Radio interference from Tracer battery

[Jonathan Stuart]

Hi,

I use a 22AH Tracer Lipo battery on my BRe but it causes interference on my VHF when there is any load, even a tiny draw, on the battery. Through a series of tests I believe I have proved that it is the battery causing this interference and not any other electric device. The interference seems to be caused by the battery and travels along and emits from the wiring connected to the battery.

Has anyone else encountered similar issues and/or have any suggestions how to eliminate this? I have found putting the battery and wires in a biscuit tin works but I can't keep all wiring in a tin on the boat!

[Tony]

I get huge interference on VHF from my fishfinder/echosounder.
Simple remedy #1  Chuck it in a locker and use a sounding stick
Simple remedy #2   Turn off the VHF

....niether of which help you. Why a discharging battery should be generating radio frequencies beats me but  I have a feeling that it should not!  (a waste of energy apart from anything else)  E-mail your supplier?

[Jonathan Stuart]

Thanks Tony.

From the brief time I have spent Googling it appears this can happen with lithium batteries. The power and volatility of these batteries means they sometimes require circuitry to manage charging/discharging and this is the likely source of the interference rather than the cells.

I emailed the supplier last night. They have responded quickly and while not with anything useful it does sound like this is a known issue. They wrote:

Sadly, there is not anything that can be done to completely resolve this; we don't have an alternate component, nor know of anything that can be included in the circuitry to stop this from happening.

However, in our experience we've found that the exact positioning of the battery in relation to any radio equipment can have a significant effect. Have you tried re-positioning the battery, or using a longer wire connection if this is possible?

By in my experience it appears that the interference is generated by the battery's circuits but then travels along the connected wiring which "broadcasts" it. Hence, moving the battery doesn't help. I have been reading about ferrite cores (now I know what those lumps are on some of my cables!) and will experiment putting a couple of those on the wiring immediately where it leaves the battery.

This all reminds me why I avoided installations of electronics and batteries for so long - it just adds complications!