StealthGTI
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Newport News, VA
- Car(s)
- 2017 GTI Sport
Hello,
Thanks!
HAHA! Yes, easy to misunderstand. The negative wire on the voltage regulator is half black and half red. I'm not sure why, but it's a distraction. I may put a line of black heat shrink on it to make it all black. As for the fuse block, yes, half is positive and half is negative. The transceivers require fuses on both the positive and negative wires. Installation instructions want the leads ran all the way to the starter battery and fused there. No thanks! I've never had a problem powering my rear-mounted radios this way.
The coils are not quite what they seem. They're actually CHOKES. Each coil has a Mix 31 ferrite bead snapped around it, which turns it into an RF choke. Here's a closer look at one on the left (the bead on the right-hand choke is on bottom).
The coax is choked elsewhere. RF current travels along the outside of the conductor. This is known as the "skin effect." Stray RF can travel back into the car, into electronics components along various paths, and generate interference. This manner of RF travel is known as "common mode current." It's worse at higher power levels. Chokes eliminate or drastically reduce common mode current. I choke the power feeds for the transceivers and everything that connects to an antenna:
I remember a fellow tech once asked me "Where are your service loops?" Well, having the chokes gives me "service loops."
@StealthGTI you make it look so simplistic- great work
Thanks!
So, ground buss bar with red cables and (what I think it is) fuse box/power distribution block with black cables? Or is the block divided into POS/GND? Also, looking at the coiled leads gives me flashbacks from installers course, the instructors would have a fit if they found anything like that in our rigs.
HAHA! Yes, easy to misunderstand. The negative wire on the voltage regulator is half black and half red. I'm not sure why, but it's a distraction. I may put a line of black heat shrink on it to make it all black. As for the fuse block, yes, half is positive and half is negative. The transceivers require fuses on both the positive and negative wires. Installation instructions want the leads ran all the way to the starter battery and fused there. No thanks! I've never had a problem powering my rear-mounted radios this way.
The coils are not quite what they seem. They're actually CHOKES. Each coil has a Mix 31 ferrite bead snapped around it, which turns it into an RF choke. Here's a closer look at one on the left (the bead on the right-hand choke is on bottom).

The coax is choked elsewhere. RF current travels along the outside of the conductor. This is known as the "skin effect." Stray RF can travel back into the car, into electronics components along various paths, and generate interference. This manner of RF travel is known as "common mode current." It's worse at higher power levels. Chokes eliminate or drastically reduce common mode current. I choke the power feeds for the transceivers and everything that connects to an antenna:


I remember a fellow tech once asked me "Where are your service loops?" Well, having the chokes gives me "service loops."