Ranger 2950dx installing in car

[backtoskooldaze]

Hi this is the first time for me installing any cb radio in a car. Now I know about the direct to car battery route which I will be looking in to but for a quick setup I bought a cigarette power cable for the 2950dx. It has a 15amp quick blow fuse inline and the cigarette socket fuse box has a 15amp fuse with a maximum of 120watts.
I used the ranger hooked up to my firestick and what I found is on 4 Watts fm it's OK but going to 10 Watts the screen dims slightly as I key up and on ssb on 10watts setting the screen flickers most definitely more as I speak.
Is the screen flickering due to not even power from the cigarette socket to the radio ? Indoors I'm using a 35amp power supply with a power cable with 15amp fuse inline and no problem??
Can someone please explain why in the car the radio screen flickers or dims on 10watts ssb but indoors it's OK.
I was going to put a bigger amp fuse in the car cigar lighter but it's got 15amps which is think is its max?

[Tin soldier]

I melted a cigarette lighter plug with my crt 9900 so tapped into a 20amp fuse connection under the glovebox. It's been fine apart from flattening the battery on a couple of occasions.

[backtoskooldaze]

So running direct to battery should be better ?
I'm running 10watts on the radio

[Tin soldier]

Am I right in reading you have a cigarette lighter plug fitted to the cable and plug into your 12volt DC socket ?

Personally, other than a normal 4watt cb i wouldn't use a lighter plug.
Although my space U came with a plug fitted and runs fine)

Either go straight to the battery like you say, or, if like me you can't find a path through the bulkhead (they seem far and few between on modern cars) use a piggyback fuse tap to a spare if available in your fusebox.
If you do piggyback an existing fuse make sure it's not for airbags etc. Ground the earth wire, and make sure you fit it the right way around. Ie one side of the fuse blade draws the current.

[backtoskooldaze]

Hi Tin soldier, I've had another go today with the ranger 2950dx
I've got a cigar socket that gives volt and amps reading. I've got in the 2950dx cigar socket a 15amp fuse not sure if that's supposed to be a 7amp quick blow according to ranger manual. In the fuse box for cigar socket is a 15amp.
Ok now ive tried the ranger on its own and before switching on I've got 12.5 volts when switching on radio I've got 12.4volts on rx then keying up I've got 11.2 volts. Can't see ampage that's just showing 00v maybe that's for the usb sockets on the cigar device ?
Anyway when keying up on fm 4watts there's a slight dim in the screen going up to 10watts its more dim but on ssb its really dimming when speaking. So even though the volts drops to 11.2 on tx I'm not sure how many amps are being pulled from the cigar socket.
The president harry 2 is a 4watt fm/am radio and that lights up all lights when keyed and on pwr meter its showing 4watts. So maybe that's OK but the ranger from 4watts to 10watts there's dimming on the screen? I'm going to go direct to battery with 12 awg 20amp cable or 25amp and fuse neat the battery and go from there..... I can see a big grommet under passenger dash neat floor so I'll poke about for a hole

[Alan Pilot]

I ran my 2950 straight from the battery job done.

[backtoskooldaze]

Ok today I have run 12 awg cable from the battery with 2 quick blow fuses on each wire near the battery. The fuses are blue 15amp ones.
Red going to terminal on battery and black to ground on body of car where the car battery is also connected to.
Now before I go ahead I want to try my president harry 2 which has 6amp wire with a 2amp quick blow inline can I connect this to my 15amp cable I've installed using a choc bloc and can I use a 5amp choc bloc to connect the 6amp cable from pres harry2 to the 15amp cable ? Or will I need a 15amp choc bloc.
My ranger 2950dx will definitely need a 15amp choc bloc to the 12 awg cable but wondering if its OK to use pres harry2

[Alan Pilot]

You will be ok with the 5a block.

[backtoskooldaze]

Cool I've got it all connected up..
12awg cable direct to battery going through firewall/grommet there's 2 x 15amp quick blow fuses on both cables near battery and some ferrite rings on both cables... I've used wago connectors inside the car as it's easy to swap out radios.. on pres harry2 there's 2amp quick blow inline..its working great...I've also tried ranger 2950dx and that's working with no screen dimming on tx..
I want to use a small rm kl40 35watt linear for the pres harry2 which is 4 watts output.. the linear draws 4amps..can I use the same 12awg cable to run pres harry2 radio and 35watt linear together using wago connectors..or will I have to run the linear with its own set of wires direct to the car battery that the radio is using..