CB Hookup

[mlewis73]

My CB must be directly connected to the battery, and I was wondering about going through one of the spare fuses in the factory fuse box.



How is this done? Trying to make the final product as seamless as possible.



Ideally, I'd be able to keep the CB power on when the ignition switch is off, but that is not a requirement. Again, using the factory fuse box under the hood.





Mike

 

[K5IP]

Mike,

As a Ham who had done many mobile instillations, you are right on track in making the power connections directly to the battery. This is the only way to go, much less electrical noise to contenned with. Simply add an inline fuse to both the positive and negative lines to the battery. It is fairly easy to make this connection through a relay that is enabled by power from something that is hot when the ignition switch is on. On the other hand, why worry about all the extra wiring. All you have to . do is remember to turn things off when you are done and that is not a big deal.

Simple is the way to go.



K5IP

 

[mlewis73]

Mike,

As a Ham who had done many mobile instillations, you are right on track in making the power connections directly to the battery. This is the only way to go, much less electrical noise to contenned with. Simply add an inline fuse to both the positive and negative lines to the battery. It is fairly easy to make this connection through a relay that is enabled by power from something that is hot when the ignition switch is on. On the other hand, why worry about all the extra wiring. All you have to . do is remember to turn things off when you are done and that is not a big deal.

Simple is the way to go.



K5IP

Understand... but why be simple when you can make things complex??



I was just hoping for a clean install using the factory fusebox.



Why is it necessary to fuse the negative cable? The CB came with a fused positive side... easy enough to add even more protection, but no real use to do so on the + side.

 

[MRaynor]

You can easily use one of the spare holes in the fuse block and just put a fuse in it. Or you can do like I did, to wire my CB and just use a fuse tap and put it on the cigar lighter fuse. ( can't remember the number off hand but it is listed in the cover) That way it will cut off with the truck ignition and not run down the battery if you forget, and have had no problems with electrical noise. But I would recommend keeping the inline fuse just in case.



Mike

 

[mlewis73]

Not sure how to tap into the spare in the fuse block, physically. Would appreciate any help here.



Don't like using fuse taps...





Thank you,



Mike

 

[K5IP]

Mike,

The reason for fusing the negative side is that if you loose the ground strap between the engine and the battery, (or perhaps accidently leave it disconnected), the radio will provide a ground path. If you were then to try to start the engine, all of that starter current will be returned through the ground circuit of the CB.

The result will ruin the CB.

Perhaps this not very important with inexpensive radios but some of the Ham stuff costs thousands of dollars and we don't like to chance it.

K5IP

 

[MChildress]

Makes since but none of the other electronics are negative fused and could fry also. I remember having to negative fuse a Renault about 30 years ago, do to being positive ground. I dont even know if they do that any more. You will need about 5amps for an AM CB and about 10amps if it has SSB. Biggest thing is finding a place with no engine noise.

 

[steved]

IMO, I would use a relay, run the trigger off the cigar lighter... run both pos and neg from the battery. I'd do that, but I'm pulling damn near 20 amps when I key up my radio... so I'm direct to the battery...



I already had DC claim my CB (Cobra 29) was backfeeding enough juice from internal caps to fry the guage cluster (I was hooked into the cigar lighter circuit)... funny how the circuit is fused at 20 amps and the internal caps in my cb (which will only cause the light on the cb to "pop" if power is removed and you turn it on) were keeping the entire guage cluster on for upwards of 20 seconds...



Don't give them ANY reason to give you grief... run everything through a relay or direct to the battery.



steved

 

[JWChessell]

Not sure how to tap into the spare in the fuse block, physically. Would appreciate any help here.



Ditto.

 

[bmoeller]

Fuse taps



OR,



Add-a-Circuit



NAPA and other auto parts stores should have them.

 

[MRaynor]

I like the add a curcuit better than the taps, but one problem I found was that all of the spares stay hot all the time.



Mike