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Using car accessory ports to power radios?
Hello all. My car has a seperate "accessory" port from the standard cigarette
lighter. My understanding is that this port is actually rated for more amps than the cigarette lighter and might actually be ok to power my 50 watt 2m mobile if I were to add a cigarette lighter plug to the end of it. Can anyone comment on this? Any experience using these accessory ports to power 50 watt radios? The car in question is a 2000 Mercury Sable. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 73! de Andy KC2SSB - WPYI880 (GMRS) Beachwood, NJ USA! Grid FM29vw http://vhfradiobuff.tripod.com |
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Hi Andy,
Not a problem as long as you keep your power leads as short in length as possible. If you have time you could run a pair of #6 fused from the battery into the car by following the hood release cable. That is what I did for my 1998 sable and truck. The anderson powerpoles are great connectors. Here is a link for you http://www.eham.net/forums/MobileHam/934 Also http://www.eham.net is a great site for info and lots of elmers to help. 73 jimbo VHFRadioBuff wrote: Hello all. My car has a seperate "accessory" port from the standard cigarette lighter. My understanding is that this port is actually rated for more amps than the cigarette lighter and might actually be ok to power my 50 watt 2m mobile if I were to add a cigarette lighter plug to the end of it. Can anyone comment on this? Any experience using these accessory ports to power 50 watt radios? The car in question is a 2000 Mercury Sable. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 73! de Andy KC2SSB - WPYI880 (GMRS) Beachwood, NJ USA! Grid FM29vw http://vhfradiobuff.tripod.com |
Hi Andy,
Not a problem as long as you keep your power leads as short in length as possible. If you have time you could run a pair of #6 fused from the battery into the car by following the hood release cable. That is what I did for my 1998 sable and truck. The anderson powerpoles are great connectors. Here is a link for you http://www.eham.net/forums/MobileHam/934 Also http://www.eham.net is a great site for info and lots of elmers to help. 73 jimbo VHFRadioBuff wrote: Hello all. My car has a seperate "accessory" port from the standard cigarette lighter. My understanding is that this port is actually rated for more amps than the cigarette lighter and might actually be ok to power my 50 watt 2m mobile if I were to add a cigarette lighter plug to the end of it. Can anyone comment on this? Any experience using these accessory ports to power 50 watt radios? The car in question is a 2000 Mercury Sable. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 73! de Andy KC2SSB - WPYI880 (GMRS) Beachwood, NJ USA! Grid FM29vw http://vhfradiobuff.tripod.com |
Thanks for the replies. I'm really trying avoid hooking the radio up to the
battery. I've got it hooked up to the battery in my other car right now, but will be switching over to the Sable soon. I'll have to check the owner's manual to see if it says what the amp rating is for the Sable. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 73! de Andy KC2SSB - WPYI880 (GMRS) Beachwood, NJ USA! Grid FM29vw http://vhfradiobuff.tripod.com |
Thanks for the replies. I'm really trying avoid hooking the radio up to the
battery. I've got it hooked up to the battery in my other car right now, but will be switching over to the Sable soon. I'll have to check the owner's manual to see if it says what the amp rating is for the Sable. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 73! de Andy KC2SSB - WPYI880 (GMRS) Beachwood, NJ USA! Grid FM29vw http://vhfradiobuff.tripod.com |
That's probably a little high for current drain. I would say it is
more typically 11 A. My IC-746 running 100-watts on 2-meters draws only 18 A. Yes, I know you said, "up to." Dick - W6CCD On Tue, 30 Sep 2003 14:31:40 GMT, Gary S. Idontwantspam@net wrote: A typical 50W mobile will pull up to 15 A off 12 VDC at max power TX. Most do not have this extra port, and do direct wiring from the battery through the firewall, fused on both sides. Happy trails, Gary (net.yogi.bear) |
That's probably a little high for current drain. I would say it is
more typically 11 A. My IC-746 running 100-watts on 2-meters draws only 18 A. Yes, I know you said, "up to." Dick - W6CCD On Tue, 30 Sep 2003 14:31:40 GMT, Gary S. Idontwantspam@net wrote: A typical 50W mobile will pull up to 15 A off 12 VDC at max power TX. Most do not have this extra port, and do direct wiring from the battery through the firewall, fused on both sides. Happy trails, Gary (net.yogi.bear) |
On Tue, 30 Sep 2003 07:44:44 -0700, Dick
wrote: That's probably a little high for current drain. I would say it is more typically 11 A. My IC-746 running 100-watts on 2-meters draws only 18 A. Yes, I know you said, "up to." My 50 W Yaesu rig specs 12 or 13 A. I rounded up. No harm in a little safety factor, beside wire or outlet ratings are always in multiples of 5 A. Happy trails, Gary (net.yogi.bear) ------------------------------------------------ at the 51st percentile of ursine intelligence Gary D. Schwartz, Needham, MA, USA Please reply to: garyDOTschwartzATpoboxDOTcom |
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