Evening, all.

Bit of a strange one, but I'm having some interference on my dab radio from either one of the cigarette lighters, or a hardwire for a dashcam.

A few months ago, my stereo (Columbus) went odd and resulted in me replacing it with a lesser model stereo. One thing or another, I spoke with pab (thanks, again) and got the firmware to rebuild the original stereo and it is working a treat.

The Columbus stereo does this thing where it just cuts out digital radio signal. I wired a new DAB aerial onto the windscreen, thinking it was a water ingress issue with the fin. It got slightly better, but not gone by any means. (Runs behind the glovebox, up through the column on nearside, then sticks on the windscreen near the rope of the window)

It only cuts DAB signal, not FM and not Bluetooth audio.

When I changed to the lesser model (Blaupunkt VW radio) this interference was gone. The radio, though, lost access to a ton of radio stations with the latest DAB upgrade including Absolute. This is why I decided to rebuild the Columbus unit.

When I refitted the unit, the interference was gone. I'd put it down to a firmware bug, which led to the demise of the stereo in the first place.

Well, since then I've fitted a hardwire kit for a dashcam. All seemed to be working fine, still. Over the last week, however, the radio has been cutting out (not going off completely) and unplugging my dashcam has resulted in this stopping. (Hardwire kits runs from fusebox next to steering wheel along the column, runs along the top of the windscreen hidden beneath the trim, pokes out by the rearview mirror)

I'm right royally confused by the whole thing. Hoping someone will go "Ah, yes, that'll be......"

I did pop it on a cheaper OBDii unit before the firmware rebuild where the stereo cut out but obd showed no errors.

And what if you remove all the power adaptors from cigarette lighter and dahscam?

If nothing is plugged in to cigarette ports, and I disconnect the power cable from the camera, but leave the hardwire in, radio seems to work a treat.

When I rebuilt the stereo I bought a battery charger which measured voltage at 12-14v so I'm sure my battery is ok.

It's pretty common for dashcams, cigarette power adapters, and even hardwire kits to cause DAB interference.

Try fitting a ferrite clip on the cable to reduce interference.

I've ordered and fitted a bunch of ferrites. I've got one on the fuse tap, and one on the whole power cable of the hardwire kit. I've then fitted one to the dab aerial plugged in, and one on the original dab aerial that isn't plugged in. The radio was still cutting out, so I added another ferrite to the end of the hardwire that plugs into the camera. And it's still cutting out.

As I understand it the ferrite changes the frequency of the electric signal. Whilst typing this out, though, I realise fitting a ferrite to the power and the dab, I've probably changed both of them to a similar frequency now.

My next step will be removing the ferrite from the dab aerial(s?) and see if that fixes it.

Ferrites didn't work.

Plugged a 1v charger in, didn't affect radii. Plugged what I think is a 2.1v and the music cut out. Plus, if I have a battery pack charging my phone, no problem.

I'm thinking less electrical interference now, but maybe there is an issue with power supply. Must check the load capacity on battery with multimeter or something.