XTS Travel Charger hard-wiring?

[NSPD]

I have an XTS Travel Charger that was given to me without the button on the end of the cigarette lighter plug to make contact for power. I plan to install this in my vehicle, and hard-wire it to a switch on my console. When I cut the plug off, I found that there were 4 wires inside the cable.. Red, Black, Yellow, and White.

Does anyone know what the Yellow and White wires are used for? I assume the Red is +12VDC and the Black is -12VDC. Are these two extra wires essential for it's operation?

Also, does anyone know what size fuse this charger will need? I plan to couple it to another vehicle charger and turn them both on and off with the same circuit.

Thanks for any help!!

[Tom in D.C.]

Jake,

I have a 4884 with the cig. lighter plug on it, too, but I've never taken it apart to see what the extra wires are connected to inside the unit. Seems to me that all they can be doing is providing more current carrying capacity for the red and black wires, which leads me to think that perhaps they might not even be connected inside the charger. Only other thing I can think of would be if there were a three-terminal regulator in the lighter plug, which would be sort of nuts, and there were the 12VDC+, the negative, and regulator output going up the wire to the charger.

Regards,

[NSPD]

I'm just trying to avoid blowing up the chargers and/or my radios....

I don't think together they should draw more than 5 amps?

[Will]

I'm just trying to avoid blowing up the chargers and/or my radios....

I don't think together they should draw more than 5 amps?

I would fuse the travel charger separately at 2 amps. Although it should draw .9 to 1.5 amps, any more and it would burn up batteries.

[The Comish]

Looking at the owners manual that comes with the charger it does say that it will act as a battery eliminator as well as charge the battery...and from the looks of the cig plug there is definately some circuitry in there. I am just guessing here but it would seem that one set of wires would be for charging and the other set to provide power to the radio (eliminator).

[jban]

I converted 10 travel chargers for the HT1250 to direct wire. They have been in service continually for the last 4 years with no incident.

I purchased the same charger for the XTS2500. They look to be the same but anyway here is what I did.

Went to Radio Shack and purchased some small project boxes and fuse holders. I disassembled the lighter plug (unscrew end and pop the case apart) I just used some double sided tape to keep the circuit board secured in the project box and notched out areas for the fuse holder and wires. I desoldered the power leads and replaced with new leads to go to battery. They work great and saved a bundle.

I will take one of the units apart and take some pics as soon as I can if anyone is interested

[The Comish]

I would be interested in the pics when you get a chance...thanks

[Tom in D.C.]

This thread has gotten WAY, WAY off topic. I would like to know why there are four wires from the charger to the plug; that was the original question. I looked at my 4884 in the car and it does not appear to have any readily accessible disassembly points, screws, etc.