• NAXJA is having its 18th annual March Membership Drive!!!
    Everyone who joins or renews during March will be entered into a drawing!
    More Information - Join/Renew
  • Welcome to the new NAXJA Forum! If your password does not work, please use "Forgot your password?" link on the log-in page. Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] if we can provide any assistance.

CB Power

k_kuch

NAXJA Forum User
Location
New Hampshire
I have been told to wire my CB either through the cigarette lighter or the power outlet but I don't know what they mean. Could someone please explain to me how this is done?
 
If you have the auxilary "power point" on the lower right side of your center dash, splice the hot side in with that.....you'll have power to your CB at all times, jeep on or off....just make sure you have an inline fuse. I grounded my CB under the tranny shifter/center console area.....
 
radio shack has a plug that you can wire to your cb and it will then plug inot any cig lighter or power port. I did this on my xj cb so I could move it from jeep to truck easily.
 
Yep, I had what Gerr had, basically it's just a male cigarrete lighter plug on the end of the wires, and you plug it into the 12v outlet like you would with anything else. I eventually got tired of having to turn my car on to use my CB, so I just ran the wire (with a fuse of course) straight the positive terminal of the battery, and grounded it under the plastic body paneling under the seatbelt.
 
XJ98Jeep said:
Yep, I had what Gerr had, basically it's just a male cigarrete lighter plug on the end of the wires, and you plug it into the 12v outlet like you would with anything else. I eventually got tired of having to turn my car on to use my CB, so I just ran the wire (with a fuse of course) straight the positive terminal of the battery, and grounded it under the plastic body paneling under the seatbelt.
best performance from a CB will be gained if it has a direct connection to the battery.
Easiest way to do this is to go and get a cigarette lighter socket from the parts store, put a fuse on the batter side, nearest the battery you can.
Run that straight to the socket, and hide it under the dash. That way you don't have to cut up your CB's power cable, and it's still removable, but you'll not get any engine noise, and you'll have power to the CB all the time so it will save the last channel you were on and such.
Just don't leave it on and kill your battery.
 
That the plug. Search the Radio Shack site or on GOOGLE for a CB Radio Owners Manual. Include your brand name and model number to narrow the results.

Most CB radios install in a similar manner and you should be able to find some instructions to use as an example. Red CB radio power wire to 12 volts + in the Jeep and black CB power wire to ground in the Jeep.
 
Use a fuse adapter & wire it to the fuse box & to a good ground. I disagree with wiring anything except a winch directly to a battery.

Rob $.02
 
FELIX said:
I disagree with wiring anything except a winch directly to a battery.

Rob $.02


Why? A large part of my job is installing accessories(radios, beacons, aux lights, laptop mounts, etc) into trucks. I ALWAYS wire off the battery using appropiate fuses, bus bars and relays. I avoid tapping into the factory wiring and fuse boxes as much as possible. I've replaced two fuse boxes from bad techs overloading them with too many fuse taps. After awhile the "teeth" holding the fuse in gets weak and retracts allowing the fuse(and tap) to work loose.

I cann't count how many radio and cell phone installs I've had to redo because of fuse taps. Sure it gets it out of the shop door but being a fleet mechanic I see that vehicle everyday for 5-8yrs. After a year or two those fuse taps come loose and just won't stay in.

When we spec a vehicle now we specifically say only one fuse tap allowed pre vehicle.
 
Last edited:
i agree, i have all my accessories hooked to the battery using fuses and what not. I think splicing into factory wiring is just asking for trouble short term and long term
 
cLAYH said:
I ALWAYS wire off the battery using appropiate fuses, bus bars and relays. I avoid tapping into the factory wiring and fuse boxes as much as possible. I've replaced two fuse boxes from bad techs overloading them with too many fuse taps. After awhile the "teeth" holding the fuse in gets weak and retracts allowing the fuse(and tap) to work loose.

I guess that is what the real key is, "the right way" as you mentioned by using fuses, bus bars and relays. I have seen too many people wire straight off the battery & end up having discharge problems. I definitely agree with you about not over loading. I have always used fuse adapters for Cb's with no problems,(only legally pulling 5watts) but then again I am not in the wiring business nor have I ever had a 100 things wired up as I have seen some rigs.

Thanks for the info

Rob YMMV
 
Back
Top