Aux lights causes XM recep issue

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MattHamby598

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I wired my Rough Country upper grille light to Aux #1. Pretty simple, right? Grounded to the factory chassis ground near the battery. When I turn it on, my radio gets static interference. This is particularly bad when on XM radio.
Any suggestions? Should it be grounded to the battery?
 

CobraJay

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Make sure all of your connections and crimps are clean/tight, dont coil excess wire in loops, look for any sharp bends or damage in the wiring harness. This is usually caused by loose/damaged connections causing static. You could try grounding to the battery post and see if anything changes.
 

4x4TruckLEDs.com

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Are you sure you're getting feedback on XM Radio? XM Radio isn't the same as FM radio and i've never heard of anybody getting feedback on satelite radio. Now your AM/FM radio, SURE, that happens ALL the time with high power LED lights. But on XM???

You need to ground your light bar in a different place and/or run your power lines AWAY from any radio wires (again it's usually the AM/FM cable so maybe you meant that and not XM???).

You can also try iron ferrite cores that snap onto the power lines of your light which might help.
 
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MattHamby598

MattHamby598

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Thank you all. I will move the ground and let you all know the outcome.
Yes, it is the satellite radio, but it could be both. I just happen to be on satellite the other night when I noticed this
 

cbland1979

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I wired my Rough Country upper grille light to Aux #1. Pretty simple, right? Grounded to the factory chassis ground near the battery. When I turn it on, my radio gets static interference. This is particularly bad when on XM radio.
Any suggestions? Should it be grounded to the battery?

I experienced something similar when I installed Rigids to the front bumper pockets. As soon as I flipped the AUX switches, static on my AM/FM radio. Tried grounding in different places, ferrite cores, etc, etc. The only thing that fixed the static was going with Baja Designs lights. For some reason the Rigids didn't play well with my radio.
 
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