Autocom/Kenwood interference

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CAJW

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Attn all Sparkys. I believe I've finally found communication nirvana with a newly acquired Autocom and parts (Thanks King Richard and TominCA) and have bench tested the system with success. The fly in the ointment is when I connected the battery eliminator for my Kenwood TK3101 which now exhibits static during transmissions, engine on or off. When operating the Kenwood with it's own Ni-cad battery, no issue, with the battery eliminator wired to the bike, interference. I've tried changing the ground, no change. I'm considering wiring a relay into the Kenwood battery eliminator power source which currently is taken from the tail light wire (yes, I tapped the Autocom power from the same source). My idea is to run power direct from the battery, into the relay and then to the Kenwood battery eliminator. Switched power for the relay will come from the tail light wire. Ideas? Comments? No, don't suggest I go back to the Ni-cad battery, I like to do things the hard way! :p

 
Attn all Sparkys. I believe I've finally found communication nirvana with a newly acquired Autocom and parts (Thanks King Richard and TominCA) and have bench tested the system with success. The fly in the ointment is when I connected the battery eliminator for my Kenwood TK3101 which now exhibits static during transmissions, engine on or off. When operating the Kenwood with it's own Ni-cad battery, no issue, with the battery eliminator wired to the bike, interference. I've tried changing the ground, no change. I'm considering wiring a relay into the Kenwood battery eliminator power source which currently is taken from the tail light wire (yes, I tapped the Autocom power from the same source). My idea is to run power direct from the battery, into the relay and then to the Kenwood battery eliminator. Switched power for the relay will come from the tail light wire. Ideas? Comments? No, don't suggest I go back to the Ni-cad battery, I like to do things the hard way! :p
I use direct power and ground from the battery through a FuzeBlock. Grabbing power from the tail light means you are on a circuit with resistance light filaments. That will be noisy. Get direct power via inline fuse or install a directly powered buss to power the Autocom and battery eliminator.

 
I used to have a Pro-M1 with all the goodies installed on my bike, but given the interface issues with the Zumo 660 I decided to remove it all and just use in-ear headphones plugged directly into the navigator and forego using the ability to respond to incoming phone calls when underway so I pulled it out, sold off the TK3101 and it's parts (I still have another radioand a pile of Autocom hardware (though not another TK3101 interface) in a box)

All power for your audio installation needs to to be taken from common connections, otherwise you may well have strange problems with whines, crackles and buzzes.

Since you have issues with static, the simplest this to do is to check the eliminator itself. Start with the battery eliminator connected and the audio connection to the radio removed - it couldn't be a ground loop if the only path to the radio is via the power leads. If the noise persists with the audio interface removed you may need to try to clean or tighten the sliding contacts that connect the adapter to the radio, the internal connections in the adapter or perhaps redo the voltage regulator and it's capacitors in the eliminator or the wiring to it.

I DO wish my profile allowed me to edit posts!! I always find spelling errors after hitting the 'post' button.

 
I DO wish my profile allowed me to edit posts!! I always find spelling errors after hitting the 'post' button.
I have always been able to edit my posts and I do not have any special profile that I know of. I put it down to clean living.
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I DO wish my profile allowed me to edit posts!! I always find spelling errors after hitting the 'post' button.
I have always been able to edit my posts and I do not have any special profile that I know of. I put it down to clean living.
laugh.gif
Suffice it to say that my profile differs from yours in spite of my best efforts.
 
I DO wish my profile allowed me to edit posts!! I always find spelling errors after hitting the 'post' button.
I notice you are only Members+ group. With your post count you should be Members ++. That would allow editing. Contact an administrator and I'm sure they can easily fix this. I'm wondering if your -17 reputation is doing this??? Anyway, have a +1 on me. :) Yamafitter too, just for the heck of it. :p

Noise on the GPS requires a rather expensive Part #4066 isolation lead which as both a microphone and audio jack. For the older Pro AVI and similar models, you need an inexpensive part #4009S that splits the signal into 2-jacks at the Autocom with the blue plug (microphone) going to plug 1 or 4 (high priority), and the yellow plug (audio) going to jack #3 on the Autocom. With this arrangement, you get GPS directions and XM audio and can handle phone calls through the GPS Bluetooth system.

The more you add, the more complex it gets. EVERY accessory on my bike is powered through the Fuze Block. The Autocom has GPS/XM/Phone, TK3101 radio, radar detector, auxiliary audio for MP3 or iPhone. Both the radar detector and GPS use isolation leads.

 
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All will benefit with a direct, live feed and earth from the battery. My Autocom is fed from a relay situated under the seat and switched from the lighting circuit. I had issues with interference despite all the fancy interface leads. In the end I routed the live relay feed from the battery , around the headstock, under the cubby compartment and down the outside of the frame and then underneath near the left knee and then under the seat. Cured the problem.

 
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I run a Starcom1 intercom (not Autocom) but they are very similar and both suffer from the same issue.

This problem can occur when any audio source is being powered from the same DC source as the intercom (i.e. the bike). It is noise on the ground from the Kenwood's power supply (battery eliminator), and it is getting into your autocom via the audio cable. The solution is to isolate the two (Kenwood from Autocom) via the use of an audio isolation transformer. What the transformer does it to transfer the AC component (audio) while isolating the electrical connection.

That is what all the fancy (And expensive) isolation cables are all about that both Starcom and Autocom sell. I'll bet there is one they will sell you to do that. If not, you could buy and make your own isolation cable using a small audio isolation transformer from Radio Shack or the like.

If the connector is a standard 3.5mm TRS mini connector, there are small plug in transformers out there that you can buy, like this one

 
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I DO wish my profile allowed me to edit posts!! I always find spelling errors after hitting the 'post' button.
I notice you are only Members+ group. With your post count you should be Members ++. That would allow editing. Contact an administrator and I'm sure they can easily fix this. I'm wondering if your -17 reputation is doing this??? Anyway, have a +1 on me. :) Yamafitter too, just for the heck of it. :p

Noise on the GPS requires a rather expensive Part #4066 isolation lead which as both a microphone and audio jack. For the older Pro AVI and similar models, you need an inexpensive part #4009S that splits the signal into 2-jacks at the Autocom with the blue plug (microphone) going to plug 1 or 4 (high priority), and the yellow plug (audio) going to jack #3 on the Autocom. With this arrangement, you get GPS directions and XM audio and can handle phone calls through the GPS Bluetooth system.

The more you add, the more complex it gets. EVERY accessory on my bike is powered through the Fuze Block. The Autocom has GPS/XM/Phone, TK3101 radio, radar detector, auxiliary audio for MP3 or iPhone. Both the radar detector and GPS use isolation leads.
No isolation cable required if you do the power properly. If you had alternator whine THAT might require a filter, but that wasn't the complaint. Static COULD require addition of an RF bypass cap on the mic input . . . . .

As to my 'rep', it means nothing - I can easily get you down to -17 if I want to. Mine is just because the board has a few immature members who think it is fun to 'rep-bomb'. It has nothing to do with rights.

The reason I have no editing priviledges is that Management had issues with my forthrightness and removed them. That's fine. If I have to edit something I simply post a correction and a lament about the lack.

There's always the Facebook group that I created (see my sig) - we have about 725 active members there.

 
Lots of good ideas here. Here's what I did years ago to add farkles Barrier Strip so gaining power from a Fuzeblock or other add on is going to require spending more on mods and would like to try fixes based on what I already have installed, plus I'm running out of real estate underneath the seats. If I read most of the posts correctly, I need to power my Kenwood battery eliminator from a different source than the Autocom to prevent the static experienced during transmissions. I have an un-switched direct battery feed to a Powerlet socket near the LR pax foot peg for heated gear that I can tap into for a different power source. My thought is that I use a switched relay powered from the tail light feed (same wire that feeds the Autocom) to trigger the direct feed from the Powerlet wire to run the battery eliminator. Am I correct in the assumption that this would keep the two power sources separate and eliminate/minimize the static I'm now experiencing?

 
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