Finding Accessories power for UHF - Anyone?

[Ryzz Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ryzz]

Just wondering if anyone has looked very closely at the wiring on the 150's and worked out where to safely get a switched power source from? Im installing my GME UHF and whilst I can run it direct to the battery, id rather run it via a switched circuit so I dont kill the battery everytime I forget to turn it off.

[Davros Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Davros]

Re: Finding Accessories power for UHF - Anyone?

Do you have a multimetre?
Just look for a live wire only when accessories is switched on and go from there.

[Ryzz Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ryzz]

Re: Finding Accessories power for UHF - Anyone?

Do you have a multimetre?
Just look for a live wire only when accessories is switched on and go from there.

Sorry I shouldnt have been so dumb in my questioning. I was more interested to see how others have done this due to reports of the electrics being extremely touchy. I have no problems playing with the Multimeter

[Davros Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Davros]

Re: Finding Accessories power for UHF - Anyone?

Sorry I shouldnt have been so dumb in my questioning. I was more interested to see how others have done this due to reports of the electrics being extremely touchy. I have no problems playing with the Multimeter

No need to say sorry. I was probably too quick to assume ignorance on your part.
I don't have a 150, but have installed plenty of accessories in many vehicles over the past decade or three.
Most later model vehicles have dedicated piggy backs on the looms for fitting after market accessories.
If it were me, I would have a good look around for something like this to power your UHF. UHF radios don't draw much power, so you shouldn't have too much trouble finding a good source that is totally isolated from the computer.... which is where you may get flakyness. Not sure if flakyness is a word.

[ozwapet2 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close ozwapet2]

Re: Finding Accessories power for UHF - Anyone?

A humble word of advice. Still wire your UHF direct to the battery with 4mm wire or better, but have this switched via a relay that is powered via your accessory switched source. ( when you find one).
This achieves a few things
1. lowers risk of overloading your accessory wiring. ( driving a relay is much less load than a UHF on transmit ).
2. ensure a good supply to your UHF.
3. still enables your UHF to switch off when you remove the key ( although it would be simple to rig a switch that bypassed the relay so you could have it on all the time - handy in some situations )

[Ryzz Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ryzz]

Re: Finding Accessories power for UHF - Anyone?

Sorry I shouldnt have been so dumb in my questioning. I was more interested to see how others have done this due to reports of the electrics being extremely touchy. I have no problems playing with the Multimeter

No need to say sorry. I was probably too quick to assume ignorance on your part.

Dont worry, ignorance is what I do best!!!!

I don't have a 150, but have installed plenty of accessories in many vehicles over the past decade or three.
Most later model vehicles have dedicated piggy backs on the looms for fitting after market accessories.
If it were me, I would have a good look around for something like this to power your UHF. UHF radios don't draw much power, so you shouldn't have too much trouble finding a good source that is totally isolated from the computer.... which is where you may get flakyness. Not sure if flakyness is a word.

Food for thought, thanks for that, ill have a play and see how I get one. With a bit of luck I dont end up with a 3 ton paper weight in my drive way

A humble word of advice. Still wire your UHF direct to the battery with 4mm wire or better, but have this switched via a relay that is powered via your accessory switched source. ( when you find one).
This achieves a few things
1. lowers risk of overloading your accessory wiring. ( driving a relay is much less load than a UHF on transmit ).
2. ensure a good supply to your UHF.
3. still enables your UHF to switch off when you remove the key ( although it would be simple to rig a switch that bypassed the relay so you could have it on all the time - handy in some situations )

Makes sense, will have a look at that too. Thx!

[Davros Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Davros]

Re: Finding Accessories power for UHF - Anyone?

Good point raised above however things have changed over the years as far as direct wiring to battery for power. Years ago, most UHF tranmitters would draw a reasonable current. I used to wire them up with a direct fused supply from the battery. These days, the better quality units draw next to no current on TX. Example.... the modern day GME 3200 or 3400 only pulls about 1.5 amps. There is another issue that sometimes comes up though, which is negated by wiring directly to the battery. This is where dodgy previous installs have affected the acc circuit. Noisy curcuits from dodgy installs can have a bad effect on your equipment's performance. This shouldn't be the case for you because your car is shiney.

[lissted Member Find all posts View Profile Close lissted]

Re: Finding Accessories power for UHF - Anyone?

Hi There

I have put my UHF in and wanted to make sure I got a good power source that would work with the ignition. Answer was to run to the ciggy plug. Rather that taking half the dash apart to get behind the plug in the console I jumped into the one on the back of the console at the rear seats. It is easy to pull the trim off and get to the wire. To run the wire it is easily pushed back up under the edge of the console trim alongside the carpet to get it back behind the dash where I located my UHF. Ciggy power is totally seperate from everthing the computers use and works with your ignition.

Cheers

[rumy Member Find all posts View Profile Close rumy]

Re: Finding Accessories power for UHF - Anyone?

Hi There

I have put my UHF in and wanted to make sure I got a good power source that would work with the ignition. Answer was to run to the ciggy plug. Rather that taking half the dash apart to get behind the plug in the console I jumped into the one on the back of the console at the rear seats. It is easy to pull the trim off and get to the wire. To run the wire it is easily pushed back up under the edge of the console trim alongside the carpet to get it back behind the dash where I located my UHF. Ciggy power is totally seperate from everthing the computers use and works with your ignition.

Cheers

Good post, every one thinks to go forward and not backwards with the wiring. This is where I will be going !!!

[ozwapet2 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close ozwapet2]

Re: Finding Accessories power for UHF - Anyone?

Good point raised above however things have changed over the years as far as direct wiring to battery for power. Years ago, most UHF tranmitters would draw a reasonable current. I used to wire them up with a direct fused supply from the battery. These days, the better quality units draw next to no current on TX. Example.... the modern day GME 3200 or 3400 only pulls about 1.5 amps. There is another issue that sometimes comes up though, which is negated by wiring directly to the battery. This is where dodgy previous installs have affected the acc circuit. Noisy curcuits from dodgy installs can have a bad effect on your equipment's performance. This shouldn't be the case for you because your car is shiney.

Good point on the efficiency of the newer UHF CB units - I guess I'm still "old school" and used to the 25Watt commercial units that draw 5 amps plus.
I guess with these new units you could get away with tapping into the cig lighter feed wire. Looking at the difference in thickness between the wire that comes attached to the radio power plug, and the vehicle wire you are tapping in to, should tell you a lot.

[Ryzz Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ryzz]

Re: Finding Accessories power for UHF - Anyone?

Perosnally I'd still be happier wiring direct to the battery but I guess you could get away with tapping into the cig lighter feed wire.

After having a chat with the boys and opposite lock, the pointed out a pretty obvious fact. If your in the bush and you loose your keys, you can always break a window and your UHF still works if its wired straight off the battery. However if you loose your keys in the middle of nowhere and you run of the accessories, your screwed as you cant turn the UHF on without car keys.

For this reason I ended up going straight to the battery, not via a ignition circuit.

[Davros Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Davros]

Re: Finding Accessories power for UHF - Anyone?

After having a chat with the boys and opposite lock, the pointed out a pretty obvious fact. If your in the bush and you loose your keys, you can always break a window and your UHF still works if its wired straight off the battery. However if you loose your keys in the middle of nowhere and you run of the accessories, your screwed as you cant turn the UHF on without car keys.

For this reason I ended up going straight to the battery, not via a ignition circuit.

That is a very good point. An idea would be to wire up the system to get the best of both worlds.
ozwap makes a point below about direct power from battery.

by ozwapet2 on Tue Apr 13, 2010 5:34 pm

A humble word of advice. Still wire your UHF direct to the battery with 4mm wire or better, but have this switched via a relay that is powered via your accessory switched source. ( when you find one).
This achieves a few things
1. lowers risk of overloading your accessory wiring. ( driving a relay is much less load than a UHF on transmit ).
2. ensure a good supply to your UHF.
3. still enables your UHF to switch off when you remove the key ( although it would be simple to rig a switch that bypassed the relay so you could have it on all the time - handy in some situations )2008 D4-D Prado GXL with extras.
High Country Huts www.hutsvictoria.org.au
ozwapet2

The above could easily be done in conjunction with wiring the unit up to the accessories as well.
A couple of relays hooked up to open continuity and/or close continuity simultaneously on multiple wires would allow for the unit to be powered off the main battery, and shut down when vehicle not attended.... ie.... key removed. An overide switch for emergencies could be incorporated in the case that keys were lost. Best of both worlds, and would only cost a few extra dollars in an extra relay and switch.

Might be worth a thought?

[Ryzz Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ryzz]

Re: Finding Accessories power for UHF - Anyone?

The above could easily be done in conjunction with wiring the unit up to the accessories as well.
A couple of relays hooked up to open continuity and/or close continuity simultaneously on multiple wires would allow for the unit to be powered off the main battery, and shut down when vehicle not attended.... ie.... key removed. An overide switch for emergencies could be incorporated in the case that keys were lost. Best of both worlds, and would only cost a few extra dollars in an extra relay and switch.

Might be worth a thought?

Very worthy idea, however it all comes down to whether I can be bothered extracting my finger and pulling the wiring apart again. I think for now (until it bites me) ill live with remembering to power it on and off as needed.

[yowie Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close yowie]

Re: Finding Accessories power for UHF - Anyone?

With my previous vehicle, which I had for years, I ran a 4mm wire directly from the deep cycle battery to the uhf, and an earth from the radio to the body. Use an in-line fuse to protect the radio. Never had a problem and no static either. Also wired up the radio/cd player direct to the battery, so I could use it anytime without the key in the ignition.

A couple of times I left the radio going for hours, no problems.

Yowie.

[cookymonsta Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close cookymonsta]

Re: Finding Accessories power for UHF - Anyone?

mine is not connected to aux. i just turn off/on when needed. I don't have on that much - find the BS pretty bloody annoying. use 4x4ing or on highway sometimes. so I don't find it an issue.