[RFI] RFI issues in electric (or hybrid) vehicles

[Dale Svetanoff]

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 at yahoo.com>
> To: Charles Coldwell <coldwell at gmail.com>; RFI RFI <rfi at 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 at gmail.com>
> >To: RFI RFI <rfi at 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 at 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 at contesting.com
> >http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rfi
> >
> >
> >
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