Radio problem

[pubrunner]

Hi All,

I've an ancient Almera 1.5, which has a problem that I can't understand.

If I use the radio, it works fine; however, if I have the lights on and I try to listen to Radio 5, there's a lot of interference - to the extent that I can't listen to Radio 5. The curious thing is, the problem only occurs with Radio 5 - with the lights on, it's fine on Radio1 and Radio 2 ?

Is this due to some kind of earthing problem and if so, might it drain the battery ?

Thank you for any guidance.

[pubrunner]

I'm wonder if this interference problem could be related to the fact that I had LED headlight bulbs fitted about a year ago ?

[SS2.]

Almost certainly down to the LEDs - it's well known they can cause RF interference.

Not especially odd that it only affects R5 as this is an AM station - R1 & R2 are both FM.

Options include upgrading the radio to one with DAB, installing filtering to reduce the RF from the LEDs, not listening to AM, etc.

[pubrunner]

SS2. said:

Almost certainly down to the LEDs - it's well known they can cause RF interference.

Not especially odd that it only affects R5 as this is an AM station - R1 & R2 are both FM.

Options include upgrading the radio to one with DAB, installing filtering to reduce the RF from the LEDs, not listening to AM, etc.

Thank you for the reply !

Would Clip-on Ferrite filters help with this problem ?

If so, which cables should I put them on . . . I know now't about car electronics and wiring.

[SS2.]

You could try ferrite clips - fit them to the wires going to the headlights and see what happens.

Should be able top pick up a 10 pack from Amazon for less than a tenner.