Help!! CB radio install.

[Albert Jr]

Hello guys, so my CB radio (Uniden XL520) got here and I have a mag antenna to go with it. But the instructions on the manual and the ones online have me confused on how to wire it to the battery. Can anyone explain it to me Barney style so that I can install it properly and not mess up my vehicle?

 

[mylilpwny]

I am not sure as to what Barney style is and a quick google search did not help me in this regard. From my experience this is what I can offer.

1st you need to decide if you want the cb to have power at all times or only hot with ignition. Different strokes for different folks. My personal preference (altho my gmrs is set up different currently) is to have the cb hot at all times. this way you do not need to have ignition on in order to operate the radio. For some they prefer to have the radio hot on ignition so that if they accidentally do not turn it off once the ignition is off they are not worried of the radio draining the battery.
once you have decided the route you want to go that will dictate how you wire the power. I personally like to put a fuse in line as to help protect the radio. Some radios come with fuses built in some don't but I have always put a fuse in line on my runs.

2nd with the antenna. What antenna did you get? For Best performance you want a 1/4 wave ground plane. now with a mag mount on a car that is almost impossible to get but to get the best results mounting in the middle of the roof is usually good enough. Next you will want to use a swr meter in line to your antenna to make sure your antenna is in tune. If your swr is to high it will transmit poorly and even worse cause damage to the radio itself.

Some questions that may help
What vehicle is this going on? this may help in having some one who has wired one into the same vehicle chime in with their knowledge of doing it
Does your vehicle have any empty and usable (sometimes called and labeled auxiliary fuses) I know some vehicles need to be wired this way. When I put my cb in my 04 Tahoe this was what I needed to do.
If you could give a brief description as to what Barney style means (this is more out of curiosity for myself .... it always gets the better of me lol)


Hope some of this can help and will try to help further as much as my limited knowledge goes lol

 

[Albert Jr]

Haha Barney style is what we used to say at work when we wanted an explanation or help in the simplest term possible.

The vehicle this will be going on, bear with me, I know this isn’t your typical badass rig, is a 2018 rav4. I will be putting the mag mount right in the middle of the roof. I would prefer to wire it so that it’s only on while the vehicle is on. I would like to know how a fuse goes on. Why isn’t it ok to wire it straight to the battery as it is?

And what type of gmrs radio do you have? That will be my next radio to install.

 

[mylilpwny]

Haha Barney style is what we used to say at work when we wanted an explanation or help in the simplest term possible.

The vehicle this will be going on, bear with me, I know this isn’t your typical badass rig, is a 2018 rav4. I will be putting the mag mount right in the middle of the roof. I would prefer to wire it so that it’s only on while the vehicle is on. I would like to know how a fuse goes on. Why isn’t it ok to wire it straight to the battery as it is?

And what type of gmrs radio do you have? That will be my next radio to install.

Ah I gotcha on the Barney style now lol. [emoji1]

Hey man don't be knocking your rig because in my eyes the best rig is the one you got lol.

If you only want it when ignition is on then you need to find power you can tap into that is only hot when ignition is on. You can probably find a wire diagram or something online that can help point in the direction of that. The problem with wiring it straight to the battery is that it would no longer be ignition dependent. This would allow the radio to be turned on without having the ignition switched on. This is my preferred method of install (even tho I have not done that yet with my radio and have just been running the cig Port plug)

The gmrs I am running is the Midland mxt115. It is 15watts and is plenty of power for me and my buddies I go wheel with. I am running a Browning 5/8 over 5/8 antenna on a mag mount on my roof. That mount is just temporary as I have not determined what mount and where I want to put it yet. I am honestly severely contemplating switching to the new mxt275 to make a cleaner install in the truck

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[Albert Jr]

Ah i see. When it’s a hot wiring, can you still install one of those adapters that will allow the radio to be disconnected? While the wires still connected to the truck?

And that is the same radio I was looking at, along with two small walker talkies so that all three can communicate. The reason I got a mag antenna is that it’s cheaper than all the components combined, and at the moment, I want to see how well I like having a cb, where it’ll be mounted, and to save up funds for the whole clean set up. Although I read that the top of the roof is the best way to place an antenna. The other option I would have is by the hood of the vehicle.

 

[mylilpwny]

Ah i see. When it’s a hot wiring, can you still install one of those adapters that will allow the radio to be disconnected? While the wires still connected to the truck?

And that is the same radio I was looking at, along with two small walker talkies so that all three can communicate. The reason I got a mag antenna is that it’s cheaper than all the components combined, and at the moment, I want to see how well I like having a cb, where it’ll be mounted, and to save up funds for the whole clean set up. Although I read that the top of the roof is the best way to place an antenna. The other option I would have is by the hood of the vehicle.

As for addapter not sure what addapter you are talking about. Are you talking about the one that plugs into the back of the radio? If so then yes. The pug would be able to be removed from the back of the radio allowing you to remove the radio with out having to undo all the wiring. If your radio came with one that goes into a cig Port then you can get ones that are pretty made to be wired in and probably find it on Amazon (I have an addiction to that place lol).

As for the gmrs that is the reason our group switched. The ability to hop out of the truck with a hand held and still communicate clearly without having to yell back and forth is a big plus. That and I have 2 hand helds one for myself and one for the wife or if some one comes along without a radio they can use it and we just switch to the shared frs/gmrs channels (only downside with this is just the lower power limit). I went with the gxp1030p for the hand helds. I went with these because 1they are Midland and I know there will be no compatibility issues with my rig radio 2 they have a higher power level than some of the others and 3 they have a yellow face plate that helps in finding them when dropped ( and yes this had been put to the test my friends original was all black and had since been replaced since it could not be found. Mine on the other hand we found with relative ease since it stuck out)

Again hope any of the info helps

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[Albert Jr]

Thank! It does. After some thinking, I’m just going to hot wire it to the vehicle, but use some fuses on each wire. I am going to secure the mag mount by the roof rack, while still attached to the roof. And the antenna is going to be off and stored in a small pvc pipe until needed.

Yes I saw a combo on amazon that had the midland radio plus two hand Helda for like 150-180? I can’t recall. But seems like a really good deal. Like you, I didn’t want to have to deal with comparability issues between radios.

 

[mylilpwny]

It has been a while since I have looked but I believe the combo kit is the 5watt radio and slightly lower hand helds than what I ended up getting. By no means am I saying it is a bad kit. And honestly the 5 watt will probably be enough for most people. My group opted for the 15 purely since we wanted the extra punch but couldn't justify the price for the 40watt one. Also if you do end up going that route do yourself a favor and replace the antenna that comes with the radio. While it will work. It is pretty useless for range and a decent antenna is not that much and makes a massive difference.

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[Albert Jr]

Thanks I will upgrade the antenna. The kit had the 15w radio, there’s also one that has the 5w one, but for a little bit more, I can get the 15w one. I agree on the 40w one. Just the radio alone that I want is more than the setup we’re talking about.

 

[Flipper]

Thank! It does. After some thinking, I’m just going to hot wire it to the vehicle, but use some fuses on each wire. I am going to secure the mag mount by the roof rack, while still attached to the roof. And the antenna is going to be off and stored in a small pvc pipe until needed.

Yes I saw a combo on amazon that had the midland radio plus two hand Helda for like 150-180? I can’t recall. But seems like a really good deal. Like you, I didn’t want to have to deal with comparability issues between radios.

You only have to fuse the red (hot) wire. The black wire just goes to the trucks ground.

 

[mylilpwny]

∆ what he said lol. Good catch @Flipper, I didn't notice he said that about putting a fuse on each line till I read that.

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[Albert Jr]

I just saw that it came with one. Should I still add another one? I also managed to figure out what type of ground I have. It’s a positive one. I plan on putting the mag mount next to the roof rack and secure it with some black zip ties. Then add the antenna when needed. It’s a 36”

 

[Flipper]

I just saw that it came with one. Should I still add another one? I also managed to figure out what type of ground I have. It’s a positive one. I plan on putting the mag mount next to the roof rack and secure it with some black zip ties. Then add the antenna when needed. It’s a 36”

I assure you , you DO NOT have a positive ground, maybe just a misuse of terminology. You are only going to need one fuse and that will be on the RED WIRE (positive).The black wire is the ground (negative) and will not need a fuse. You might want to get a friend to give you a hand with your project that has some experience with automotive wiring. Any questions feel free to ask, I will be glad to help.

 

[Albert Jr]

Ah ok I thought red was for negative and black for positive. This is why I don’t mess with electronics. I’m going to get my father in law to help me, he works on generators and is constantly messing with wires. And I’ll get a fuse from autozone or something. Today will be focused on getting my supplies for an awning I’m making. I appreciate the help, I knew I could count on the overland community for advice.

 

[mylilpwny]

Since you plan to leave the antenna off the mount till you plan to use it. I would put some kind of cap on the connector to help protect it from the elements. I don't know if there are ones made for cb. I know there are caps for nmo mounts but not sure of cb. In the past I used to use a rubber cap that I got from the hardware store that would just barely make it over the threads. Just a thought.

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[Albert Jr]

Yeah I thought about something rubberish too, I don’t want water or anything getting in there. I’ll get it before I mount it, and leave it there.

 

[Ditcherman]

Remember, around here it doesn’t matter what you drive. But it might matter how you wire your stuff up. As a self taught do it yourselfer in many areas, I would encourage you to read up on wiring principals after seeing some of the questions you are asking. It’s not hard and can be very rewarding. I would suggest the book ‘wiring simplified’ H.P. Richtor. You don’t have to know it all, but you do need to know enough. Good luck!

 

[Albert Jr]

Thanks! I spoke to my neighbor about it about two days ago and he knows how to do it since he had one on his truck. So I’m going to have him give me a hand, and I’m going to pick his brain with a gazillion of questions since always do anyways with anything that has to do with DIY projects.

 

[Sterling]

Hello guys, so my CB radio (Uniden XL520) got here and I have a mag antenna to go with it. But the instructions on the manual and the ones online have me confused on how to wire it to the battery. Can anyone explain it to me Barney style so that I can install it properly and not mess up my vehicle?

Power: Fuse, Fuse, Fuse connect to the battery with inline fuses or better yet circuit breakers. Use a Grommet to pass wiring through the firewall. I fuse both the battery and ground leads close to the battery. Do Not connect to vehicle wiring. And did I mention fuses. Keep the wiring away from things that move, like steering coupling ,brake and clutch peddles and away from airbag wiring. Keep antenna coax away from the airbag wring and the engine ECU. If the coax must cross the airbag wiring cross at right angles. mount the radio away from the ECU. hope that helps Sterling