scanner?

crazyboy · Post by **crazyboy** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 11:10 am

where can i pull igniton sense power for a scanner from? i am pretty sure the scanner is a bc560xlt but ill have to check. and what is a good antenna for the following freqs in the 154-155, 453,460, 508. thanks

nmfire10 · Post by **nmfire10** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 2:18 pm

You can pull it from anywhere there is a ignition switch power in your vehicle as long as the circuit can handle the additional load of the scanner. Since you didn't tell us what kind of vehicle it was, you'll have to find it on your own I guess.

radiokid · Post by **radiokid** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 2:25 pm

For the antenna,a VHF quarterwave works pretty good for what you want to listen too. I used one with the scanner and I have low band(39.92). I could recieve just fine. Radio Kid, Good Day

thebigphish · Post by **thebigphish** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 2:48 pm

cigarette lighter.. or take a meter and backpin the fuse panel. surely some ofthem are ign sense.

crazyboy · Post by **crazyboy** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 3:05 pm

ok thanls guys. It's a nissan altima. will a trunk lip mount work better than a glass mount? im not sure where im gonna put it yet. i want to see if it will fit in the compartment under the armrest. if not how hard do you think it would be to make it a remote mount? would i just have a metal shop make some covers for the head and deck? or is it pretty simple to make. thanks and srry. for so many???'s

TWL911 · Post by **TWL911** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 5:12 pm

If its a 560 and you are going to remote mount it, I have one that has a good head, but the scanner is toast, if you want to buy a parts unit with a good head, that way if you ever remove it you can simply plug the original head back in.

Shoot me an email, mine is seperated currently if you need pics of what the head looks like.

kb0nly · Post by **kb0nly** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 6:50 pm

Do you have any other radios installed with the ignition sense leads? If so, tap off one of them to power a relay, and run the scanner off the relay.

If nothing else is available, just take a test light and figure out which circuit to tap in the fuse box. I commonly tap off the car radio supply, its ignition switched and turns off when starting, engine cranking, to protect the radio. And use that to turn on and off an accessory relay which then powers accessories and radios that don't have an ignition sense available.

Make sure to fuse the line from the fuse box to the relay if you do that, and fuse the battery power to the relay.

crazyboy · Post by **crazyboy** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 11:11 am

no there arnt any radios in there yet. what ga. wire should i run form the ignition sense that would power the scanner that i would also be able to connect any radios igniton sense wires that i install? thanks

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 11:52 am

The same gauge or thicker. Smaller would get hot and could cause a fire.

crazyboy · Post by **crazyboy** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 12:14 pm

what kind of wire should i use to connect the radio and the head together for a remote mount? and how should i connect it to the head and radio? thanks

thebigphish · Post by **thebigphish** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 2:13 pm

that entirely depends on HOW the head connects to the body. I was compeltely unaware that 560XLTs could be remoted...

crazyboy · Post by **crazyboy** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 2:19 pm

one of the wires is like a wire that connects the drives on a comp. cant think of the name and the other is just like a couple regular wires with a plug similar to that on the end of the other one. if i can find my digi camera i will post a pic.

thebigphish · Post by **thebigphish** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 2:25 pm

ribbon cable?????

-edit-
after looking around, THAT THING CAN BE REMOTED???? i gotta take our old broken one apart now.

crazyboy · Post by **crazyboy** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 3:07 pm

heres what the wires look like.

thebigphish · Post by **thebigphish** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 3:51 pm

[glasses mode - on]
ok, so depending on your ability w/ a soldering iron, you could remote that. the connector on the left is just a simple splicing of wires in after you cut behind that white (?) connector, and as for the ribbon cable on the left....i'd go to an electronics store and buy a compatible combination of ends for that one and make my own patch cable for it to go the distance. It's a hackup job just to make it not so much of a remote mount, but more like a "it's all together, just in two places" type install. i know we have a place right down the street that sells generic ribbon cable connectors that would slide right in....or if you really wanted to get ghetto with it, you could carefully slice that ribbon cable up...and handsplice all the wires into a nice length of cat5 and do it like that....
just some ideas...

and that's not a REAL deep unit, do you HAVE to remote it? it's only like 6 inches deep!

crazyboy · Post by **crazyboy** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 4:44 pm

yep that is a white connector. Im not sure of anystores that would sell ribbon cables like that? maybe ill make it ghetto lol. Yes i have to remote it i want to put it in the compartment under the armrest and it just isn't deep enough. BTW: does anyone know whats under that part of the center console in a stick? If not ill have to figure out. i also need to figure out how to get the wires from there and for the power to under the seat without it looking like crap. also does anyone else have recommendations for an antenna? brand?

crazyboy · Post by **crazyboy** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 5:37 pm

ok for antennas should i go with a 1/4 wave vhf antenna or a 5/8 wave vhf antenna or something else? also im not gonna drill the roof but have been reading on how to install a nmo mount and am confused. some people say drill it with a unibit, some say drill it with a hole saw and others say punch it. so what should one do to put in an nmo mount. also is there a good site that exlains in detail how to put in an nmo mount? thanks

thebigphish · Post by **thebigphish** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 5:51 pm

crazyboy wrote:BTW: does anyone know whats under that part of the center console in a stick?

in what kind of truck???

telepathically - i'd say.... probably a little framework made of lightgage steel, some wiring in black looms, some dust, old cheetos and air.

crazyboy wrote:If not ill have to figure out. i also need to figure out how to get the wires from there and for the power to under the seat without it looking like crap.

put them under the rug, or under a moulding in the car. or hide them with the power seat wires, or anything else...seek, and ye shall find.

ESDA20 · Post by **ESDA20** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 10:10 pm

This is a deep and detailed suggestion, but I recommend using a little imagination when it comes to making it look neat. Its your truck. You spend more time in it then we do.

RESCUE161 · Post by **RESCUE161** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 10:14 am

crazyboy wrote:what kind of wire should i use to connect the radio and the head together for a remote mount? and how should i connect it to the head and radio? thanks

I "remoted" a Pro-2006 once. It worked like a champ. I've since put it back to original. It had about 53 connections that had to be made between the head and the radio, so I had to make a cable. I used 25 pair phone wire and added two shielded 3 lead cables. I stripped the 25 pair wire and took out what I didn't need and shrink-wrapped the whole thing. All in all, it was about 8 feet of cable. I made the backs out of plastic from a local hobby shop and used this liquid weld stuff for plastic. I spray painted them to match the color of the scanner. It was in my car for a few years until I gave the car to my ex-wife. Here's a picture of the cable.

gr8amp · Post by **gr8amp** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 10:52 am

Just to add to this, make sure you use shielded cable for at least the volume control wires. These are probably the left three wires on the left connector in the photo, but I can't be sure. A pretty standard uniden setup for that connector is the two innermost wires being the power switch, and the outer 3 on each side being the volume and squelch control wires. The two outermost wires being grounds for the control pots. Don't hold me to this, but this has been the way many of the unidens are setup (I've never seen the inside of that specific radio).

Just something to help get you started. Good Luck.
-Jim

crazyboy · Post by **crazyboy** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 11:52 am

thanks guys. ill see whats under everything when the time comes. Is cat5 shielded? and im still unsure on the 5/8 or 1.4 . i will be using a trunk lip mount. thanks

crazyboy · Post by **crazyboy** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 12:52 pm

also what type of antenna connector i on the rear of it?

RESCUE161 · Post by **RESCUE161** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 12:55 pm

CAT-5 is not shielded.

If you only need a few wires, use some shielded computer cable. What do you mean by the antenna connector? Are you talking about the back of the scanner? It's probably a BNC type connector.

crazyboy · Post by **crazyboy** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 1:11 pm

yeah the one on the back of it. its not a bnc. it is like a hole with a hole for a pin in the back of it. What type of computer cable? will a printer cable work? i only need a total of 17 wires.

RESCUE161 · Post by **RESCUE161** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 1:14 pm

The "hole" antenna connector is known as a "Motorola" connector. You can get them at Radio Shack.

You will still want to have the volume/squelch wires in a shielded environment. That's why I made my own cable. There was absolutely no interference in my setup.

Good luck!

crazyboy · Post by **crazyboy** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 1:24 pm

yes i understand about the shielded wires but i dont know what type of compute rwires are shielded.

RESCUE161 · Post by **RESCUE161** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 1:30 pm

The thing is, you're going to want those wires (volume/squelch) shielded by themselves and the rest of the wires not in the same shield. You probably won't find a cable like that unless you pay top dollar for it.

You could make your own fairly cheap, or just use a shielded printer cable and not separate the volume/squelch leads. This may or may not cause you problems with interference.

crazyboy · Post by **crazyboy** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 1:35 pm

ok so put the volume and squeltch wires in shielding(indiidually or all together?) and then run the rest of them in different wiring. What/How should i sheild it. thanks