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RADIO FREQUENCY INTERFERENCE
For many years, Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) has been an annoying problem for owners of
Inverters. RFI in a domestic situation causes noise or interference on a radio or TV receiver. Most of
the problems with RFI in a Remote Area Power Supply (RAPS) installation involve AM radio
reception.
Considerable development time has resulted in a reduction of the RFI produced by the SA41 to a level
that complies with Australian Standard AS1044. Compliance to this standard means RFI is low but
how well the inverter performs in a particular installation can vary. Below are some suggestions to help
reduce the effects of RFI in your installation.
It is recommended that the power system including the inverter is housed at least 15 metres from the
home.
Ensure a good earth stake is placed as close to the inverter as possible. See installation on page 3 for
wiring.
Avoid running DC wiring into the home, if at all possible. If this cannot be avoided, run DC and AC in
separate conduits separated by as much distance as practicable. All DC wiring should also be kept as
short as possible.
To further reduce the effects of RFI, it is important that your AM radio has good signal strength. This
will enable your radio to reject any noise being produced by your inverter, regulator, controllers or DC
lighting. If possible, try moving the radio around to improve signal strength or use an external aerial.
Some of today's building materials such as steel roofs and foil insulation may form a barrier to
incoming radio signals. If an external aerial is required, it should be on the outside of the home,
mounted as high as practicable and as far from the battery shed as possible. Connection from the aerial
to the radio should be via a low loss coaxial cable.
PLEASE NOTE: The aerial must be an AM RADIO type. A TV aerial will not work.
HANDY HINT
It is very important that you become familiar with the functioning of your inverter. Since most Inverters
are remotely sited from the home, it is not always easy to know if the inverter is ON or pulsing. An easy
way to determine this is to plug a small child's night light (neon type) into a power point which is easily
visible, or replace the power point with a safety type with a neon indicator. This will indicate the
inverter's operation by flashing when the inverter is pulsing and remaining on when the inverter is
brought on by a load.