Radio static or interference

[harvey lee]

I put a stereo in the boat and it works great. When I turn the GPS on, I get alot of static. Do I need to run the radio wires to a different battery other than the one the GPS is hooked up to or what?

[Central Bassman]

Is it just a handheld GPS or what is it??

[PerchJerker]

You should be okay with the stereo and the gps wired to the same battery. The static is probably from the antenna cables, maybe the power cables.

First question, are you wired directly to the battery or are you wired to a fuse block? If wired to a fuse block, going with a hard wire directly to the battery might help. You can try this by running test power wires directly to the battery, without fishing them through the gunnels, before you actually do a permanent rewiring job that may or may not work.

But......the problem is probably with the antenna cables. Try moving them, and maybe moving the power cables too, to see if you can find an arrangement that will stop the static. Sometimes you only need to move them an inch or two to clean up the static. When you're doing this you can try the speaker wires too to make sure they're not contributing to the interference.

My last suggestion, if all else fails, is to check with radio shack or some place like that to see if they can help. I know they sell some type of filter to reduce noise on vhf radios, I don't know if they have something like that for fm stereos??

Good luck getting it solved.

[b1gf1sh1]

it's a good idea to always coat any and all connections with liquid electrical tape. the interference could be anything in your boat. is it just when your boats running? or anytime both are on? could be a loose wire spark wire, bad spark. so many options when signal and electricity are combined in a confined space. is it an old radio? did it have one that worked great before? is it a marine radio? cables running next to each other? it might not even be the radio, it may be an old problem made to come to fore by the radio. a million things. good luck

[harvey lee]

The radio wires run direct to the same battery as the GPS, not a handheld but the 522c on the console.

The antenna cables are under the counsole and may need to be moved. I will try that and see what I come up with.

New FM/Am CD and MP3 player radio and I installed it as there was not one in the boat.

The antenna is not a mast style but one of those that you plug into the back of the radio and it states that you may run them anywhere. This may not be so by the sounds of it.

[PerchJerker]

It may be the distance between the gps and fm antennas. The 522 is an internal antenna model, is it not. Test this out by unfastening it from it's mount and moving it as far away from the radio antenna as you can, and try to move the radio antenna as far away from the gps as possible.

[lotsofish]

I would try moving the antenna first and see if that helps. Neither your GPS or radio transmit, so it's not a direct interference, but a lot of the times electronics can create tiny RF output that could interfere with a radio if the antenna is close enough.

If moving the antenna doesn't work, try connecting them to different batteries. If different batteries work, you might be able to get them working together on the same battery if you install a "ferret bead" on the power line to the radio. A ferret bead is a small piece that you clip on to the wires (your computer mouse probably has one, as well as any other wall plug ins, it's that round plastic thing in the cord.) The inside is a special kind of metal and will prevent any unwanted signals from traveling up the power cord. You can get them at a radio shack for a few bucks.

[b1gf1sh1]

figured i'd throw in bad ground/improper ground also. completly seperate your radio ground and make sure its a good proper ground. only when the motor is running? marine radio? never opened one up to see but marine radios according to my info have coated curcuit boards as moisture creates bad things, like these and others. when the motor is running a sparking problem can cause problems. does the pitch of the noise change when it's idled up or down? also if you have more than one speaker unplug one and see if it stops or changes. then rehook that one up and check the other. if all else fails theres some nice portable boom boxes out there

[harvey lee]

Motor does not cause any issues, only when the counsel GPS is turned on. The front handheld GPS does not bother the radio. From what I have read so far, sounds like the GPS on the counsel right next to the radio may be my issue.

I will need to try and seperate ansd see if that cures the problem.

[Shack]

Tom,

I am old school yet and have some way points on my Garmin 12 handheld, but know most spots in my head yet. The best GPS God gave us.

Now the closest connection I have to your situation is graph function during running the trolling motor. My graph (Humming Bird with G.P.S., but have not pulled the trigger for antenna) used to act up terrible when using the trolling motor and radio on the same battery. I separated the two on a front bank and rear bank batteries and the interference went away. I run the trolling motor and radio on the front bank and graph/G.P.S on rear bank. This worked..

Good luck..

[LMITOUT]

Are you hearing popping or static? If it's popping or ticking it's not the GPS but rather the sonar. I had the same problem with my boat since they bundled the excess sonar cable very close to the radio antenna. The GPS didn't bother from what I noticed since it's receiving and not transmitting.

I tried the ferrite bead for other noise issues and it had zero effect. YMMV.

The factory radio had a wire whip antenna too. I had to move that around to find a good spot away from any noise inducing electronics.

[harvey lee]

I moved the antenna wire around and its much better.

Thanks to all for the static help and direction.