[moneymgmt]

Wired my attached garage when we built the house. 3 car, 800sf, on its own subpanel, 120v plugs and lights use 4 circuits. Everything is great.



Except when I turn on the radio. I have a Dewalt 20v cordless radio out there. When all is off the radio is fine. As soon as I plug something into an outlet or turn on the lights there is so much interference/static in the radio I can't listen to it. Turn the lights off and it is instantly fine.



What is driving me nuts is that I can bring it in the house with every light on and plug in use and the radio is fine.


What is going on in my garage?

 

[JBoot]

Sounds like you have a problem with electromagnetic interference (EMI). I would look for the usual suspects like florescent lights or other items in the garage. It sounds like your wiring is acting as an antenna. Check out the attached link about grounding.

https://blog.1000bulbs.com/home/stopping-fluorescent-ballast-emi

 

[moneymgmt]

So if plugging anything into an outlet initiates the EMI I assume there is a grounding issue, agreed? Makes me wonder if there is an issue from the main panel to the garage sub panel since turning anything on routed from the sub panel starts the EMI.

 

[RAL238]

If the interference always goes away when you turn off the lights, then the lights would be the primary suspect. It doesn't necessarily point to a grounding problem. Your radio is picking up the interference through the air, since it isn't plugged in. So that means it is a radiated EMI problem.

Fluorescent lights, LEDs and compact fluorescent lights can all generate EMI. The cheap, Chinese stuff is often the worst. The first thing I would try is replacing the bulbs with a good quality brand. If you have Edison based bulbs, try replacing them with incandescent bulbs as a test. If you have old tube-type fluorescent bulbs, it could be the ballast that is causing the problem, especially if it is an electronic ballast.