OEM LED lights and Fogs create excess FM, UHF, and VHF noise (not cheep radios)

[AgentWolf]

I have an Icom f50 that I use for SaR. While it is in the jeep it will blast static out of the speaker, same with the cheep beofung and a $500 digital radio. Today I was out in the mountains and while listening to the (FM) radio I could hear substantial amounts of static being introduced by turning on the fog lights and it would be more subtitle when turned off. Though this has no effect on the radios which constantly seem to receive even with the squelch up. Any ideas here? As someone who does rescue work it’s very important to hear clearly and this is concerning.

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[AgentWolf]

Any ideas?

 

[Left Field]

Do you have LED fog lights? OEM or aftermarket?
LED lighting can be a bit notorious for causing radio interference. OEM lighting less than aftermarket, but even the OEM design probably concerns itself more with OEM radio performance than other frequency bands.

 

[AgentWolf]

Do you have LED fog lights? OEM or aftermarket?
LED lighting can be a bit notorious for causing radio interference. OEM lighting less than aftermarket, but even the OEM design probably concerns itself more with OEM radio performance than other frequency bands.

Hi,
All the lights are OEM.

 

[Left Field]

Solving LED radio interference can sometimes range from black magic to impossible, but maybe a place to try first is with the grounding and installation. Is your bumper the one shown on your avatar photo? Any chance you had a chance to compare radio interference with the original bumper installation (or check it out on someone else's JL with fogs)?

It is possible that Jeep either provided enhanced grounding with their original installation, or obtained some level of interference shielding by way of the lamp installation itself (metal shrouding, etc.). Any metal housing or wire harness ground points cleaned to bare metal (both mating surfaces) and coated with dielectric grease prior to reassembly can sometimes help.

If the OEM fog lights cause interference even with the factory bumper it could be pretty tough to solve. Results with aftermarket LEDs seem to be mixed, some better than others...

 

[AgentWolf]

Solving LED radio interference can sometimes range from black magic to impossible, but maybe a place to try first is with the grounding and installation. Is your bumper the one shown on your avatar photo? Any chance you had a chance to compare radio interference with the original bumper installation (or check it out on someone else's JL with fogs)?

It is possible that Jeep either provided enhanced grounding with their original installation, or obtained some level of interference shielding by way of the lamp installation itself (metal shrouding, etc.). Any metal housing or wire harness ground points cleaned to bare metal (both mating surfaces) and coated with dielectric grease prior to reassembly can sometimes help.

If the OEM fog lights cause interference even with the factory bumper it could be pretty tough to solve. Results with aftermarket LEDs seem to be mixed, some better than others...

Thanks, I had a company do the install so I don't have a way to test unfortunately. I will double check the fog lights to see if anything looks odd. I did call the dealer to see if they would be able to help.

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