Ferrite beads on radio wires

[BINOVC]

I bought Superbright LED headlights for the I/S (H4-HLV4), and they create radio interference.
I called Superbright and tech suggested putting a ferrite bead on the radio power and ground wires.
Wondering if anyone has put these on their radio wires before, and where to put them.
Also these come in various sizes, so wondering if the 3mm size or 5mm size would be correct (they come in larger sizes as well.
Thanks!

[WintrSol]

Ideally, one would put the suppression at the source, to keep it from radiating from the wires, as well as being conducted to other things. Putting them at the radio input will block conducted noise, and may be enough. Larger cores will block more EMI, but use what fits. If the smaller ones will fit over the wires at the H4 socket, you may consider adding them there, and a set at the radio.

[BINOVC]

I added the 5mm ferrite beads, one to each of the two headlamp wires, right up next to the bulbs.  The 5mm seemed to be the correct size, as it clamps easily to the wire, and stays in place.
However I couldn't detect much if any change in the interference.
Can anyone suggest where I should try adding additional beads to the radio power and ground?  Where do I locate these wires on the I/S?  I tried looking at the wiring schematic in the downloaded service manual, but that is pretty much useless due to the poor resolution.
I would think this would be somewhere inside the fairing though, vs where the radio is mounted, as I'm thinking the interference from the LEDs would be affecting wires near the LEDs and not under the seat, though I'm no electronics expert...
Stronger radio stations come in fine (as they did before adding the ferrite).
Thanks.

[Gnarly]

If the ferrite beads trick fails, *Electrical Connection* sells an inline noise isolator w/ 3.5mm plug ends to go in your AUX lead....geared to eliminating motor noise in Bluetooth 5.0.

Perhaps those guys have something that would help.
Regardless, best of luck.


* same folks who make the H4 adapter ring to fit LED headlights into OEM housings. And I have no connection to them, except as a satisfied customer!

[WintrSol]

The noise generated by the lamps also goes out through the ground lead of the bulbs, so you should add a third bead to that wire. I would have expected some decrease in noise, though, so no apparent decrease suggests the noise is radiated as a radio signal. Is the noise present on all channels/bands of the radio?

[NewValker]

I had the interference problem too but being a dumb truck driver and not really understanding what was wrong, I found a solution at Radiodan.com.
I called them and explained what lights I added and the problem, and for 17 bucks (I think) they sent me what I needed to add to the wires leading to the lights.
Been 2 years, still good.
Craig

[Fazer]

I had interference from some LED running lights.  Tried the ferrite blocker but did not work for me.  Later I swapped the smaller lights for larger halogen cans that I removed after switching out the halogen for LED bulbs, and viola, no noise.  (I went with the smaller LEDs because I noticed that every time I switched off the lights, the engine would gain a few RPM.  So I figured I was loading the alternator unnecessarily.  Switching back to the larger cans, looks much better as the size of the smaller LEDs did not appear proportionate.)

Guess this is not a suggestion for the OP, but it's my story.

[BINOVC]

The noise generated by the lamps also goes out through the ground lead of the bulbs, so you should add a third bead to that wire. I would have expected some decrease in noise, though, so no apparent decrease suggests the noise is radiated as a radio signal. Is the noise present on all channels/bands of the radio?

The beads I installed went over the entire headlight cable (ie power, ground, whatever is inside the sleeve), one bead for each headlight.  Not sure if I was clear in previous post.
So if you're referring to another separate ground wire, I don't know where that is.  I tried following the wire bundles, but didn't see anything.  Looks like the left bundle goes from the left bulb, over to the right side where it splits off to the right headlight, and into a larger bundle going off to...(?).
I also tried adding a larger bead to the wire bundle that comes off the radio controls on the handlebar, no joy.
The noise appears to only affect the weaker FM stations.  So I could just not listen to those stations anymore, but won't do that.

@Gnarly, I will call them Monday or so and ask.  "Light bulb" (imaginary one over my head that is) moment, someone on FB suggested "EC Led's" and I had no idea what that was.  Now I do.

@NewValker, I will call them as well.  I went to their website and checked their "RFI Chokes" page, and that looks like my ferrite beads (most says "sold out").  Not saying maybe mine (from Amazon) aren't crap, but maybe it makes a difference where you get your stuff from.  I know Amazon can often be hit or miss in the quality department.

[WintrSol]

The noise generated by the lamps also goes out through the ground lead of the bulbs, so you should add a third bead to that wire. I would have expected some decrease in noise, though, so no apparent decrease suggests the noise is radiated as a radio signal. Is the noise present on all channels/bands of the radio?

The beads I installed went over the entire headlight cable (ie power, ground, whatever is inside the sleeve), one bead for each headlight.  Not sure if I was clear in previous post.
So if you're referring to another separate ground wire, I don't know where that is.  I tried following the wire bundles, but didn't see anything.  Looks like the left bundle goes from the left bulb, over to the right side where it splits off to the right headlight, and into a larger bundle going off to...(?).
I also tried adding a larger bead to the wire bundle that comes off the radio controls on the handlebar, no joy.
The noise appears to only affect the weaker FM stations.  So I could just not listen to those stations anymore, but won't do that.

Each bulb should get three wires: low beam power, high beam power, and ground. I thought you meant you put a bead on the two power wires, not one around all three.

Is the receiver antenna near the lamp, or at the back of the bike? Since the interference appears to be transmitted as a radio signal and not through the wires, the more distance from the lights to the antenna the better. If your antenna is already at the rear, that leaves cleaning the connector for it at the receiver with a good contact cleaner, and making sure it is really snug. Putting a Faraday shield around the receiver probably won't help, even if possible, as its metal shell is already a shield.

[Pluggy]

Radio noise can be caused a couple of ways.  One is electrical noise going from the headlight to the radio through the power circuit.  Ferrite beads can reduce this.  Another noise source can be electromagnetic energy, picked up by the radio, mostly through the antenna.  (As previously mentioned.)

An easy experiment:  Get a portable FM radio and bring it to the bike with the headlight on.  Run the bike at idle, if you wish, and take the portable radio to the headlight.  If the bike generates noise that the portable can pick up, then ferrite beads will not be a total fix for it.

You could do a similar experiment by connecting your bike's radio to a different power source than the headlight uses.  A spare battery, perhaps.  But, the portable radio is easier to try.

[Jims99]

I used the same LEDs and have the same problem. I haven’t had much time to try the chokes but have noticed that interference is not bad when the antenna is laid down.

[WintrSol]

I used the same LEDs and have the same problem. I haven’t had much time to try the chokes but have noticed that interference is not bad when the antenna is laid down.

In radio, antenna orientation is everything, as the transmitted waves are polarized by the emitter. This works for the same reason Polaroid glasses work. Too bad you can't rotate the LEDs the same way you can the antenna.

[hal47]

This is a problem with low quality leds, like others said, they creatate a signal which your ant. picks  up and over powers weaker radio stations. You can unplug then and run then on a seperate batt. not connected to the bike and they will still block the signal.