My daily driver is a 02 Neon. It was my oldest daughter’s first car. We bought it 10 years ago, between her and I we have nearly doubled the purchase mileage of 98k miles. It has served us very well, I rarely have to work on it.

My youngest daughter bought a “new to her” newer car, as per tradition I took possession of her old car. My “new to me” car is a 05 Grand Prix. Other than a set of tires, battery, brakes and other routine maintenance, it’s also been a very reliable trouble free car. Definitely an upgrade from the neon, in comfort, performance and looks!!

However, I have noticed a peculiar issue. Why does my cell phone charger interfere with the radio while my phone is charging??? I parked both cars side by side and transferred by belongings from one car to the other. Meaning same charger, cord, and phone. The charging port (formerly known as a “cigarette lighter”!) is mounted directly under the radio. The charging port on the Pontiac is in the center console, much further back away from the radio. The radio reception in both cars appears the same, the classic rock station I listen to is about 50 miles away. I don’t have issues with reception on either car when I’m not charging my phone, however in the Pontiac the radio instantly fades the moment I plug my phone in.

Any ideas? I know I could join the modern times and play music thru my phone, however I have a 10 minute drive to work. I don’t want to fool around with that crap for such a short drive.

When I asked my daughter if she ever noticed the issue, she replied that she never used the radio as a radio, she played her phone thru it.

As for the Neon, it’s moving to a new home very soon. I learned over thanksgiving my brother in law has been riding his bike to work because one of their current vehicles is out of commission. While a Neon is far from a luxury vehicle, it’s far preferably to a toyota matrix with head gasket issues. I told my brother in law he can have it until they find something better. When I handed him the keys I made sure to show him this:

 

Its usually the charger. Most chargers use a "switch mode power supply". It could be the usb adapter or socket and even the charging cable itself acting as an antenna. RFI noise is common.

A possible soulution is to move the phone and cable as far away as you can or trying a metal box to sheild. Or buy a higher quality charger.

 

How bad is your phone that it needs charged in the 10 minute drive to work?

 

Obviously, I don’t need to charge it for a 10 minute drive. But I do drive it other places than work, with a much longer drive.

 

I figured it was the charger, I’m just curious why the same charger and cord plugged into a power port much furthercaway from the radio causes interference. On the neon, the charger is directly below the radio. On the Pontiac it’s several feet away.

 

That was a click and clack response.

 

I miss those click and clack guys.

RFI is everywhere, sometimes stuff reacts differently under different cirmcumstances. Some sluething might be required, but in the end all devices must be able to accept interference...according to the FCC.

Try something different one at a time. The first thing I would try, is the usb socket dongle, swap it out for a different one or then try a different charging cord. I don't like the situation at all, and I'm not the one dealing with it, but I wish you luck. This is not a unique problem, lots of peaple have or had this issue.

 

i noticed the other day in my 07 suburban that radio working fine and plug charger in without any cord attached and it caused interference on radio.plugged in static unplug fine plug in static unplug fine.thought that's weird.kid said he's never noticed it but then again he never listens to the radio so wouldn't know anyway.

 

It's definitely a GM radio power/ground/antenna problem; my 02 Silverado was the same.

 

GM has used some funky azzed coax connectors for their antennas over the years. They often use connectors on even the short coax between the radio and antenna on the front fender as seen in the photo below. They often use multiple connectors if the antenna is on the rear of the vehicle. These connectors are susceptible to corrosion and oxidation which reduces the shielding ability of the coax. You can trace the coax and locate any such connections and give them a good twist and in-out scrub to restore the electrical connection and shielding. This includes the connection at the radio itself. This is best done while listening to an AM radio station, you will hear the noise increase and decrease as the connectors are cleaned. FM signals are much more resistant to external RF Noise. Buick Roadmonster wagons were particularly evil with the number and placement of their coax connectors.

 

Imagine my surprise when I noticed the Pontiac doesn’t even have an antenna. It uses the rear defroster grid as an antenna.

Im going to try a higher quality charger, maybe one with better internals will help. I’m not counting on it, I’m guessing it’s the car since everything worked just fine in the other car.

If a different charger doesn’t help, I’ll just deal with it.

While on this subject, I noticed the radio reception goes to hell (doesn’t matter if it’s local or not) on my Ram whenever I put the truck in reverse. I have a aftermarket backup camera, and a couple of aftermarket LED lights mounted under the rear bumper. Both the camera and lights are triggered by the reverse lights. It’s done that for 10 years, that is t a big deal.

 

Pretty sure the Ram problem is the LEDs. Try unhooking them, and try it.

 

Im not the least bit concerned about it, it only happens when I’m backing up. I can deal with lousy reception backing into a parking spot. I just never really noticed how many things affect radio.

 

I had an issue with the garage door opener, and researching showed a lot of people started having issues after installing an LED bulb in their opener. Apparently many LED bulbs generate so much EMI that it blocks the remote transmitter signal.

 

I remember fluorescent lights messing with radio (especially AM) but I always assumed LEDs were pretty “clean”. I have a rechargeable LED lights messing that clamps to the hood, anytime I charge or turn it on the radio cuts out.

Everything is a trade off. Regular bulbs are hot as hell, and fragile. Fluorescent bulbs don’t work well in the cold, and are fragile. LEDs are apparently electrically noisy.

 

It’s not the LEDs themselves, but the circuitry used to convert AC voltage to DC. Some are poorly designed / cheaply built and generate a lot of EMI.

 

LEDs never burn out. The cheap *** circuits never last though...