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mitchell
join:2002-06-21
Darlington, SC
 ·Millenicom
 ·AT&T Southeast
| Re: Mobile Powered by Cigarette Adapter While it may "appear" to be adequate, please don't. Unless you run low power, you may have noise on your signal, both transmitted and receive or other assorted things. I had a friend who was running a d700a that way on medium power and he was always complaining about noise and the other hams complained about hise signal into the repeater (was not grounded properly) along with lower current draw.
Please properly wire your radio....
KO4Lloyd | |
| SmokChsr
Who let the magic smoke out?
Premium
join:2006-03-17
Saint Augustine, FL | While it's rated at 10 Amps, you'll see quite a bit of voltage drop. | |
| 
accounting
join:2008-02-29
Columbus, OH | I have a 2 meter rig running on the cigarette adapter and it runs fine even on 65 watts with good signal reports... but I guess I just got Lucky maybe.
What would be a better way? Straight to the Battery terminals? I wasn't sure. | |
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drjim
Premium,MVM
join:2000-06-13
Torrance, CA
clubs:
| Straight-to-the-battery, both red and black leads, has always been advised, and Motorola includes a power lead made for that, and advises it in their manuals.
HOWEVER....I've run numerous radios, from 5 Watt HT's to Motorola Radius -line, from the cigarette lighter socket with no problems. I recently ran an ICom 2200H at 65 Watts from the 12 Volt accessory jack on my Jeep Cherokee, also with no problems.
have I been 'lucky'? Perhaps, but for a temporary solution it probably depends more on the car and its wiring than anything else. My Jeep has the 12 Volt accessory sockets run directly to the battery, with a separate fuse, and it works just fine.
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One man's Magic is another man's Engineering. | |
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Waldothe3rd
Premium
join:2009-02-16
Sun N Sand | Depends on the quality of the 12v plug you'll be using - the $0.59 ones won't handle the current - If you can get a heavy duty one, it probably will work, but no guarantees. | |
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burner50
Pinlifter
Premium,VIP
join:2002-06-05
EN22wm | Cigarette lighter? No...
Powerpoint? Yes. I do, good signal reports, and its fused at 35amps from the factory. | |
| mr weather
Premium
join:2002-02-27
Mississauga, ON
| I would recommend against it. Too many unknowns. The plug may be rated to 10 A but the voltage drop as you approach the limit will be significant. The plugs in the cars I've owned are only fed with maybe 18 awg wire.
There is always a way to run your power lines to the battery. If you tell us what kind of car you have we may be able to suggest a possible route.
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"It's all coming down!!" - Mike Holmes | |
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Gbcue
E.I.T.
Premium
join:2001-09-30
Santa Rosa, CA
clubs: | Re: Mobile Powered by Cigarette Adapter 2009 Toyota RAV4 Limited V6 4WD. | |
| | | | | | | mr weather
Premium
join:2002-02-27
Mississauga, ON | Re: Mobile Powered by Cigarette Adapter There you go.
I figured someone would find something on Radioreference. There are lots of radio installation threads. Some professional, some... not so much.
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"It's all coming down!!" - Mike Holmes | |
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burner50
Pinlifter
Premium,VIP
join:2002-06-05
EN22wm | Re: Mobile Powered by Cigarette Adapter And as it happens to be GBcue is a member over there | |
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burner50
Pinlifter
Premium,VIP
join:2002-06-05
EN22wm | Re: Mobile Powered by Cigarette Adapter Me 3
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Splitpair
Premium
join:2000-07-29
Cow Towne
·T-Mobile US
1 edit | said by Gbcue  :Should this even be tried?Thanks! While not with that radio I have used the lighter socket in rentals with mid powered (45 watt) Motorola's and a mag mount antenna without an electrical problem. Now securing the unit inside the car is a different story as retreiving a radio that has just hit the floor using the microphone cord while driving is just not cool.
Wayne
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If you cannot fix it with a buttset and some beanies you ain't a technician | |
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pokesph
It Is Almost Fast
Premium
join:2001-06-25
Sacramento, CA
clubs:
 ·Comcast
| Re: Mobile Powered by Cigarette Adapter said by Splitpair :said by Gbcue :Should this even be tried?Thanks! While not with that radio I have used the lighter socket in rentals with mid powered (45 watt) Motorola's and a mag mount antenna without an electrical problem. Now securing the unit inside the car is a different story as retreiving a radio that has just hit the floor using the microphone cord while driving is just not cool. Wayne It may not be cool, but it is fun and challenging.. been there, done that many, many times 
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Webmaster - Steve
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»www.1-gb.net
»www.ppnstudio.com | |
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drjim
Premium,MVM
join:2000-06-13
Torrance, CA
clubs:
| I've always mounted my "portable mobile" radios on a piece of wood, or a plastic cutting board. That way I have something to strap them in using the seatbelt on either the passenger seat, or the back seat if I have somebody riding shotgun with me.
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One man's Magic is another man's Engineering. | |
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drjim
Premium,MVM
join:2000-06-13
Torrance, CA
clubs:
| Re: Mobile Powered by Cigarette Adapter The cutting board is actually a little better, as it has an oval hole in one end that I use as a handle to pick up the radio and carry it out the door with me.
I'll post some pix this week of how I have my TM-D710 mounted.
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One man's Magic is another man's Engineering. | |
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KA3SGM
- -... ...- -
Premium
join:2006-01-17
West Chester, PA
clubs:
·Cricket Broadband
 ·Verizon FIOS
| It all depends on the vehicle.
My truck has 6 Cigarette lighter sockets, all wired together to a single 20 Amp fuse(yes it's ludicrous, but I didn't design it that way).
2 in the dashboard, 1 in the center glovebox/armrest, 2 in the second row seating area, and 1 more at the back tailgate.
Actually, they are all cigarette lighter sockets, but there are actually no cigarette lighters anywhere, or ashtrays either.
I don't smoke, neither does my wife, and if I caught any of my 3 kids smoking, well, ........
LET'S GET THIS STRAIGHT, NOBODY SMOKES IN MY TRUCK !!
Needles to say, my truck is a SMOKE FREE environment.
MY laptop Computer draws a maximum of 130 watts, and using the recommended voltage converter, it still works fine, connected to one of the front cigarette lighter adapters.
Needless to say, you will notice some degree of voltage drop, but the closest lighter socket to the fuse panel, and the shortest/heaviest gauge wire you can use, and your installation will probably work out OK.
Now don't get me into what effects that a high strength RF field will have with your Airbag controller, Anti-Lock Brakes, or Traction-Control System......
There are a lot's of RF sensitive systems on modern automobiles, always beware of what else your RF could affect.
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ROCK TIL' SUNSET | |
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Splitpair
Premium
join:2000-07-29
Cow Towne
·T-Mobile US
| Re: Mobile Powered by Cigarette Adapter said by joshb :Now don't get me into what effects that a high strength RF field will have with your Airbag controller, Anti-Lock Brakes, or Traction-Control System...... There are a lot's of RF sensitive systems on modern automobiles, always beware of what else your RF could affect. I fully understand where you are coming from however keep in mind there are literally, on a daily basis dozens if not hundreds of mid-power 35 or so watt rigs are seatbelt installed in rentals without any problems and yes the cigar lighter is the most common power source.
Wayne
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If you cannot fix it with a buttset and some beanies you ain't a technician | |
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drjim
Premium,MVM
join:2000-06-13
Torrance, CA
clubs:
1 edit | Re: Mobile Powered by Cigarette Adapter A lot of hams tend to be incredibly cheap...not frugal, not cost-conscious , but downright CHEAP!
Others go the other way, and spend more than required to do whatever the job at hand requires.
I tend to do things the "right" way, and my last car had the power leads run directly to the battery, with fuses in both leads, and an NMO mount in the middle of the roof for the antenna.
BUT....I'm not against using a mag-mount and a cigar-lighter for power when I have to. I *do* strap the radio in so it won't go flying in a panic stop, but then I don't use it that way in the car every day because it would interfere with use of the passenger seat.
My current car has a decent 20 Amp accessory receptacle that I use to power the radio, and I've installed a Diamond hatchback mount for the antenna. I prefer to only take a radio with me at certain times, as opposed to having one permanently mounted in the car.
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One man's Magic is another man's Engineering. | |
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KA3SGM
- -... ...- -
Premium
join:2006-01-17
West Chester, PA
clubs:
·Cricket Broadband
·Verizon FIOS
| Re: Mobile Powered by Cigarette Adapter I have the main unit of an Icom 2710H(2M/70CM) Dual Band 50w/35w rig) mounted under the drivers seat, less than 1/2 of an inch from the Airbag Controller.
The antenna is a roughly 19" 2m quarter wave and 440 3/4 wave, attached to an NMO mount, on the center of the roof of the truck.
Maintaining the Times Microwave LMR-240 coax(100%foil, 95% braid), and a negative battery connection to one of the drivers side seat belt bolts, I haven't had any serious issues with any of the on board computer systems.
The antenna however is mounted on the center roof, keeping the main RF radiator(antenna) with a solid sheet of steel between the antenna and any on board computer systems.
The actual RF source(antenna) mounted behind a second solid sheet of steel, between it and the actual powertrain control module (PCM).
The radio seems to have been the culprit in setting an unexplained "Check Engine" light only one time, being an Oxygen Sensor fault, and I has never seen the problem repeated again, in more than 10 years.
The radio in this instance is powered off of one of the Trailer wiring terminals on the under hood fuse center, and grounded at the closest seat belt anchor bolt.
I believe initial power grounding/ and significant shielding between the radio and antenna, makes a really big difference.
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ROCK TIL' SUNSET | |
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