I just thought that I would post a couple of "tech-tips" so that life can be a little easier. First of all for problems like noise in a CB when the engine is running, a little trick is to disconnect the antenna from the CB. If the noise then goes away, then the noise is enterring through the antenna. If the noise is still there, then the noise is coming through the power leads. In that case, check where the ground for the radio, etc is connected. MAKE SURE THAT IT IS A GOOD GROUND!!! Use the firewall or the chassis if possible. In this case, a noise filter from Radio Shack should help, just make sure that it can carry the current!
If the noise is only present when the antenna is connected, then you are picking up "RFI" or radio frequency interference. First of all, try relocating the antenna. If you move the antenna to a new spot and the noise goes away, then leave it there, otherwise you may have to troubleshoot what is radiating the noise. For example, the exhuast system is insulated from the chassis by rubber hangers and it makes a very good antenna. You might have to run a couple of stainless cables from the hangers to the frame or the chassis to ground out the noise. (It took two cables from the back of my 7.3 engine block to the frame, two more cables from the frame to the chassis, two more cables from the frame to the bed, AND a jumper from the exhaust system to the frame to eliminate my noise!)
Next a trick if you have a short circuit and are trying to find it. Most people will keep looking for a short in the wiring and then checking to see if the problem is fixed by putting in a new fuse. They go through a lot of fuses and get very fustrated. A simple trick that I do is to take an old fuse and I soldered a couple of leads to the spades (chip off the plastid at the top of the fuse and do it there). these leads are about 4 feet long and I put a lamp socket (an old taillight socket works great) and use an 1157 bulb. The bulb will limit the current and the glow of the light shows that the short still there. When you get rid of the short the light goes out! With the long leads, you can see the bulb even from the back of the truck. This trick doesn't work very well on circuits that normally draw more than an ampere or so (like the headlight circuit), but even then, when you find the short, the lamp will dim.
Hope this helps some of you with getting back out there!!! ... Gassman
07-18-2008, 04:10 PM
A couple of electrical tricks...
Linear Mode
