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Powering a Galaxy DX94HP
- Thread starter 007_man
- Start date
The wiring powering the cigarette lighter plug is less than half the size of the 94HP wires and will NOT handle the 25 amp maximum that the radio can draw.
I have ran high power radios on the cigarette plug before but just for a short time on low power and mostly receive.
It is a bad idea.
I have ran high power radios on the cigarette plug before but just for a short time on low power and mostly receive.
It is a bad idea.
Thanks for the reply. I know a guy that works at my local CB shop and he said he's seen a cigarette lighter plug run a 2 pill Fatboy just fine. But I'm alittle scared. I hate to spend $400 and it not run it. Kind of like a shot in the dark. I probably need to go with the Stryker 490 since it's got the 3 pin plug.
The cigarette lighter plug goes through a breaker box under the dash. The typical fuse for that circuit is either a 20 or 25 amp circuit. The wires it is feeding cannot take more than that before melting the insulation and short out or even causing a vehicle fire. So what if the CB shop dude said he saw someone do that? This 'dude' should have also known better than to say that too. Poorest advice I've heard recently. That amp will draw about 40-50 amps or more all by itself. Now; how dumb is that CB shop dude? You decide.
Run that radio directly to the battery and use an appropriate fuse wired in near the battery. Use at least #8 stranded wire to do the job. Job done right.
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LOL, your local guy neeeds to put the crack pype down and you need to find a new shop. 2 pill Fatboy in a cig plug......now that's funny right there.
By the way, a Stryker 490 is too strong for a cig plug as well. A Stryker 440/447 can slide on a cig plug if you must. Any radio that can draw more then say 10 amps needs to go direct.
It's your radio and car though, burn one or both up if you must.
Dude, I run a 2 pill Fatboy as a base and theres NO way itll pull 40 amps. About 30 amps max. Sure it might pull 40 if you drive 9 watts DK into it. And who does that? Plus the guy who told me this does installs on cars and big trucks so he should know what will work and what won't.. His dad has 25+ years experience working on CB's. He's a darn good tech so don't tell me they're "dumb"
if you are sooo sure of the results; then why bring it up here?
Go ahead and do it then, it's your car.
You might be able to run the radio on that plug; but that is really pushing it.
But a 400 watt output 'C' class DaveMade or Fatboy amp is going to draw about 12 amps for every 100 watts of output. That is an estimate; but that is fairly close. If that amp has the two 2SC2879; then it should put out +400 watts when driven hard enough. If it has the 2SC2290 transistors; then it will have an output of close to 300 watts and draw about 36 amps. Still waaaaay too much amperage load for a cigarette lighter plug, and that is for sure.
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Hey man just saying, a 2 pill fatboy is NOT what your gonna run off a cig plug. LOLOLOL if your dude knows all about installs (yea whatever) then WHY would he ever suggest some BS like that???? Just keeping it real. You do what ya gotta do. Nuff said, buy buy buy.
Ok man. I didn't mean to sound like a smart a** a few hours ago. That guy must had been running a aftermarket plug or something. There's a ton of radios out there. I was looking at a Galaxy 99 but they're so hard to find (good ones). I really want a radio with SSB, upper and lower channels. Usually radios that they don't make anymore and you buy it used, it's been screwdrivered to death.
So long as you don't run that Fatboy amp with a SSB radio in SSB mode, then a RCI-2950DX would be an OK choice. Many other radios too. Ya gotta realize that a class 'C' amp like the Fatboy were not designed to be used for SSB mode. SSB radios work best with a class 'B' or 'AB' type of amp. Like a Texas Star amp. Fatboy and DaveMade amps were pretty much designed for class 'C' operation; for AM radios in mind. A Texas Star 350 will work on just about any SSB CB radio and put out a few less watts; but work as designed for both AM and SSB.
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That's the way to do that no doubt. BUT, now the next weakest link in that chain will be the cig plug itself. For light to med duty talking you should be ok. You can always unplug it quick and if it's getting hot stop talkiong for awile.
that being said I did (at one time) run a small 2 pill (mrf455 x 2) and a Galaxy 77hml off the upgraded lighter... why, just to see if I could do it...
There is usually only one in a car, near the driver that is really a Cig Lighter plug with a metal body and made to withstand some heat.
Typically they would provide about 10 amps to do the job of heating the little element up on the lighter.
The rest are "12 V auxiliary power outlets".
The Amp rating varies with the manufacture, and model of car/suv/pick-up.
The best thing to do is look in the owners manual and see what the fuse rating is is for each outlet/lighter plug.
Used to they were generically 15 amp fuses.
But it varies a lot in todays cars.
I know some one with a Jetta, and it has a 30 Amp 12 outlet in the luggage compartment and the lighter is only 15.
If you try to draw too much current, you will blow the fuse.
There are a couple of down falls to 12v lighter plug type connectors.
They rely on friction and spring pressure to maintain good contact with both the center "button" and the side clips.
When pulling a good load, say a portable 12v air compressor, often if you run one for a while ( airing up tires after the beach) you will find the plug getting warm.
As they get warm, they expand, lose tension, the little button on the end gets hot, the fuse heats up, and so on.
They really are not made for high current devices to be connected to them.
If you do not have the manual for the car you can always do a internet search.
73
Jeff