External radio speaker interferes with compass

[Rusty58]

Can anyone tell me how to get around the problem of my compass being affected by me fitting an external speaker to my radio?

[WalrusLike]

Rusty I don't really know but I will hazard a guess.

Two possible sources of interference... the current and the speaker magnet.

We know that magnetic fields can't penetrate a magnetic material. So as an experiment try placing a steel plate or similar between the speaker and the compass.

If that works just make a surround on one or two sides of the speaker with a sheet of steel (not stainless) built in.

The current will probably be ok if you route the wires away from the compass.

None of that is easy in a boat console so another option is swinging the boat at the compass adjustment bouy and recording/ adjusting accordingly.

Again not easily done in a moment... good luck with it.


(Using Tapatalk on iPhone so can't easily 'thank' or 'like'.)

[thylacene]

Mount the external speaker further away from the compass?

[myusernam]

speaker is a magnet. compass works on magnetism. Solution is space - Inverse square law. Move it further away. wont take too much

[Gon Fishun]

Solution is space - Inverse square law. Move it further away.

Could that be a solution for Mother in law to ?

[Getout]

You can have it adjusted with compensator magnets.

[Feral]

You cant shield it with steel, the steel will just affect the magnet. (compass needle)

You will find it easiest to move the speaker elsewhere.

If you seriously need the compass, you will be surprised at how a small amount of steel or another magnet can affect a compass, even several feet away it can knock a couple of degrees off a compass.

Most use GPS's these days and the compass is pretty much redundant except for running out crab pots and ticking the safety equipment box.

[johncar]

Pretty sure I was one of the first in Qld to own a GPS, even VMR's and Coast Guard etc weren't using them when I bought my first unit and they were hard to get and very basic. I copped a fair amount of ragging to from just about everyone I knew and the general talk was "useless gimmicky toy" even the VMR guys I knew were quite anti GPS.
Of course most of my fishing mates were well seasoned and they were very well in tune with the areas they fished with their land marks and compass bearings all so important and some electronic whiz bang was far from welcome in a fishing boat.
Although I also had a fair swag of land marks and bearings to find fish I on the other hand had not quite as much experience off shore and to me it seemed like a good idea.
About $3500 from memory, a fair bit of cash for over 20 years ago, no maps, just a position reading with a small plotter screen that could show a track or mark and limited memory.
Anyway I thought it was great while others would tease me about it.

But anyway the point is that although I am well used to these things, I still tend to drive by my compass, I just find it easier for some reason and it is always in the back of my mind that if electronics were to ever fail and poor visibility I would still know which way to go. I have indeed had my GPS fail one time or two over the years.
So for me personally, compasses are far from redundant and I would be trying to maintain my compass as accurate as practical, but a couple of degrees either way is not too critical for what I do.

Like everyone else here said get some space in between the two and try and find a speaker that is at least magnetically shielded to some degree.
Interestingly just checking the compass on my centre console where everything is packed in very close, boats fixed compass checked against my handheld compass used some distance away from the boat is pretty spot on, maybe all that stuff hanging off the console cancels each other out.
The VHF radio itself and it's mic didn't seem to upset the compass greatly until it got within about 200mm of the compass so it must have minimal magnetic field so surely you can source an ext speaker to be similarly compatible.

[WalrusLike]

Ah... Feral.... thanks for the correction. Lucky I prefixed my idea with a disclaimer.

Sorry Rusty for guessing wrong. Good luck with it.


(Using Tapatalk on iPhone so can't easily 'thank' or 'like')

[SatNav]

1. Modern high speed vessels still use a compass over and above GPS as GPS data is always behind, displays where you have come from not the direction you are heading.

2. An external speaker is of much lower importance than a compass so simply install speaker well away from the compass.

3. If unable to install the speaker well away from the compass then simple, don't install at all as any compass adjustment required far out weighs any speaker justification.

[Captain Seaweed]

electronic compass!

[SatNav]

1. Some do not consider an ordinary compass is worthy of the cost. Who here has an electronic compass?

[cobiaman]

Who needs to know which way to go if they have good music anyway?

[SatNav]

"Who needs to know which way to go if they have good music anyway?'

1. Well if good music tells you where to go then you shouldn't get lost? Then again many wouldn't know where they were anyway even if they were told!