Rear cam killing DAB radio

lolek74

Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2015
Messages
40
Reaction score
18
Country
Australia
At first I only installed front cam. Everything was working fine. Last weekend I installed rear camera. Drove for a few days and everything was OK. Today I tried to listen to DAB and signal was dropping out every few seconds. Unplugged rear camera and DAB instantly worked as it should. Remounted the gear camera as far from the window as I could. It improved for most stations but some still dropping out.
The car is 2017 Mazda 3 Sp25GT.
 
I wonder if grounding the rear cam cable shield would fix the issue.
 
I wonder if grounding the rear cam cable shield would fix the issue.
Ground it to what?

Presumably it is already grounded in the front camera, but the front camera ground is not the same as car ground, so adding a connection from the shield at the rear camera to car ground would not be good.

Maybe adding an extra braded shield over the rear part of the cable and grounding that to car ground may help?

I still think the best solution is to install a decent quality radio antenna, but most people don't seem to have a problem so I'm not sure what is actually causing the problems for the few people who do have them, maybe a poorly grounded shield on the radio antenna...
 
I still think the best solution is to install a decent quality radio antenna

will likely still have issues, DAB in Australia is patchy at the best of times, our landscape doesn't do reception any favors, doesn't take much to knock it out
 
Techmoan.com also mentions problems with dab radio in a thread entitled my favourite dual camera dashcam under £100 it is towards the end of the video and gives some explications but unfortunately no solution
 
Thank you for the replies.
I thought about mounting cam on the bracket away from the window. It will look ugly. In the end I removed rear camera. The DAB is crystal clear again.
 
Thank you for the replies.
I thought about mounting cam on the bracket away from the window. It will look ugly. In the end I removed rear camera. The DAB is crystal clear again.

That's an alternative but you might try mounting elsewhere such as at the side or bottom just to see what happens. I go on the idea that something, even if not optimal, is better than nothing. Seems a bit of a waste to have the rear cam but not use it but it's your choice.

Phil
 
I agree with you. I was thinking about it for most of day. I need to closely examine rear windscreen to see which lines are for the DAB antenna. I'll will post solution if I find one.
 
@lolek74 Possibly just use some masking tape to temporarily hold the cam while testing, then if it seems to work go for the 3M tape for a permanent solution. I'd run the cabling similarly with masking tape along my intended route outside of moldings etc. just to be sure that's not where the RFI is entering.

Be persistent and you may find luck awaiting you. Here's to hoping for the best of luck!

Phil
 
My rear dash cam is installed on 2022 Mazda which has antenna on rear hatch window. DAB was dropping out frequently.
I installed a Ferrite Core to the cable connected to the input port of the camera, and the issue, dropouts, improved greatly.
 
Yeah this is a sad side effect that seem to plague many with a 2 channel system and SAT / DAB radio, i have even seen a case of a system interfering with the build in SAT nav in a Subaru.

Ferrite choke and / or re-routing of the rear camera wire are things to try,,,,,, i have also started to recommend you do a dry run with the wire to the rear camera just loosely draped as close to its planned / projected route, to avoid having to take it out again if routing another way is better.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LMN
Back
Top