This question is for the more electrically informed I have a Zaurus SL-5600 (I know it's obsolete) that does what I like for now. I listen to Podcasts in my '08 #7 Silver Prius all the time. I got a universal power plug so I could charge it while I drive/listen but there's too much interference coming from something (imagine that) for me to listen and charge at the same time. I remember years ago we'd put something on the spark plug cables to dampen this type of thing but I'm at a lose now days. Any help would be appreciated. John PS Yes I'll get an Ipod eventually (or something) and a DICE (or something) once I think the bugs have been worked out of them.
Hi John, welcome to PriusChat! Maybe what you're hearing is ground hum. Do a search here for ground hum or hum eliminator and I think you'll find some threads discussing the problem and solutions to fix it.
Thanks Bill, The term may be a 'ground loop isolator'. I'll go to Radio Shack and pick one up. I tell you how it works, John
Radio Shack was an online only purchase and the pictures showed more cnnectors than I thought necessaey so I bounght the Crutchfield version which looked a lot cleaner. It is and works, I'm happy. John
the other thing to try is to see what it is like on a low battery. Sometimes with charged batteries the chargers at not putting out a clean dc. This dc is then not filtered well and sent through everything and ends up in the audio. With more of a load on the charger some of this noise disapears. I found different chargers can produce noise, especially the cheaper ones.
The Prius produces a fair amount of electrical interference. You have that 500 V inverter popping away, and assorted high power electrical accessories, so it's not surprising that some noise gets into the 12 V system. Tom
