My CB kills my motor????????

[JHardwick]

I just installed a tuned up Cobra 29 today and it just about kills my motor when I key up at idle. It makes it stumble bad under power. what in the world is going on? I have the power directly to the drivers side battery and a chassis ground, the Wilson 500 has been tuned as well.



What gives?

 

[MJaynes]

hi,my guess is r. f. getting into engine's computer... i used to run a little extra power in a jeep i had and when i would key up the dash lights would come on. may try re routing wires and /or antenna coax. what type of coax are you using?,mike

 

[testraub]

Been there done that... I run a small pair of boots on mine had a problem with the box I had installed. RF would beat me around the head and shoulders and I'd pull the box and everything was fine. New box, no problems but it was made with my feedback in mind. re-routing the cable may help but the issue may remain. I can still light up lights in the cluster at times, but nothing bad happens Pushing 300 on SSB 150 on Ancient Mary.

 

[JHardwick]

I'm only talking 40 watts here guys. No cables or wiring is tidyed up yet, it's just roughed in before I broke out the wire ties. Coax came with the Wilson and runs over the console and out the rear slider for now. I was just testing before running everything neat and tidy. It'll just about kill the motor at idle and make a severe stumble under power. The stumble seems to fluctuate with modulation as well.

 

[MMeier]

Mine doesn't seem to affect the truck at all, but it wreaks havoc with the lights in the garage when I key up.

 

[JHardwick]

Could it have something to do with the Quad?

 

[MMeier]

One way to find out, take it off and see what happens.

 

[BIG BOB]

I've seen this happen before, it's the Quad Box. Take it off and I bet it runs fine.

 

[Task125]

Its the Quad box,I had the same problem,took out the box everything was good

 

[qzilla]

It definately can have something to do with the module if it is an older one. The latest boards have a lot of RF protection built into them and would probably solve the issue.



Now with that said 40watts is not even legal to run. WE have tested the updated boards to 75 watts but there can still be instances where the CB can cause issues.



The next thing you will find is that the CB probably interfere with your egt gauge if you have one. I have watched several autometers, isspro's and diprocal peg when you key some CB's up.



Also how do you have your antennae hooked up? I have seen a lot of problems with antennaes. The worst ones are the magnetic style ones that go on the roof or bed rails. They can cause havoc on a lot of things.



CB radios anymore do not handle their RF very well and they are not monitored. Typically stock off the shelf radios are 4 watts or less and even though the RF is bad it is not enough power to cause much grief.



Also if you want you can try putting the module under the hood just for a test. The firewall will shield some of the rf.



Also just for the record it is not the module it is techically messing with. It is the power going to the module that causes the issue. Watch the LED light when you key it up!





Quad

 

[Task125]

I had the quad box std. on my 03,I had a stock cb,and I ran power to the cb from the center of cab. I had a painless wire kit under rear seat. and the ant. was mounted to ladder rack on the bed. I spent at least 35. 00 on these magnet things from radio shack to fix it. made it from killing the truck when mike was keyed to sputtering.

I had a few more problems with the box sent it back,got it fixed and it started to act up again, and on the work bench it sits.

Qzilla service is great. but box never worked right 20% of the time and I got sick of dealing with it.

 

[DIESELMAN]

Most likely RF is getting into the Quadzilla box, but that is not the only place. I run 1500 Watts in my truck (certainly not on CB freqs though) and had to take care of mine one step at a time.



At only 10 Watts and mostly at 14MHz, the culprit was the Edge Box, put a bead on the edge box, right where the cable enters the box, making two passes through the bead.



At Higher power (500W) I could kill the engine.



An RF Strap (2" wide copper braid) between the cab / bed / frame.



Eventually, it took a bead on each injector lead, a bead and 2-3 wraps through it on the TPS cable, and one on the Fan Clutch controller wire. Now, even at 1. 5Kw on ANY (legal) frequency, nothing. No guage funny business and no change in engine performance when keyed.



DM

 

[JHardwick]

Well I don't know what to do now. I pulled the Quad and it alleviated the problem. Now, do I play on the radio or with my right foot? I've not witnessed any ill effects other than the Quad killing the motor, my EGT stays true.



I run 100,000 miles or more a year hauling horses around the country and I like my Quad, my XM and was looking forward to playing CB too. I guess the CB and XM will do a better job at keeping my forhead off the steering wheel at 3AM than the Quad, but I sure like charging up a pass loaded down!



I'm fixin to buy injectors, does anybody want a Quad race box? Are there any boxes I can run with a tuned up CB? I'm not into the downloaders at all.



Suggestions welcome.

 

[JHardwick]

Now with that said 40watts is not even legal to run.

Nobody even listens to a stock radio, kinda like a stock Cummins, LOL

 

[qzilla]

Why don't you call us and get the board swapped to the later version that has some extra RF protection built into it? We made several post months ago on several different sites telling people that if they had a CB issue we were happy to swap it out with a new board? We had a grand total of 9 units replaced??? It appeared to be a real problem but, when we offered free replacements to solve it hardly anyone showed up?



Just call tech support and tell them what your issue is. They will issue a RMA# and you can get the latest stuff. The problem is that I am not going to guarantee anything at 40 watts. It should be fine since we tested it to 75w but there are a lot of factors.



The truth is that anything over legal can be dangerous to you and others around you. I understand that like your Cummins you don't want a stock one. The difference is that your modified Cummins does not affect anyone else around you. I have seen wrecks before caused my linears in crowded areas. Some people are putting out enough power to actually kill the car beside them. Obvisouly you are not there but, you need to understand what you have is not legal.



I am not sure what the XM radio has to do with any of it? I have never heard of an XM causing any trouble for anyone.



Task125,



You should do the same thing. Get the latest board.



Also just so you guys know with these CB's that have RF issues. This is going to affect an EGT gauge as well as other things you may add to your truck.

 

[BK]

RF Power decreases by the square of distance.

Try an antenna on the bumper.

Run the power from the driver's side battery (well atleast no my gen 2, the computer is on the passanger side).



Is that 40w from the CB itself, or is there a seperate heater?



The EMI filters built in the CBs are NOT designed to take the additional current to run heavier finals in the rigs. The coil(s) in the DC input filter will saturate with the additional current from bigger finals.



Get a long ferrite sleeve core, and pass the power wires (both + and -) (go through twice), as it leaves the CB / heater. Closer to the CB / heater the better.

May want to look at a ham equipment supplier and find a DC line filter for the RF if the sleeve isn't doing it.

You can try one sleeve on the + and one on the -. Usually the common mode inductance provided by passing the +/- through together helps as much as the differental inductance. But sometimes it doesn't. Bit of a black art.



If it's a seperate heater. .

Most heaters are cheaply made, where did you mount it?

I've seen some that had NO DC line filtering built into them.

And terrible cases, radiate like heck.

If you put an antenna at the bumper, maybe locate the heater at the rear too?

 

[jnelson]

Mine did the same thing. Just wire your power thru the fuse box and all will fair well.

 

[BIG BOB]

Are there any boxes I can run with a tuned up CB?



Suggestions welcome.

TST and a Juice I know will work fine.

 

[K5IP]

You might also have problem with the linear amp itself. I helped a neighbor who bought an inexpensive linear amp for use with his CB and when we put it on a spectrum analyzer, we found it was putting out garbage all over the place. Evaluation of the circuit showed it to be running class C, not a linear mode at all. Replacing the amp solved his problem.

K5IP (ham radio)

 

[steved]

Nobody even listens to a stock radio, kinda like a stock Cummins, LOL

Ain't that the truth... I've seen guys pushing over 300 watts out of Connex 4600s and it only make the seatbelt light flicker... it doesn't affect the way the truck runs... although, that's pretty funny... imagine doing that to SOMEONE ELSE'S truck that's sitting beside you!!



steved