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Installing a cb radio

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2005 10:38 pm
by ditch
Just went out and finally bought an antenna + cabling for my 27mhz cb radio today, so I can finally hook it up in my rig.

I would be keen on doing this myself, but have no idea how to get power to the thing. I installed my headunit myself, and my sub doofers myself, but wouldn't have a clue bout the cb.

Getting the antenna to the unit is easy obviously, but it's the getting power part to the radio is the hard bit. Where do I get the two wires from the car which would goto the Blue + Red wires coming out of the unit???

Any help appreciated.

Cheers.

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 8:38 am
by Spike_Sierra
usually in the manual for the cb it will tell you which wire is which, then get yourself a cicuit tester, turn the key to accesories and find a wire under the dash which has power, then turn the key off and if it hasnt got any power now, use that wire. this will mean the cb will only work with the key on, and cant be left on and flaten your battery.

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 12:28 pm
by phippsy
Easy but a bit dodgy is just to wire it up to a cigarette lighter plug and plug it in.

edit, if you installed the stereo head unit, you of had to connect 2 power wires, one 12v constant from the battery and one 12v switched from the accessory circuit. Just piggy back off the accessory circuit wire.

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 8:16 pm
by mud13s
Spike_Sierra's method is the one that I used,

Initially tho had problems with the radio not working cos the convenient terminal block under the dash with a live and a ground wasn't so convenient. Whenever I tried transmitting the rear wiper would start moving!

In the end just put in a snap lock on the power to the stereo, haven't had any problems with interference either

Paul

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 8:46 pm
by ditch
No idea what you just said mud13s. I reckon I'll have to pay some geizer to get it crankin for me. Hopefully they'll do it during the service coming up.

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 9:19 pm
by Tas_Dean
You'll get the best performance (Less likely to get interference/ignition noise) from your radio if you wire it straight to the battery (obviously you need to use an inline fuse), although using this method the radio will not turn off with the ignition. A cb on standby will take a very long time to flatten a battery however.

Cheers, Dean

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 1:37 pm
by ditch
sorry to revive this but i wanted to have a crack at putting this in today.
edit, if you installed the stereo head unit, you of had to connect 2 power wires, one 12v constant from the battery and one 12v switched from the accessory circuit. Just piggy back off the accessory circuit wire.
i installed my head unit, and from reading the manual of my head unit i can find out which of the wires in the car is the accessory circuit wire and the 12v constant. but what connects to what?

does the red goto the accessory? or does the blue? and does the red goto the 12v constant or the blue? there are only 4 possibilitiess i just dont know which one!

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 11:43 pm
by 4sh
Did the cb come with install instructions. Usually red is power, being contant or switched and the other should be black not blue for ground. All else fails run a wire straight from the battery but make sure there is an in line fuse between the battery and cb.

Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2005 7:45 am
by mickyd555
ditch wrote:sorry to revive this but i wanted to have a crack at putting this in today.
edit, if you installed the stereo head unit, you of had to connect 2 power wires, one 12v constant from the battery and one 12v switched from the accessory circuit. Just piggy back off the accessory circuit wire.
i installed my head unit, and from reading the manual of my head unit i can find out which of the wires in the car is the accessory circuit wire and the 12v constant. but what connects to what?

does the red goto the accessory? or does the blue? and does the red goto the 12v constant or the blue? there are only 4 possibilitiess i just dont know which one!
get the earth from a good point on the car, under a screw that holds the dash in or something similar.......there should be a yellow wire in the stero wiring loom, that one should be the accesory power........
failing that, get a multimeter and test for which is the constant and which is the accessory. and i think blue is nomally for a power antenna, or an external amp. its one or the other :roll: