Thread: Disco IV poor Radio reception on AM frequency

Having a google on the topic, there's a heap of complaints on the topic of AM reception in Discos. You might find more on the topic through that avenue. I didn't see any conclusions to the issue in the threads I read.

Originally Posted by Ferret

Maybe a potential thread hijack, but since it has been mentioned - are there any fixes to minimise fridge AM radio interference when reception is weak.

Originally Posted by cjc_td5

I have found that the interference was dependant on where the fridge was placed in the cargo area relative to the aerial in the glass. I've not had the same issue in my D4, but in my old D2a (which has its aerial in the drivers side rear side glass), my fridge placed on the passenger side of the cargo area was fine, but when I ran a fridge on the RH side of the cargo area I got interference in the radio reception. For that trip I swapped the aerial at the back of the head unit to run an old school aerial on the roof.

My fridge (Engel 40L) sits on the right hand side and is mounted fairly high up - close to the right side window - as it is on a fridge slide above my BOAB drawer system. In fact, it is mounted high enough that I can slide the fridge out the back of the vehicle without lowering the bottom tailgate.

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I don't get any radio interference / static at all on the AM radio when the fridge is running (which is almost all the time, especially when travelling out of town). It could be because I do not plug the fridge directly into either the OEM power socket in the rear of the vehicle, nor either of the two permanently powered outlets fitted as part of the Traxide system. I run an Engel "battpak 56" in the rear of the vehicle, and the fridge is plugged into this. The battpak sits just in front of the BOAB drawer system immediately in front of the fridge, and is bolted to the front panel of the BOAB drawer cabinet with a steel strap that I made up for the job.



The power supply / charge lead for the battpak is now plugged into one of the two supply outlets installed as part of the Traxide kit. Prior to installing the Traxide kit, I used to plug this supply lead into the OEM cigarette lighter outlet in the rear of the vehicle. Even though this is powered only when the ignition is on, it always managed to do the job. In any case, I suspect that having another "battery" between the fridge and the vehicle's charge system may explain why I get no radio interference from the fridge. I had the same installation previously in both the D2 and the D1 V8 (both minus any Traxide or other DBS) and never experienced any problems with radio interference with them either.

I don't think it's the fridge - I have had three different fridges in these vehicles at different times (two 40 litre anniversary editions and my really old - almost a collectors item - green 15 litre fridge), and have never experienced radio interference from any of them.

One of the best known "cures" for RFI on AM radios where fridges are the culprit is to install a capacitor in parallel with the fridge power supply. Effectively, the addition of a separate battery supplying power direct to the fridge, but independent of the power supply to the vehicle's radio is doing the same thing, as a battery is in many ways similar to a capacitor.