[aprssig] Re: BMW electrical

[Jim Lux]

Message: 4
Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2006 19:28:15 -0500
From: Joe Della Barba <joe at dellabarba.com>
Subject: Re: [aprssig] BMW electrical systems
To: TAPR APRS Mailing List <aprssig at lists.tapr.org>
Message-ID: <43DEAF1F.5070002 at dellabarba.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

The CAN bus is on the new ones starting this year.
My BMW owner's manual states that radios in excess of 10 watts are not
approved for use in/on the car. I can tell you that a 7 watt 2 meter
APRS tracker had no ill effects on my car when I used it on a trip. If
you start spamming the IBUS with RFI you might get all kinds of bizzar
malfunctions. For example, I have a circuit to send IBUS info from the
steering wheel buttons to an Ipod. I know of one of these that
malfunctioned and the cars turn signals quit working along with the
climate control until it was removed.
73
Joe N3HGB
BMW 323iT

---

Hmm.. my manual had a blanket prohibition.  Varies by year, I'm sure.

Of course, based on my experience with a 5 Watt tracker, it won't interfere 
with the electrical system, but it also will not get into the APRS system, 
either.  Around here (Los Angeles) and based on an experiment last week 
when I was in Houston TX, one needs a bit more fire in the wire to compete 
with all those other radios running 50W.

Jim, W6RMK