CB Radio Install

Hey all, for those now venturing into putting a CB radio in your TACO a few suggestions found on the internet that may be of value. I have no background in electrical wiring so I cannot vouch for these suggestions. The following recommendations were acquired from several urls on the internet.
1.Use a heavy gauge wire, #12awg was recommended on several urls. The heavy gauge will carry the voltage and provides a lower resistance. Best found was KnuKnoceptz, true copper, very flexible making soldier bit of challenge, but this is good wire. Recall the lower the # the heavier the gauge.
2. Several sites say to wire directly to your battery. This provides a maximum of power to the unit.
3. Be sure you Install inline fuses as close to the battery as you can on both positive and negative sides. Install a fuse that is just above you requirement for the CB, eg. 5watt CB use 7.5 fuses, this will prevent a short from causing a fire inside your cab.
4. If wired directly to your battery be sure to turn your CB off before you leave your vehicle else it may drain your battery.

Guessing the wire gauge from the CB was #18 or #20 with the idea to be able to remove the unit if needed using plug copper wire connectors makes it easy to remove the unit if needed. The ends of the plug wire were wrapped into the #12 wire and then soldered to the #12 wire. Remember to sleeve with your heat shrinks before you solder keeping them away from the heat then you simply slide the heat shrink over your soldered joint and heat to seal. oh , insure the size of the heat shrink is large enough to go over it.

Here is the list of items purchased ; #12 copper wire KnuKnoceptz, two #12 gauge wire inline fuse holders for 7.5 fuses, #12 wire butt connectors, #12 gauge terminal connectors for the battery connections, wire plug connectors, heat shrink tubes to protect soldered connections, and 4oz tube of automotive sealant for the holes needed for the wire and cox cable.

I am sure this post will draw the expertise from those more informed and look forward to any advice they may have. Oh, you might consider the purchase of more than what is needed since mistakes happen. Thanks, Woodcutter

 

Be careful with your fuses. If something is rated at 5 watts for power draw, 5W/12V=0.4 Amps. Fuses are rated in amps, so you would want a fuse close to 0.4A, NOT close to 5. Also, I'm not sure how long your power wire is, but if the CB came with 18 gauge wire, you'd have less than a 1% voltage drop assuming your power line was about 10ft. If you do use 12 gauge, you'll only have about a 0.1% voltage drop at 0.4 Amps. I'm not too familiar with CB requirements, but I assume it's similar to audio where you want less than 1% voltage drop. That being said though, when it comes to wire gauge, bigger is always better. Good luck on your install, I'm hoping to put one in sooner rather than later.

 

12 gauge for CB power seems like serious overkill.

See https://www.rightchannelradios.com

 

These are great tips. As far as CBs go, I feel like the best recommendation I ever got was to install a Uniden 520XL, since it fits perfectly in the ash tray area.

Full install of the radio, antenna, wiring, etc: CB Radio – ’cause not everyone’s a HAM

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Your install of the

$71 Pro520XL Pro Series 40-Channel CB Radio. Compact Design. ANL Switch and PA/CB Switch. 7 Watts of Audio Output and Instant Emergency Channel 9. - Black

Pro520XL looks very clean, nice work.

 

Fuse's for CB. Thanks for the advice for the correct fuse for the CB Jojee 117. Will step it down to 0.5 fuse today.