UHF, power supply

[wayno60]

When hooking up your UHF where do you drag ya power from??

cheers

[Ingolf]

I get the DC for my UHF amateur radio (10watts UHF) from the cigarette lighter cable.
I use this connection for years in several cars and had no problem so far, even with 50Watts VHF.

Whe I turn the ignition on/off, the radio is switched on/off automatically. So I never forget to switch it off any more.

Using a cigarette plug could cause contact problems. Direct connection to the lighter cables works better.

cheers
Ingolf

[+dj_hansen+]

Most people tap into the feed for your radio or cigarette plug, ideally you would use a relay and reasonable cable to minimize issues caused by overloading existing circuits.

What vehicle do you have, and do you only want it power when the car is running, or do you want it available at all times? They dont draw much current nominally, 10amp automotive cable would be fine

Set yourself up a auxillary fuse block somewhere, there was a decent thread recently, and take power from there

[macca81]

got mine direct to battery. this is good because i know i will always have a good conection, and i often use it while the car is turned off. prehaps not a good idea if you dont have big batteries, else forgeting to turn it off may mean you go nowhere the next morn

[bundyrulz]

Direct to second battery. Not sure what size, but it is bigger than usual wiring.

Bundyrulz

[wayno60]

thanks guys, your givin me a few good ideas.....

by the way its a hilux twin cab.....

[wayno60]

..............

[+dj_hansen+]

got mine direct to battery. this is good because i know i will always have a good conection, and i often use it while the car is turned off. prehaps not a good idea if you dont have big batteries, else forgeting to turn it off may mean you go nowhere the next morn

your average UHF drawers 5 tenths of nothing, any reasonable 4wd battery should be able to start your car after a week of having the UHF left on.

They can also be a good indicator of battery voltage as most wont work at much under 12 volts tho i wouldnt recommend using them for this purpose.

Wayno60, grab 1m of 8g cable and a fuse box from here: www.traxide.com.au and set yourself up an aux fuse box under the bonnet and take a feed from here. Should cost less than $20 and you can then add in several other accessories safely.

[macca81]

use enuf that when in an area of high chatter, the uhf was almost constantly recieving and my mates hilux bat went flat it may well have bin on the way out already mind you

[Utemad]

I always go straight to the battery. Whether cranking or 2nd battery.
This way if I lose my keys I can still use the radio or I can listen without leaving keys in the ignition.

Also at least once I have left my vehicle in the campground without keys and the radio has been needed by others who stayed behind in the group so that was handy.

[Canyonero 4x4]

I ran mine through the ignition using a relay so I don't have to turn it On/Off. I also have a switch over riding this in the dash so that the accessories (including UHF) can be turned on without the key.
I ran from the second battery, through a fuse, into the cab, up the pillar, to an overhead shelf. It was a reasonably thick wire (guessing about 20A) to a fuse block and from that I used some 10A wire that I had a shite-load of, through the relay to the UHF.
From the fuse block I also run an interior light and some ciggie lighters for charging phones, GPS etc.

[Eff]

use enuf that when in an area of high chatter, the uhf was almost constantly recieving and my mates hilux bat went flat it may well have bin on the way out already mind you

Receiving uses a hell of a lot less power than transmitting.

I left my icom uhf cb running overnight in my sierra. It had its standard small battery and it cranked over fine. It was on a repeater chan that regularly gets used.

I hooked mine directly to the battery so i can switch off the car and acc and still listen in if any other 4x4ers, campers and hunters are around the area

Eff

[gp339gm339]

The power drain depends on the model being used.

Im curranly using a gme 3400 and that draws very little currant on standby mode . I used to run a Motorola Syntrx, and on standby it would flatten a battery within three days. ( the Syntrx was running high power)