Advice for running wires into the cab? CB Radio install

I always run my radios direct to the battery, for several reasons, some of my radios are 100 watts and the fuse block would be overloaded possibly with the extra load, sometimes you can pickup unwanted RF interference through the accessory fuses, and for me personally, I like the radio always hot for using when I'm "mobile at rest" with out having to have the key in and on the accessory position. That said, I've run 2 meter mobiles from the accessory cigar plugs for temporary installs with no problems. Lots of ways to skin this cat (poor kitty), but I like to keep things as simple as i can. Carry on.

 

Makes sense. Curious, is this something that's CB-specific, the direct power run thing? Only looking to learn here. We always had CBs in the car growing up, even my grandma had one in all of her Trans-Ams. But I've never installed one or had to deal with its quirks. Seems like they fell out of favor by the time I hit double-digit ages in the 80s.

 

Posi-taps for the win..

 

I think most mobile radio manufactures would recommend power directly from the battery, for 100 watt radios, they will draw far too much current for the accessory fuses, up to 20 amps, some amplifiers are far more thirsty for current. A 4 watt CB would be fine to the accessory fuses, except if it's getting RFI, some cars are worse than others. I've never had an HF rig in the Tundra, just 2 meter FM, and with the squelch set correctly no problem with RFI. As a kid I remember my cheap am/fm, 8 tracks would often pick up alternator whine. Each mobile install is different and will present different things to solve. A CB is pretty straightforward and the biggest consideration is the type of antenna and where it is on the vehicle. A full 1/4 wave whip with the feed point up as high as practical is best from a propagation standpoint, but that gets the tip of the antenna up about 11 feet or so. Too high for most people to deal with. Next best IMO is a really good quality center loaded antenna of some kind. Again, lots of choices, but the antenna is the key to good radio, not the transmitter. That's where to spend the time and money, on the antenna system.

 

Citizens Band radios certainly aren't what they used to be.
Not so much the radios, but the people that use them.

I had them as a base station and in my first car in the late 1970s in my teens.
1969 Ford Fairlane with a huge spring whip antenna mounted to the rear fender and of course the PA speaker under the hood.

I then used them in the mid 1990s when I started driving semis at work.
We would travel in groups and the time certainly went by faster having someone to talk to.
But as cell and smartphones came around I stopped using mine.
I found I'd rather just listen to my music and comedy audio shows instead.

I guess if you had a group of friends offroading or something it would be useful.
But out on the road, the CB channel 19 is nothing but big mouths and agitators these days.

I always ran them off an accessory because most of the time I drove a different tractor every day..
Back then we had to have AM/FM radios as well because the tractors only had speakers in them.
Now all the tractors have factory radios and I long ago lost interest in CBs.
I sold mine on eBay years ago..

Ah, the good old days..

 

Something like that would work yes. This one would honestly work fine just a bit overkill.

There is someone giving away light bar wire harnesses (for the cost of shipping) in the pay it forward free stuff thread. You could make one of those work. $20 will get you 6 harnesses.

 

I can't seem to find these free forums? How are they classified?

 

So, as far as my research has figured out:

The CB has an inline fuse on the positive lead -- Great! No need for an additional fuse. It's a 4w CB, and it seems like a 2-5amp fuse is okay, but I'm just going to run with whatever is OEM in the pos lead.

I'm going to attach this lead to the positive battery terminal -- I got 12 gauge wire and heat shrink tubing and some eyelets that can connect to the pos term bolts.

I'm going to connect the negative lead closer, almost inside the cabin.

There may be some battery drain. If this proves to be an issue, I'll redirect the pos lead from the battery and into the ACC connection in the fuse box under the driver's side dash.

 

This is right up by the CB itself right? You need to put a fuse right after the battery to protect the wire before it gets to the CB.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/pay-it-forward-free-goodies.4727/

 

All set. Need to tune swr. Should've fine that before oops.

5A inline fuse. Neg to frame, pos to battery.

 

And thats not a dildo on the floor it's the suggestive packaging for my radio bluetooth lol

 

Sick. So you had a portable am/FM + cb unit? How'd it power and connect?

 

All the tractors had power, AM/FM, and CB antenna plugs.
They also had speaker connections in the dash..
The wires bundled up under the microphone were the power and speaker wires..
In some tractors we bungied the unit on top of the dash, some we had to put it in the passenger's seat..

 

Looks good, what are you using for an antenna, the most important part of a mobile install?

 

Little Wil

https://www.walcottradio.com/wilson-little-wil-magnet-mount-cb-radio-antenna-p-395.html

 

I used this little speaker when I ran an old Galaxy with a bad internal speaker. Worked perfectly.

 

That's nice. I've already noticed how quiet it is.