Electrical Interfearance CB and Laptop.

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Paulmitchell1984

Well-Known Member
Posts
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Location
Leeds
Hi Guys,
Iv just recently sorted my laptop out with MM and now wanting to mount it in the car.

Now iv had my CB running aaages in car with no issues, its tucked above sun visor on passenger side, aerial is central on front of roof, and power feed runs above headliner down driver side and straight to battery.

the laptop i have managed to find a way to mount it to the plastic where sun visor was and when on battery power everything is hunky dorey.

BUT when i plug in the charger into the cig lighter i get interfearance no matter how much i alter the squelch, even tried the power being plugged into different car.

i can get the interfearence to stop if i remove the aerial from roof, but this isnt an option.

so my question is why am i getting interfearance, and would an invertor with normal charger give same issue? and what size invertotr would i need? charger states

input 100-240v 1.2a 50/60hz
output 18.5v 3.5a
 
Just a guess, but sometimes laptops switch different things on if they are charging. You might find disconnecting the power is switching off WiFi, Bluetooth or even dimming the backlight. Try manually switching these off and see if it makes any difference.
 
I've had the same issue with mobile phone chargers. Some cause problems and some don't.
The inverter route might work. Looks like if its 240v 1.2A then you need a 300w inverter which at 12v in theory is 25 amp. You'll need to go direct to the battery. Cigarette lighter won't handle that.
Alternatively, try a different cigarette lighter adapter. I have a feeling its the cheapy ones that cause problems.
 
Am I right in assuming that the antenna cable runs just a few inches away from the laptop when the its mounted.If thats the case it sounds like your cable is picking up interference from possibly the cooling fan or some other electrical goings on within the laptop.You can re-route the cable away from the computer or you can go down the road of trying to fit a toroid or ferrite type ring to your coax.Theres loads out there.You can insert these in much the same way as on the power lead of playstations and the like.Found this link
http://k4kio.com/chokebalun.html
 
Last edited:
diver said:
I've had the same issue with mobile phone chargers. Some cause problems and some don't.
The inverter route might work. Looks like if its 240v 1.2A then you need a 300w inverter which at 12v in theory is 25 amp. You'll need to go direct to the battery. Cigarette lighter won't handle that.
Alternatively, try a different cigarette lighter adapter. I have a feeling its the cheapy ones that cause problems.
Click to expand...

check the power rating first.
most laptop PSUs are switch mode, so have an input range from 100-250V usually, the "A" rating then quoted is the Maximum (ie at 100V) at 230 it will be lower.

Id also suggest thats its the hard drive causing the issue, especially being so close to the antenna cable.
 
Def. agree there is possibly interference being induced on the aerial cable. A few easy fixes to that.

What is your 12v laptop power supply (link to place bought from)

If it is power related, a DC: DC isolated converter might help the issue :)
 
hi guys thanks for suggestions et

the power supply was an ebay special :eek:
UNIVERSAL LAPTOP NOTEBOOK ADAPTER CAR CHARGER POWER 19v SUPPLY 80w dc 12v CHARGE | eBay

i cant see it being the hdd wifi or bluetooth personally, (it stayed connected to internet whilst outsde, bluetooth stayed on as thats what my gps tuns from) i only got the issue of interfearence when plugging in the above item..i even left the laptop in the car with adaptor pugged in and ran an extansion cable cig lighter from another car which caused same issue.
 
Paulmitchell1984 said:
problem solved, bought a proper car charger from maplins today.
Click to expand...

Ah good, the Maplin ones are good, I use one of those

The only modification I would strongly recommend if you're using it for laning is to change the cigarette lighter socket for a firm locking connector as they bounce around a lot and can melt the connectors.

I use these:

4-pole-speakon-connector-4-pole-speakon-male-.jpg
 
hmm good idea, where can i get these from...my issue is all cabling and lighter sockets run along top of my sun visors so may be bit tight for space
 
CPC, Maplin, RS, eBay, etc.

NL2MP - NEUTRIK - SPEAKON SOCKET, 2P, SOLDER TERMINATION | CPC

NL2FC - NEUTRIK - SPEAKON PLUG - 2 POLE | CPC

They take up less space than a lighter socket!

Or if you really can't be bothered with buying one from them then i can dig you some out of the shed.

I really would recommend finding a way to make it work. I had no end of issues with mine until i put the secure connections in.


EDIT:

There are various types on CPC, solder or crimp type connectors, i use crimp ones for ease
 
Paulmitchell1984 said:
hi guys thanks for suggestions et

the power supply was an ebay special :eek:
UNIVERSAL LAPTOP NOTEBOOK ADAPTER CAR CHARGER POWER 19v SUPPLY 80w dc 12v CHARGE | eBay

i cant see it being the hdd wifi or bluetooth personally, (it stayed connected to internet whilst outsde, bluetooth stayed on as thats what my gps tuns from) i only got the issue of interfearence when plugging in the above item..i even left the laptop in the car with adaptor pugged in and ran an extansion cable cig lighter from another car which caused same issue.
Click to expand...

I use an identical cheap sh1t chinese ebay power unit for the laptop .. never had interference, works a treat from the cig lighter and wired onto the same plug as the CB through a choc-block!

I guess chinese quality control means some are good, some are not so good .. glad mine's good!! and glad you found the cause .. ;)

Incidentally, which power supply did you use to fix the issue, just in case?
 
I use this one from Maplin:

150W Laptop Car Adaptor : Laptop : Maplin Electronics

Although there is a 90W one which is a bit cheaper

I have one complaint with mine, the power jack I don't think is quite right for my laptop so through years of abuse now doesn't always make a great power connection, I'm going to resolve this my cutting the power connector of the mains supply which came with the tablet and attach it to the in-car power supply... I only use that tablet in the car so I don't need the in house charger!

I think this is probably an isolated issue due to my tablet having a strange power jack though
 
Cheers mate .. dunno why I didn't just go to Maplins site and look !

:bolt:
 
Bump said:
CPC, Maplin, RS, eBay, etc.

NL2MP - NEUTRIK - SPEAKON SOCKET, 2P, SOLDER TERMINATION | CPC

NL2FC - NEUTRIK - SPEAKON PLUG - 2 POLE | CPC

They take up less space than a lighter socket!

Or if you really can't be bothered with buying one from them then i can dig you some out of the shed.

I really would recommend finding a way to make it work. I had no end of issues with mine until i put the secure connections in.


EDIT:

There are various types on CPC, solder or crimp type connectors, i use crimp ones for ease
Click to expand...



these really are not power connectors, they are speaker connectors, the definatly have no way of fusing the plug.
IMO a better solution would be hella plugs and sockets, similar in size to cig lighters, but higher constant power rated, and do have a more posative locking action, hellas were designed for constant use, unlike cig lighter sockets that were designed for, well, cig lighters.
 
timtheenchanteruk said:
these really are not power connectors, they are speaker connectors, the definatly have no way of fusing the plug.
IMO a better solution would be hella plugs and sockets, similar in size to cig lighters, but higher constant power rated, and do have a more posative locking action, hellas were designed for constant use, unlike cig lighter sockets that were designed for, well, cig lighters.
Click to expand...

yes... they are used for speaker connections. They are also used for things like star cloth and other similar products. They have a safety rating of 20A continuous load and can peak at a lot lot higher current rating than that.

Although i do tend to use the four pole connectors splitting the load across a pair.


See:
NAC3FCB - NEUTRIK - POWER CON CABLE B | CPC

They are EXACTLY the same connectors - just the chassis body is a different colour for identifying them easily and to prevent using the wrong cables - they are also keyed slightly differently to stop a numpty soundy plugging Powercon into the back of a speaker
 
timtheenchanteruk said:
IMO a better solution would be hella plugs and sockets, similar in size to cig lighters, but higher constant power rated, and do have a more posative locking action, hellas were designed for constant use, unlike cig lighter sockets that were designed for, well, cig lighters.
Click to expand...

I'm not familar with hella plugs, but, from my quick bit of googling they don't appear to have any secure locking...:confused:

For off-road use and something drawing a fair bit of power you really want something with a positive lock not just push in and hope
 
ye after a few niggles today all is fine but ideally need 3 sets, laptop and 2 onboard cameras..yes im greedy lol

think il invest in some of the plugs.

and as above its the cheaper 90w adapto that i got, works a treat :)
 
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