Separate Power Wires?

[snowyriver]

Hello all of you Skyview geeks!

I've been reading some of the posts regarding RF noise and was wondering if I should run my skyview power wires separate from my other power wires. Right now I have them all bundled together as they make for the fuse panel. Among the wires are power for my LED strobes and LED landing/wig-wag lts.

I know it's not RF but noise is noise. Anyone have some info on this? Thanks. Craig

 

[keye]

For what it's worth, I haven't noticed any noise problems with my installation, and I didn't take any extraordinary precautions with wire routing or shielding. If anything, the wiring for your radio and intercom should be separated from other system wiring, although I haven't done this in my installation, and have not suffered any problems.

 

[dynonsupport]

We have not found the power wires to be the noisy part of the SkyView system, so I don't think this will give you any great benefits.

 

[thibault]

Support,

So, can you share some data on what do seem to be contributors to noise in the system?

Thanks,

Tom

 

[jakej]

FWIW - there are 'basics' with wiring installations.
1. use only low loss antenna cables
2. use shilded or twisted wire when it's called out for in manuals
3. ALL audio and radio grounds should go to one point.

I've mixed (when I had no choice) cabling on many aircraft and have no 'issues'.

Skyview - it's apparent that some were/are having problems right through the VHF frequency range but others just with a single frequency, the filtered dsub connectors will fix that.

my .02 cents

Jake J

 

[dynonsupport]

Tom,
The issue with SkyView is that it has a bunch of fast processors inside, and these generate RF noise. It appears this internal noise is well blocked by the case in general (which is how we designed it), but some of this noise couples onto the internal wires that connect to the cables that leave the box.

Basically, every wire hooked to the D37 or D9 connectors have some noise on them. It doesn't really matter what the wire is designed to do- none of the signals that leave the box on purpose are an RF source. So it's not the power, or the serial, or the audio wire in specific. This is why we need the filter that puts a filter on EVERY one of the pins. This cuts out all RF noise right as it leaves the box and prevents every wire from becoming an antenna.

What this means is that the filters work, and there isn't much more for a customer to do when wiring. The noise is pretty local to the SkyView screen, and this appears to be why different radios act differently. Theoretically, a perfect radio will only pick up RF energy from the antenna, but in reality this is never true. The noise leaks in up at the panel, and some radios appear to let in more panel noise than others.

We have noticed small increases in noise with things like ground loops, so making sure your cables such as the USB connector are not grounded to the panel are a good idea, since this creates a big ground loop. But these are small increases compared to the huge decrease the filters give us, so they aren't likely the source of the issue.