Batboard

Hi Folks,

I'm struggling for an answer on this one. We have a couple of people who move around between clients alot & really could use having their GM300's "hot swappable" between vehicles without having to re-install every time. We've already got the bracket \ mouting & antenna problems sorted, but I'm struggling to find an answer to this question:-

Are GM300's happy being powered from a cigarette lighter connector, or will they sap too much power for the average lighter socket?

Would be interested to see if someone has come across this problem & solved it already too I am by no means a professional installer of this stuff in vehicles, so open to suggestion!

Altho not highly recommended, a GM300 will work fine in that configuration, so long as the appropriate fuse is in line. You might get some alternator whine in the TX audio, but it's alright for temporary operation.

It depends on the vehicle. It can be done, however the individual vehicle may have a lighter circuit that is NOT independant and have other ancillary loads on it, or may be fused less than the load of the radio. I know that certain vehicles (E series fords) have lighter circuits that are fused for 20 amps, and are independently wired. However, some of the other vehicles on the road frequently share AM-FM radio, or other loads with the cigarette lighter. If the vehicle you are trying to put it in will support a load of a properly fused radio, it CAN be done.

Some concerns about it are as follows;
1) The radios are designed to be wired to a constant 12vDc (fine 13.8 ) and will not keep "current channel" settings when they are unplugged (I don't recall what else they would keep, but i don't think it's anything) Now a simple radio like the GM300 can probably be used just fine in this capacity, however...more complex radios (or finickey radios YMMV) require constant voltage due to the fact that they are never really OFF, just powered down or in a standby state (IE CDM series - since they have soft off function).

2) cheapo connectors will heat up, heat will cause inefficiency in the circuit, drawing more power, heating up more, drawing more power, heating up more and ultimately exceeding the fuse capabilities and blowing it. I consider any cigarette lighter a cheapo connector, so i would make sure if you are going to do this...get the highest current adapters you can find and fuse them appropriately. **If it's the same group of vehicles that you are just rotating between, I would just wire in a military connector and plug the wire on the radio for the other end, so you get a waterproof connector w/ good strain relief & locking mechanism - however, this may not be possible if it's a different vehicle every time, you're outta luck**

3) Moto recommends that this unit be wired directly to a battery source, to prevent "alternator noise" from getting into the TX RX path. Using a cigarette lighter is a "little far" from a battery for their specs, but again YMMV.

It is possible, just be careful.

Thanks thebigphish my biggest concern & one which you pointed out is current draw as I'm more used to handhelds which of course dont have that worry - I guess that all depends on the transmit power of the mobile unit anyway so around 5 watts should be fairly modest in terms of the GM300's capacity.

Most of the vehicles are of the same type - Kia Rio's - which I have just found out have a 12v socket located in the boot which I suspect is probably on a dedicated circuit but will have to find out - these being the cheaper built of cars, I suspect the radio \ cigarette may be shared as you mention which is a bit of a pain.

Good advice & much appreciated as always

If you're just swapping between vehicles, why not:
A. buy enough GM300s to equip all the vehicles and install them properly... GM300s are cheap-cheap these days.
or B. install a dedicated circuit in each vehicle that the GM300 would plug into

That said, most likely, you can run on cig lighter with no problems. Just watch your current... you may need to turn the PAs down slightly depending on how the vehicle is wired, fuse size, etc.