Gary,
As regards the early Toyota engine control modules: yes, the Camry, in
particular, got a big "black eye" in the early 90's (as I recall) with hams who
installed mobile rigs and found that more than 10 watts of on-board RF would
blow out those modules. Worse yet, I think Toyota refused to cover
replacements under warranty. (Maybe someone who had the problem can confirm if
my memory cells are correct about this.) Meanwhile, US-designed vehicles (from
the "Big 3") worked fine with up to 100 watts (or more) of on-board RF present.
I later learned, via contacts in the auto industry, that Japanese Public Safety
vehicles (police, fire, and so forth) only had 10 watt transmitters aboard
(back in those days - I do not know if that is still true today). Here in the
US, it was not uncommon for mobiles in the VHF and UHF Public Safety service to
have 100 watt (or more) mobile rigs. So, vehicles that were likely to be sold
to the public saervice sector were designed to withstand higher on-board RF
power.
Thanks for your comments about Toyota's reply for installing a rig in your
Scion. It would appear that they have not forgotten their earlier fiasco.
73, Dale
WA9ENA
----- Original Message -----
From: Gary Smith
To: svetanoff@earthlink.net;Charles Coldwell;RFI RFI
Sent: 4/16/2012 10:45:34
Subject: Re: RFI issues in electric (or hybrid) vehicles
I would suggest a nice note written to Toyota for that answer. They were very
nice to me when I inquired as to what/where to run the DC leads on my 2009
Scion. Wrote back to me a polite three pager, suggested that I keep the HF
power and DC leads away form the computer underneath the right front seat.
Fwiw, you can unsnap the trim cover off of the inside right channel where
Toyota runs their needed stuff and hide the DC/control cable wiring inside.
On a finial note, in the past, via QST mag a few years past, did read that
early Toyota computer modules would go south in a heartbeat if very strong HF
fields were nearby.
73,
Gary....wa6fgi
From: Dale Svetanoff <svetanoff@earthlink.net>
To: Gary Smith <wa6fgi@yahoo.com>; Charles Coldwell <coldwell@gmail.com>; RFI
RFI <rfi@contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2012 9:34 AM
Subject: Re:RFI issues in electric (or hybrid) vehicles
All,
My thanks to all of you who made comments on this topic. I was surprised
that only 1 person commented on the article (which was not very well
written), but we certainly got a lot of comments on the Prius, both good
and bad. I have the impression (again, right or wrong) that the Prius may
have had its power converter and associated systems/wiring improved over
the years such that newer models are not as noisy as early ones.
As far as I can tell, there were no comments from anyone having placed a
ham rig into an all-electric vehicle, such as the Nissan Leaf. It also
sounds as if both hybrids and all-electrics are on somewhat thin ice as
regards future popularity, mainly due to the cost of the main battery pack
and the issue of recharge time and/or cost. Unless gas prices really do
hit $5/gal, or more, this year, the hoopla over these cars and the
manufacture of their expensive batteries in new US factories may be just
that - noise with little substance.
I did learn one thing about at least some of the hybrids: I did not know
that a small "auxiliary" battery was used to run 12 VDC accessories. If
that is where the radios are to be powered, then one has to wonder how well
that accessory power buss is decoupled from the main, high power buss, and
how low of an impedance to chassis "ground" does the overall current path
represent.
73, Dale
WA9ENA
Sr. EMC Engineer
> [Original Message]
> From: Gary Smith <wa6fgi@yahoo.com>
> To: Charles Coldwell <coldwell@gmail.com>; RFI RFI <rfi@contesting.com>
> Date: 4/11/2012 7:23:35
> Subject: Re: [RFI] RFI issues in electric (or hybrid) vehicles
>
> When I switch off my Prius hybird and my 2 meter radio is on 147.000Mhz,
I get a S-5 level buzz in my kenwood TM-D710. Push the "on" button for the
car, the buzz goes away. 5 khz up or down, no noise is heard.
> Gary...wa6fgi
>
>
>
> >________________________________
> >From: Charles Coldwell <coldwell@gmail.com>
> >To: RFI RFI <rfi@contesting.com>
> >Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 3:25 AM
> >Subject: Re: [RFI] RFI issues in electric (or hybrid) vehicles
> >
> >On Tue, Apr 10, 2012 at 11:27 PM, Dale Svetanoff
> ><svetanoff@earthlink.net> wrote:
> >>
> >> My thinking (could be wrong)
> >> is that there might be differing levels of RFI present in these
vehicles,
> >> depending upon whether the gas engine was operating or not.
> >
> >Certainly seems likely, since the gasoline engine can itself be a
> >source of RFI (ignition, fuel injection). See the excellent website
> >from K0BG:
> >
> >http://www.k0bg.com/ignition.html
> >
> >--
> >Charles M. Coldwell, W1CMC
> >Belmont, Massachusetts, New England
> >"Turn on, log in, tune out"
> >_______________________________________________
> >RFI mailing list
> >RFI@contesting.com
> >http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rfi
> >
> >
> >
> _______________________________________________
> RFI mailing list
> RFI@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rfi
_______________________________________________
RFI mailing list
RFI@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rfi
|