Hi Guys. I was putting a GPS mount on my road king yesterday and also wired a 2 port USB port off of the power for my windshield mount radio/speaker system (not sure what brand the system is).

I used crimp on splice connections to tap into the power run for the radio. After I did this, I no longer have reception on the radio. Power to the radio and the USB ports works fine.

There is no external antenna for the radio system so I know I didn't mess that up.

Any ideas?

 

Kinda dabbling in unknown territory here, but sounds radio ground related? Really don't know your specifics, but just general thought would be noise related, or lack of, poor ground, maybe? Not really sure but start there.
Kris

 

I agree its a start. Check that ground. Had similar problem and it was the ground.

 

the USB port you're using if it's powered may be using a switching power supply. If it is, it will likely radiate interference into your FM signal. Easy test would be simply disconnect power to it and see what happens.

Also you haven't by chance changed your headlight or passing lamps have you? These HID light kits will kill FM reception also.

 

Thanks for the help so far. I'm not an electrical guy so bear with me here.

I checked a couple things with no great breakthroughs. I found this pdf for the system that I have, its called a road radio. Apparently there is a wire for constant power and one for "switched" power, I tapped into the red wire which is the switched power. http://eglidegoodies.com/roadradio.PDF

Any other thoughts or things I might be able to check? I want to avoid taking the radio apart because its a nightmare to do.

I have stock headlight and passing lamps.

 

Subscribed.

 

Sounds like your antenna connection might have come a little loose from pulling on all the wiring while crimping, I'd start looking there first. Ive never heard of a radio that never had an external antenna, even if it's just a length of wire hanging out the back. No antenna= no reception.

 

I would still start by disconnecting the +12v powered USB port to see the results

 

Thanks for the help so far guys.

I can't really just take the power port out of the equation without cutting and splicing wires since I used clamp style splice connectors to tap into the power.

Is there anything I can test/check with a multi-meter?

 

you can't measure interference with a multimeter. We need to know where it's coming from and I'm almost certain it's the powered USB hub installed.