XM - iPOD noise from power supply - need filtering

[ElevenFifty]

I have the Starcom1 system and helmet to helmet - bike to bike - bluetooth - music to helmet all work FINE as long as the music source is running on its battery supply

 

I use a tankbag that gets power from the standard 1150rt plugs. I want to be able to power my XM/iPOD from their manufacturer provided DC converters. When I try this I get a little bit of spark noise (tick-tick-tick) and a terrible high pitched whine.

 

QUESTIONS:

1. Is their a filtered source of 12v DC on these bikes (the factory radio plug perhaps)?

2. Anyone know of an off the shelf filter?

3. Proven shcematics for a self built system?

 

Thanks all

[Edgar]

Are you using isolated audio cables?. The isolated cables from Autocom and Starcom are expensive but you can get cables built to a custom length from Mix-it. They work fine and produce clean audio. Mix-it John takes care of business quickly and is a pleasure to work with.

[BucksTherapy]

There are three ways of dealing with this depending on the cause. Capacitive filter, passive inductive filter or gound isolating transformers. The most inexpensive and most likely to resolve your problem is capcitive filtering.

 

You can go to most car audio shops and pick up a capacitive filter for less then $10. It will have three wires typically red, black and some other color which we will call blue.

 

The most likely sopt to install this is inside your tank bag where the power cable comes in. You can place the capacitor anywhere on your power cable before you get to where you plug in a device. In other words only the power in the line after the capacitor will be filtered.

 

Ascertain which of the two power conductors is positive. Strip a small spot on both the positive and negative and use a meter to confirm if you have to. Cut the positive wire. The black wire gets connected to the bare spot on the negative wire. The red wire gets connected to the positice wire that goes back to the bike. The blue wire gets wired to the positive wire going to the bag or devices.

 

If you hook this up backwards you could gett a hell of a bang and insulation all over the place when the capacitor blows up depending on the kind of capacitor used in the filter. They're inexpensive so this is one way to find out which wire is positive or negative.

[redryder]

Same problem with my set up. My iPod worked just great on battery power but the XM was unreadable. Turns out that the cords supplied with the intercom is NOT shielded. You can go to Autocom and pay $75 for a shielded cable or go to RadioShack and pay $6 for a shielded cable. Either way, that should fix your problem.