Power supply for UHF.

[Cuppa]

I'm fitting a cb radio to my GU, in the dash underneath the radio. Is there a best place to connect it's power leads to?

Cuppa

[Bloodyaussie]

The battery mate...!!!!!

[MudRunnerTD]

The battery mate...!!!!!

what he said.

nothing worse than having to put the keys in the ignition to use your UHF, or leaving the ignition on when in camp just so you can monitor the radio.

[mudski]

The battery mate...!!!!!

No to a couple of bits of carpet and rub them together to create your own power! Just to the Aux battery if you wish cups. Even the main battery, it ain't gonna drain either in a hurry.

[threedogs]

Wire it hot{direct} to one of your Spare AUX batteries, Fuse at battery end on pos,
Can then be left on and used as a home base if for some reason you go for a wander away from car taking a handheld

[Cuppa]

Having spent a fair bit of stuffing around to get the antenna co-ax lead fom the bullbar to the radio I was kinda hoping not to have to find a spot on the drivers side to go through the fire wall. It's pretty crowded under the bonnet on the battery side & the positive terminal on the battery is also pretty loaded up. My thinking was that being a 5w unit it should only draw less than half an amp (although I'm not certain if the 5w refers to output and that it may actually draw more than that - fuse is 3a). I would have thought there would be a suitable spot to connect the positive to inside the cab? Maybe the fuse block - is that live without ignition on?

The aux batteries are all in the pod, so that ain't gonna happen.

Cuppa

[Bloodyaussie]

I use to have a ciggy plug in my Rodeo as I wanted to be able to just pull it ou when I wanted to and that was in there for years!!!!

[threedogs]

Is there a large rubber flange thingy on the rear of cabin???
Other than that in front of passenger in footwell
Get the multi meter out and find a live wire with ignit off and on depending how
you want to have it.
I prefer not wired to ignition As all I want that battery to do is start motor.
You know what I mean, plus no biggy to turn on /off manually,

[TPC]

Having spent a fair bit of stuffing around to get the antenna co-ax lead fom the bullbar to the radio I was kinda hoping not to have to find a spot on the drivers side to go through the fire wall. It's pretty crowded under the bonnet on the battery side & the positive terminal on the battery is also pretty loaded up. My thinking was that being a 5w unit it should only draw less than half an amp (although I'm not certain if the 5w refers to output and that it may actually draw more than that - fuse is 3a). I would have thought there would be a suitable spot to connect the positive to inside the cab? Maybe the fuse block - is that live without ignition on?

The aux batteries are all in the pod, so that ain't gonna happen.

Cuppa

The 5W refers to the RF power output not the power consumption, the current draw is probably around 2A.
I always think it is best to go to the battery to reduce voltage drop as that will reduce power output.
Going to the battery also reduces the chances of getting interference from something else in the car.

[trekster]

I have mine hard wired, makes it easier to forget to turn it off