CB power source

Jordan

Jordan

Well-known member
I am wanting to buy a 12 volt motorcycle battery to put under the front seat of my sedan to power a CB radio. I was wondering how i should wire it up to the battery. Should I wire it directly to the battery, or use a cigarette lighter style plug that is attached to the battery. I am not looking at buying a 6v to 12v power invertor as I have plans in the somewhat near future to change to 12v for an air conditioner. Please let me know if you know how you or someone else you know has done this.
 
Connections are up to you.

When I was fiddling with a 12 V radio in a 6V car, I was thinking of using a 6 volt motorcycle battery wired in series with the 6V car one to run the radio.

When the MC battery was down, unhook from series and run it in parallel to charge it up.

Although you can't use the radio while charging from car.
 
Jordan said:
Should I wire it directly to the battery, or use a cigarette lighter style plug that is attached to the battery.
Click to expand...

If you decide to use a lighter just be sure that the mount is isolated from the wiring. That is, it has two wires coming out of it so you don't have to worry about neg/pos grounds and the radio.
 
I agree with flamingo, the cheap jump box has a charger and a power port built in. When you need to recharge the battery, you simply carry the unit into the house and plug it in. And when your wife forgets to turn her car headlights off again, she knows where the jump kit is hanging on the wall and dose not have to bother you to get the jumper cables and your truck. :D The batteries in most of these kits are sealed so you don't have to worry when it lays under your car seat.
 
I also vote for the "jump box" or "jump starter" as it is also called. The advantage of the jump box/jump starter is that you can also use it to power a DC impact wrench to
change the wheels and loosen up those stubborn lug nuts. I also use mine to run my
small air compressor when I want to air up my tires. I paid about 40 bucks for mine at
Tractor Supply. It needs re-charging about every three months. It does a great job
at running the CB as well. Of course, if you run the CB for several hours at a time, you will have to charge it a bit more often. The three months between charges is only for the charger that is just in standby mode. The one I have from TS has a test
button that will tell you when you need to re-charge. 10-73

Jack
 
PEP BOYS has a cheap Jumper Box for $24, and maybe $5 more for one with an air compressor atttached.
Its like one click above a motorcycle battery.
Its kind of small to use as a main jumper for say an SUV, but its great to run your CB, iphone, GPS, and any other set of 12 volt toys.
The best part is it lasts almost forever as a power source, and is easily recharged.
 
I have used a 12 volt tractor battery for years. They have a lot more capacity than a motorcycle battery and are inexpensive. I welded up a carrier box and fastened it to the firewall in front of the driver. It is accessible.

Vic
 
How much power (watts) does your CB consume? Myself and others in our club have purchased a 6v (+) ground to 12v (-) ground converter rated at 24watts. The converter is packaged as a 1-1/4" metal cube similar to a relay which we have mounted in a small plastic electronic project box (1-1/2" x 3" x 4"). Wiring the converter is very simple, 2 leads in and 2 leads out. I installed an in line fuse and a small toggle switch for on-off control. A standard auto cigarette lighter is inserted into one side of the box and is connected to the (12v) output side of the converter. A single 2wire lead going into the box is connected to a 6v source under the dash. A couple of strips of adhesive backed Velcro attached to the box allows mounting the box under the dash out of view. The toggle switch allows turning the converter on or off. This unit has a 12v power output rating of 24watts which is cable of powering a GPS, CB radio, cell phone, laptop, small radio type devices. If you would like more info. send an email.
Jack in CT
 
ok looks like i'm sticking with the portable air compressor. But just out of curiousity, if i had gone with the motorcycle battery, how should i have hooked it up to the battery? Just directly wire it to the batter or some other way?
 
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