Two-Way Radio Activates CCM
We've had a few calls where drivers were complaining that the system was activating/arming when it shouldn't have been and the driver thought that it was activating at random.
The drivers realized that the system often (but not always) activated when he was using the radio.
Here's what we did to troubleshoot:
- We deactivated the system and turned the bus off so that we could start from scratch.
- We started the bus and waited about 15 seconds (it is important to wait for the system to boot before trying to test out the activation).
- We then tried using the 2-way radio by keying the microphone. It activated the system almost immediately.
- We then disconnected the brown activation wire and tried the same thing again. We were not able to activate the system with the 2-way when the brown wire was disconnected.
- We then adjusted the 2-way radio antenna to gain a better contact to the mounting metal (which probably fixed a poor ground contact) and the problem disappeared.
It appears that a poor ground contact on the antenna is inducing a voltage (rusty bolt effect) on the the 8-way light circuit (the 8-ways are right beside where the antenna is mounted) which the system is interpreting as an activation signal.
We suspect that this issue is going to come back on this vehicle because we didn't do too much to fix the ground contact on the antenna. We're OK with that because we actually want to see the issue reappear. If you're having this issue, we suggest that you either:
- Create a better ground contact for the antenna.
OR
- Move the antenna to be a little further away from the 8-way circuit. The separation between an active radio transmitter antenna and antenna cabling should be separated from susceptible (electronic cabling) elements by approximately 30CM (1 foot) for good electronic separation. We are aware that this is not always possible but is a good rule of thumb to try to achieve.
If this fails, you can always connect your CCM system to activate from another input (e.g. the brake lights).
If you're having this issue, and this article helps you, please click on one of the smiley faces, below!
