Anyone had an issue with a noisy inverter in a cascadia?

Discussion in 'CB Radio Forum' started by IMSITTINGINYOURCHAIR, Dec 25, 2024.

  1. IMSITTINGINYOURCHAIR

    IMSITTINGINYOURCHAIR Bobtail Member

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    Last year I got a '19 cascadia, did all my usual stuff transferring things into it including an inverter I had been using in my previous truck. The cb worked just fine in the 125 I came out of. When I get the inverter and all setup as soon as I switched the inverter on the needle swept clear across from the noise.

    As things sit now, The inverter is connected to a dedicated 600Ah lithium bank for electric ac to reduce idling, the batteries are charged by a charge controller to save the alternator.

    I have tried a separate antenna, grounding everything on the cb side, Checking ground between the body and frame, even did a voltage drop test with as many loads active in the cab as I could and I got no change on the meter so the existing ground is carrying the load just fine. Hooked the cb to a small agm battery for testing, same for the inverter before I setup the homebrew EPU, I had a samlex 2kw pure sine inverter to start, I swapped that for a jupiter 2kw pure sine and the noise is identical. I found a video about installing a couple of 1uf capacitors to help and that did nothing. it's just noise all over the AM, cb and radio.

    I came across a thread here but it's a bit old, I too have noticed the noise coming from the newer cascadias and it has had the same 60hz harmonic that I hear from my inverter.

    It almost feels like it's something with the truck that is causing the problem to resonate within it,
     
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  3. Night Stalker10

    Night Stalker10 Road Train Member

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    Seems like there was another fellow having the same problem. When he would turn off the inverter the noise went away. It was recommended to try snap on ferrite noise suppressors on the power wire feeding the inverter, and it solved his problem.

    Amazon.com

    Be sure to use the correct size ferrite for the power wire.
     
    IMSITTINGINYOURCHAIR Thanks this.
  4. Ridgeline

    Ridgeline Road Train Member

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    What inverter do you have?

    Some of the cheap ones are so noisy they can not be attenuated enough to be clean on any radio.
     
  5. 062

    062 Road Train Member

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    Does the signal drop when you pull the coax off the back of the radio?
     
  6. IMSITTINGINYOURCHAIR

    IMSITTINGINYOURCHAIR Bobtail Member

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    I have 1/0 wire feeding the inverter and the charge controller with a 4ga run from the charger to the batteries. so I will grab some of those and see what happens.
     
  7. IMSITTINGINYOURCHAIR

    IMSITTINGINYOURCHAIR Bobtail Member

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    at the orgin of the problem I was running a samlex pure sine 2kw, I swapped to a jupiter 2kw pure sine as when I was re configuring the install for the battery setup the Neg lug on the inverter gave some and snapped the pcb. the audible noise is identical across the two of them. I am tempted to get a SDR to actually see how far up the band it is interfering with.

    I am away from the truck till sunday, but, IIRC the radio just goes dead silent when I pull the coax. the interference definitely dies though. I used an AM radio here at home to test the older inverter with the capacitor, I will likely grab some aligator clips and try that setup on the truck.


    thank y'all for the replies!
     
  8. 062

    062 Road Train Member

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    I was referring to the signal meter.
    If you unplug the coax does the signal drop?
     
  9. IMSITTINGINYOURCHAIR

    IMSITTINGINYOURCHAIR Bobtail Member

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    yes, it goes all the way down with the coax removed. it drops to a reasonable noise floor with the inverter powered off as well.
     
  10. 062

    062 Road Train Member

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    Touch the coax ground to the ground of the so239 to see if the signal increases.
    Touch the center pin on the coax to the center of the so239 without touching the grounds together and see what the signal is.
    You may have ac leaching into the truck ground and the antenna or coax is picking it up.
     
  11. IMSITTINGINYOURCHAIR

    IMSITTINGINYOURCHAIR Bobtail Member

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    10-4 I'll have to try the ground to ground only when I get back to the truck. I do remember trying center pin only before following some other troubleshooting I had found. If memory serves me the signal level only slightly decreased when I pulled the ground.

    I have some of the ferrites ordered as well, will likely be later next week before I get them to the truck
     
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