DH6twinotter

Hey all,
I'm installing a Cobra 18WX ST II. I'm putting it in my 1 din slot below my CD player. I've got a few questions for you all:

1) I hear people saying how easy it is to put the coax through the rubber grommet in the firewall, but I can't seem to get it through with all the other wires in the way. Any suggestions or other way of getting it through?

2) The instruction booklet says to "Connect the red lead of DC power cord to an accessory 12 volt fuse and connect the orange to a constant 12 volt fuse (ie: cig lighter or direct to battery)". This make no sense to me. Why do they have 2 wires if they are both able to go the battery? Can someone explain?

3) If I connect the orange wire to my sig lighter, which wire do I splice it into? There's a green, black and red wire going to what I assume is the light. Then there's a single red wire that goes to what I assume is the heater element.

4) Would I be able to ground the wire to the metal dash supports that the CD and CB screw into?

Sorry for all the dumb question. I'm not much of a electrical person. I guess that's all the questions I have. I've just got to jury-rig my bracket so It'll hold the CB. Thanks all.

Have fun.
DH6twinotter

TDiddy

Hey DH,

I can help you with #1....

As far as getting throuogh the grommet - punch a hole in it with a nail or something to get started. Then if you have some needle nose pliers, stick the tip in to the hole. Take a look in the engine bay to see when the tip comes through. Once you know its through, shine a light on the grommet from the engine side. Then go back under the dash and open up the handles. This will stretch the hole, and you should hopefully be able to see a little light coming through. At that point, keep the hole open and shove the coax through.

DH6twinotter

Ah, ok. Thanks alot. I was wondering if that's whay everybody ment. I was trying to put it through the little channel where all the other wires got through. Sounds simple now. Thanks.

Anybody have an answer for 2,3, and 4?

Thanks again all. Have fun.
DH6twinotter

toyotadan

Well, Im probably not much better than you at all of this, but might as ill try and help. Here is a pic of where i put my wire through the firewall



Although you probably are driving a different 4runner, or pickup....

Make sure that you mount your antenna on the drivers side, or on the roof... just not on the passenger side.

Anyways, I guess the red wire is used to supply power whenever the vehicle is on, and the orange one is used for constant power like you said.... but why didnt they just make both those into one wire, or just eliminate the red one??? that is really weird.


Anyways, ive really said nothing here ..... but if you search for "CB" on the message board, i think there is like 10 different posts from people before (Including me) needing help.

Darren

As for #1, I slit the radius of my grommet on the top portion after pulling half of it out. That way I just had to tuck the coax to the center. I put the grommet back in and is a very snug fit that I haven't had to seal it back up with silicone.

As for the other questions, if possible, just splice your wires your radio uses. If you can't, then I can't help you there. I just used the existing radio harness for mine.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

I am not that familiar with that unit, but if they are saying to hook it to two power sources, it's most likely for a clock feature so it stays "hot" all the time much like an aftermarket stereo does so the clock stays adjusted, and your tuner presets don't get lost.

But that one just has weather right?
If you want to hook it up the way they say, you can tap the two wires into your cockpits fuse box.

Pretty much do it like this.
http://www.pnw4runners.net/tando/mod39.jpg

You pull out a fuse and strip off about 1/8" of wire and cram it back in again under the fuse.
The red lead could go to your cigg fuse, and the orange one could go to the ignition or tail light fuse which has constant power even with the key off.

Black wire can ground to metal under the dash with a sheet metal screw.

Back to the subject of tapping your fuse box.
If you start tappin' a lot like I did, you run out of taps soon, and it looks like a jungle.
That is why I went to this.
http://www.pnw4runners.net/tando/aux_box.htm

It cleared up the mess, and my CB and other stuff is all wired to the new box and it is hot all the time so I can use the CB without the key on.

But that intrigues me why that unit needs to have a constant voltage.
Something must have to retain memory while the key is off for some reason.

DH6twinotter

I was thinking about doing that. Only problem is that I dunno which wire to splice into on my CD player. The previous owner had installed it and it's a really big mess back there.



Yes my CB has the 10 weather channels. I'm also going to hook up the extra fuse block. Thanks for the great idea. I think I will mount it under my dash since most of the stuff going to it will be in the cab.

The red and orange wire think has still got me stumped. I'm not aware of it having a clock feature, but who knows? I was thinking that maybe the orange wire was rigged up so as to light up the face at night when I turn on my head lights. I dunno. Beats me. I guess I'll just do what the directions say.

Anybody know which of the sig lighter wires to tap into?

Thanks again all. You've been alot of help.
Have fun.
DH6twinotter

alanh

Others have addressed the grommet issue, but I cut the crimp terminal off the antenna end so I didn't have to push that through the grommet. The guy at the CB shop gave me another terminal and suggested I do that to make it easier.

I suspect the second wire on the CB is to retain things like the channel setting so you don't have to reset the channel every time you turn it on. To work, it needs to bypass the switches so +12V is there all the time. Then the main wire can be switched on and off so you don't drain your battery by leaving the radio on. Without something like that, every time you turn it on, you have to remember to set the channel which is easy to forget - after hearing nothing on the CB you finally realize why. Of course, this should be in the manual, which you have read from cover to cover several times right?

Your wire colors seem to be different than mine, so I can't help there.

For the ground, make sure you use something thats grounded well. The more joints and connections back to the main ground point the more likely you are to have problems. I grounded mine to a ground point on the main body sheetmetal under the dash behind the kick panel on the driver side.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

As far as tapping the cigg wire, just tap it at the fusebox.
You should have a fuse in there named cigg.
That way it only gets juice with the key on.

I bet Alan is onto it there too.
You don't have a clock on it, but it proably uses a digital readout for your channels and keeps the last channel im memory with that constant power wire.

Alan, I think the one you have is that way too right?
That's why you could not hear us that one time up at Greenwater because you turned off the key, then back on?

DH6twinotter

Ok. Thanks again all.

So, if I put the orange wire in the sig fuse slot, have the red to the battery, and the ground to the frame under the dash or by door than that should be it, right?

The wires that came with it have some in-line fuses already, so I guess I don't need to use the fuse block I got. I had forgotten about that earlier.

Well, have fun all.
DH6twinotter

Robinhood150

There is also a grommet underneath each of the front seats. That's where I plumbed my coax.

Steve

alanh

DH6Twinotter,

Just to be sure here...

According to the directions you had in your original post, the orange wire should connect to +12 that isn't switched on or off. The red can be switched. That the opposite of your last post. I don't think its going to do what you want if that cig circuit is controlled by the ignition switch like I think it is.

Corey,

Yeah, I know from experience about the CB losing its memory - I jump in, take off, and forget to set the channel. Mine has a battery in it to retain the channel with the power off, but it takes a long time to charge so if you don't have the radio installed until you intend to use it, its not charged and doesn't do any good.

I'd like to wire it direct so I don't have the problems, but I'm paranoid about dead batteries. I've had enough to not want any more by leaving a CB on by mistake. With auto transmission, electric fuel pumps. etc. etc. you're totally up the creek without a battery thats good. I also want to keep my PC powered for GPS navigation when I shut the engine off for a few minutes. I've got some of the parts I need to do a dual-battey mod including a battery isolator and an alternator filter to hopefully get rid of some noise while I'm at it, but need some time to figure out the actual mounting and to work on all the cables. I think I can shoehorn in a second battery if I get one of the Odyssey (pretty pricey by the way) ones that should have enough juice to start the engine without being too big.

DH6twinotter

Quote:

According to the directions you had in your original post, the orange wire should connect to +12 that isn't switched on or off. The red can be switched. That the opposite of your last post. I don't think its going to do what you want if that cig circuit is controlled by the ignition switch like I think it is.

Oh, ok. I think I'm following now. That makes sense. So the red wire goes to the fuse and the orange to the battery. Is this right so far?

Has anybody run into any clearance problems behind the CB on their 2nd gen? I got to looking at it and there is only about an inch or so behind the CB. I hope I have room for the coax (which I haven't gotten yet--have to order it and the antenna bracket).

While we are on the wiring topic I have another question. I've got some blue neon lights to put under my seats. What fuse should I run the wire to so they would turn on with the parking/head lights? Is there a way of doing this?

Well, have fun all.
DH6twinotter

Corey

iTrader: (1)

You may need to get a 90 degree coax fitting for the back of the CB.
Just call a CB shop up, and they will know this, and probably have it in stock.

On the neons, you might have to tap into the parking light wire up front, and run a fuse and switch inline on the wire to the cockpit.

Good Times

DH6winotter:


1: Cut the grommet with a think blade (careful not to cut the wires) and open a hole so that you can fit the coax.

2: orange = constant power (required just like radio's n stuff) red = accessory power (which means it only powers on when you have the key in the accessory. The key behind the two is this: orange will feed you the actual power to the CB while the red accessory line will feed the high voltage reading so it will turn the CB on. (someone chime in to make sure I have this right!) but I'm pretty sure that's how it's done what you can do is this. Alot of people don't like to attach the red lead to the accessory line as it will only work when you have the key. you can attach it directly to the battery (if you do make sure u add a fuse, or run it off the inside fuse box). another option, is make a switch for all of your accessories that run direct off the batt (this way u can turn it off as you please w/o forgetting about keeping it on and leaving).

3: don't bother splicing it there... do a test on your fuse box located under the dash and find a open slot to use. Run it from there as it'll be easier than cutting up the existing hardware. Another option is running it direct from the battery too.

4: just make sure that the ground you're thinking about is a good enough ground. test to make sure that it is. I would suggest some body frame part instead though.

5: good luck and if you have any q's ask away and make sure u read up on the CB install that corey has on this site!

Lance

jacksonpt

Yes, you definitely will. I got mine at radio shack. The CB still sticks out a touch further than I would like, but I only notice it if I look. You can kind of see it in this pic...

DH6twinotter

Hey all,
That's a really nice looking setup you got there jacksonpt. Like the deck too. I'll pick up one of those elbow thingies next time I go into town.

I'm hoping I can get my CB back far enough to where the face can be behind the front of the dash trim. That's the way my deck is installed. The dash trim actually overlaps the left and right side of the deck by about 1/8 inch. Same with my CB. So, if It had to poke out some, I would end up having to trim my dash trim. I'm not really in favor of doing that. Hopefully I can have enough clearance behind the CB.

The mounting is being a major pain. I think I may have to fab up some brackets to hold it. I was going to try to use the excisting one from my CD, but the holes are off by about 1/2 inch.

Well, thanks again. Have fun all.
DH6twinotter

DH6twinotter

Thanks alot. I will be running the orange to the battery and red to the cigg fuse box. Thanks for the suggestions! Both wires already come with inline 12v fuses. So, if I decide to connect both the red and orange wire to the battery, than I could use the CB with the car off? Am I understanging right? Would wiring it to the cigg fuse box give it the same effect?

Have fun.
DH6twinotter

Good Times

I believe that the cig line is an accessory line so that means you gotta have your key in the ignition (set to on or accessory) or else you get no power.

But if you line it straight to the batt then you have power (constant) so that means the CB thinks that it's on all the time (unless u shut it off)

so in the end it's up to you on how you want it. If you want to have the accessibility to use the CB w/o the key in the ignition, then run the accessory power lead straight to the batt too... else running it to the cig lighter is fine

Lance

DH6twinotter

OK. I got one of those 90* thingies. I still don't have enough clearance at the front of the CB though. My trim won't go back on because there is about 1/8 inch of trim on either side of the CB that overlaps it and I can't get the CB back far enough to where it could just overlap. Not sure if that makes any sense. Has anybody had any similar problems on their 2nd gens? Whoever mounted my CD player just put it far enough back to where the trim overlaps it about 1/8 inch on either side. Looks nice like that. Any more suggestions?

If I did end up having to trim the trim, what should I use? I have a couple hack saws, a razor blade, and an electric sander. That's about it as far as cutting tools (other than a bench grinder and power saw--probably don't whant to use those though).

Well, thanks again. Have fun all.
DH6twinotter