clone-type DRL. BMW Aux Light Clone

[Roymundo]

23 minutes ago, Cap said:

 

I had a similar problem.  Cheap DRLs from eBay.  The lights were very bright, but they caused RF interference that affected the connection between my key fob and the bike.  My radio reception was fine.  On a long trip to the Big Bend area in Texas, a rock took out one of the cheap lights.  So, I replaced both of the cheap lights with a slightly more expensive DRL from eBay, and these were direct clones of the OEM design from BMW.  And these new ones work great, and don't have as much RF interference.  They are also more robust.

 

Here is a link to a current eBay listing for the clone-type DRL. BMW Aux Light Clone

The BMW Aux Light Clone DRLs look the same as fitted to my bike and having problems with. I paid about £65 last year for them.

When the DRLs are turned ON sometimes a yellow warning symbol apears on the dash screen...symbol of a key with a question mark below. Meaning "Radio-operated key out of range" as page 32 in the owners hand book. This is with the key fob in my pocket and it has a new fob battery fitted.

[Paul De]

I added Chinese knock-off BMW running lights from Ebay that were very inexpensive which worked well with no RF issues.  Excellent quality, super bright,  and they bolted right on the BMW OEM DRL mounts that position the lights in front of the cylinders (I ditched the handle bar mounts for installation on my RT). The light modules themselves look like they could be the very ones BMW sources and slaps their logo and Big Money Wad mark-up on. 

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/174177890436?fits=Make%3ABMW&itmmeta=01HPMC48ASCNNG8GEYDN7TV6D7&hash=item288dcfb084:g:UCgAAOSw0gxcx5lN&itmprp=enc%3AAQAIAAABIMvbedkA331bDkW%2B7bkWtpd42Eie%2BlrfPeOtYGQYPWaDnN0gP%2BwSyP2zGYOVZBq2u%2Ft5ATSQB8hTyvw37ZP0oQUkx4yfvHvfWaFJxt7dnCpaCxm%2B7epPSeKmHJqGXSvTxua%2FwTtkLqn%2FKlgqbg%2Bb0xyc7%2FiZIp3TM7XwW1a8CS1oVnRCvoXrDGodVbARZvRlo2dslx5n9fLnjAj7qbDMoNCbNtr7ObNGhncSu2PMKySTAEXrS2%2F7UR8U%2BrsUlcqVQSJiZBMcDy%2BmsF7Zvj%2FV3NIgi159%2FnuCecfaqQnt%2BdBVpySCsV4cTS3u7qqR%2F7cx2ykyWnPcoR6He7h1qMdDz4coM7BlIU1b19tIMFHfgl0A0XC24ZjIvM%2FgkwxZ2FqG2A%3D%3D|tkp%3ABFBMwIWRjLVj

 

The other part of my install was that I did not use the OEM running light circuit, and instead used one of the circuits from a Hex ezCAN accessory circuit module to power these lights.  Maybe the ezCAN module helped filter out the duty cycle noise from the bikes own electrical harness.  Just a guess, YRMV.

[Cap]

6 hours ago, Roymundo said:

When the DRLs are turned ON sometimes a yellow warning symbol apears on the dash screen...symbol of a key with a question mark below.

 

Yes, that is the same symptom I had with my first set of DRL's.  I found that I needed to move my key fob from the pocket on my overpants to a front pocket on my jacket.  On one of my jackets, I have a slash pocket on my left sleeve, and that works perfectly for the key  -- but I only use that mesh jacket when the temps are very high.

 

The BMW clones seem to have a lot less RF interference for me... The ones I linked, I think, are identical to the ones linked by Paul De.  There are several online retailers of this same item.  I put the clones on my 2017 R1200RT using a Hex EZCan 2 controller.  I also have a 2019 R1250RT with factory DRL's that are wired to a switch on the left-side handlebar, and have a status light in the instrument panel.  The factory lights look and function just like the eBay clones.  I have the same weak key fob signal with the OEM lights.  But I have no radio interference on either the 2017 or the 2019 bike.

[Paul De]

Fob is usually in the coin pocket of my jeans…or in the left cubby box.  Ether place has not been a problem.  Fresh Fob battery might also help with that.  Radio has never been an issue.  
 

Power to the LED lights from the ezCAN we’re  fished from the tail section under the fuel tank and down to the lights.  I dono but it seems the wires go nowhere near the radio and antenna.   The only other thing I can think of is to use  ground shielded/coaxial wire of the light circuit Dems extreme though

[Jimmy2Time]

Either of these cheaper DRL/ fog lights have an option for yellow LED bulbs?