VIVE, solution to RF interference problem

I am having a strange problem trying to get my Vive Pro work with my new AC servo 6dof setup: immediately after I power up my motors the Vive starts loosing tracking in a periodic manner: three seconds with tracking and then five seconds off.

Tracking works when I walk away from the rig and it works if I take the headset off and hold it in a stretched hand when sitting in the cockpit. Tracking gets lost if I bring the headset closer to my head or touch it with my second hand.

Looks like some radio interference issue.

Has anyone had a similar problem? Were you able to solve it?

I tried moving the base stations around the room and trying all possible orientations - it did not make any difference. The latest configuration is with just a single lighthouse in the “A” mode placed directly in front of the rig, around 1.5-2 meters from my head.

I am absolutely sure that nothing is obstructing the view and that the problem is somehow connected to the motors or their drivers being powered up. I tried switching the motor power on and off while sitting in the cockpit and tracking problems appeared and disappeared immediately after I flicked the switch.

It seems that Vive is indeed susceptible to radio interference, I found several posts on reddit describing similar symptoms when there is a powerful radio transmitter nearby. The advice from one of the Vive developers is to add several large ferrite rings to the wire between the headset and the pc. I really hope that would help, it would be disappointing if I have to return to three screens setup.

It worked!

I bought three beefy ferrite rings, passed as much wire as I could through and around them — no more tracking losses.

Glad you got this to work!

I had a similar issue with my direct drive servo wheel. Eventually I took the cabling apart to find the ground wire was poorly soldered. Fixed that and all is well. Took forever to figure out what the issue was.

Excuse me, with cable was that?

The one going from pc to the helmet.

thank you, it seems won't help with wireless set.

Do you have a similar problem with wireless setup? I actually planned to switch to wireless if the ferrite solution did not work. My understanding is that it is that long wire that acts as an antenna picking up interference.

If you did what I posted above, then you would get rid of the noise at the source. I did not modify my vive at all.
You should not be emitting crap into your room. Shield and ground your cables.

there are still some short of random tracking lost in my wireless experience.
whenever tracking lost happened in wireless, it took about 10 sec to recover, it was maybe 3 sec with cable.
my advice, Vive wireless occupied a lot CUP resources. better take it with i7 or above.

Did what? You wrote that you had a poorly soldered ground connection, which is not my case. I have the whole rig, including all six servos, grounded.

Unfortunately Vive is very sensitive to interference. People were reporting similar issues when using it close to refrigerators or air conditioners. The solution with the large ferrite rings was proposed by one of the Vive developers.

Everything works OK for me now, so no need for wireless.


On your situation, are you sure it's not related to some reflective surface in your play area? My tracking gets all wrong unless I close a curtain on my window. Day or night -- it does not matter.