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Hand Held CB and Amps
http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=12215		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  TomCat [ Fri Sep 08, 2006 1:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Hand Held CB and Amps
Long story short, I have obtained a Cobra hand held CB. The DC power cord was not included so I bought one at Radio Shack.
The Radio Shack cord has a 5 amp fast-blow fuse (unlike my ex :lol: ).

I called the Cobra customer service number and some lady (who didn't sound like she knew what she was talking about) told me the max amps for the hand held is 2.

Here's my question:

Assuming she was actually correct and that anything over 2 amps will potentially fry my CB, what are the odds of this happening, and what would cause it? I've seen DC power cords with NO fuses. In fact I would have bought one at Radio Shack but the fitting that goes into the CB was the wrong size.

There is one 20 amp fuse for the lighter, which I'm assuming also controls the Power Outlet next to it (the manual isn't specific on this).
So if I don't push in the lighter at the same time the CB is plugged into the Power Outlet, the amps shouldn't spike to anything over 2, right?
Or am I missing something?

Electronics isn't my strong suit, which should be pretty obvious :oops:

Thanks in advance for any input!

Tom
Author:  TomCat [ Mon Sep 11, 2006 3:33 pm ]
Post subject: 
Thanks for all the help guys!

Guess if you don't have a Libby, don't ask a question here.

No problem, just didn't know the rules.
Author:  Jeger [ Mon Sep 11, 2006 4:22 pm ]
Post subject: 
There are a few threads that get overlooked every now and then. I promise it has nothing to do with what you drive 8)

So you have a CB that is rated to draw only 2 amps right,
The power cord you have has a 5 amp fuse in it,

The circuit you are using has a 20 amp fuse.

So what you need to do is change the fuse in the power cord to a 2 amp fuse so that it will protect your CB, and if your CB is drawing the full 2 amps you still can draw another 18 amps through the lighter circuit and it will not blow any fuses.

Just because you are drawing a heavy load on a circuit does not mean those amps are going to everything on that circuit so if you push in your lighter the current will flow through the 20 amp fuse to the cig lighter but it will not affect your CB other than perhaps reducing the amount of power that is available to it.

There are a lot of good people on this board that will help anyone with just about anything, its just that the electronics section is not real active. If what I wrote doesnt make sense let me know and I will try again :lol:

EDIT: Okay I read it myself and think I could do better :roll:

You are right if the only thing you have plugged in is the CB it SHOULD only draw 2 amps, now if something goes wrong with the CB and you leave that 5 amp fuse in there you run the risk of frying it, that is why you want to chang the fuse to a 2 amp, that way if something goes wrong you just blow a fuse, fix the problem, put a new fuse in and be on your way.
Author:  Articus [ Mon Sep 11, 2006 9:18 pm ]
Post subject: 
Do you have a link to the 5A cord? Why not just replace the fuse in that with a 2A one?

Maybe this one?

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... age=search
Author:  jelohead [ Fri Sep 15, 2006 10:14 pm ]
Post subject: 
IMHO, you are highly unlikely to have your radio draw more that it's supposed to. if it does, you have one of 2 problems, first, your antenna might be WAY out of whack, ie: poorly connected or grounded, or simply mis-matched, or second, the radio itself is defective and might self destruct anyhow! make sure that all of your antenna connections are solid, and enjoy your CB! i've been usin em for years, they can be great, or they can be a total PITA if youre tryin to tweak em or deal with excessive stupid chatter. feel free to PM me with any questions.
bob
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