**CDM1550 CIGAR PLUG WIRING THEORY**

[ericsze]

Unfortunately, I'm stuck over the next few months of having to move between a few personal vehicles. I use my CDM1550 quite frequently, and am trying to think of some way to easily move it from one vehicle to the next. Motorola says that while transmitting on high power, the radio draws 13.5 amps. receiving takes much less. The SUVs that I have all seem to have CIGAR PLUG OUTLETS in the trunk region, rated at 15 amps max. Can I just splice the radio's power and ground into a cigar plug and power it like that? Is it possible, and is it a good idea?

Any feedback is much appreciated.

[ericsze]

Also, I forgot to ask...I'd probably have to take out the 10Amp fuses in a normal cigar plug and replace it with a 15Amp fuse?

Let me know if this is just a bad idea...

[Monty]

HI:

The trouble is finding a Plug that will handle the
Current !

Once sometime ago, Motorola did offer a good
Cigerette lighter Plug that had a good Body supported
by a Metal Back.

Those were used in a varity of places.

But in any case, the lighter plug may be OK, and
you might want to lower the power in the radio depending
on the rating of the Fuse / Wire used in the vehical application.

I have seen some real messy distribution accessories where
persons went out and got a 3 to 1 , and plugged in all kinds
of acc'y and by-passing the fuse....One case, with a High-Power
Hand-Held Spot, A rotor, and Radio almost caught the Wiring
harness on fire....So beware of this.

Monty

[nmfire10]

You could probably plug it into the lighter socket without a problem as long as the outlet is rated high than the radio draws. The only thing is some lighter sockets tend to have a lot of noise on them.

[wavetar]

Motorola actually makes a cigarette lighter cable to do exactly that. The part# escapes me at the moment. Meant for 25 watt radios though. Many courier companies in our area are set up this way. They generally work fine, but you may have to lower your power from 40 watts to 25 to avoid blowing your 15AMP fuse in the car, since the radio can and will draw more than the 13.5AMPS upon initial key-up at full power. I wouldn't recommend replacing the 15AMP with a 20AMP, although I see it done all the time. Possible fire hazard.

Todd

[CHEFA2001]

DON'T do it, my best friend caused a fire in my old vehicle a few years back when he was making out w/ her.... He keyed up the radio w/ his foot and did not know he had it keyed for over 5 minutes. No TOT, uggh.
ANyhow, Having the veh. started and keyed up with 110 watts and a temp setup which I had for RX only caused a fire and another friend pissed on my center console after the car was shut off to keep the whole car from catching fire.

I myself just cracked up re-telling this story as I have not thought abuot it in a long time....

Anyone else die laughing??

[nmfire10]

Oh My.

[MO_TRASHER]

What would be wrong with putting the radio in low-power mode while powered thru the liter cord???

$.02

[nmfire10]

Nothing really. Just don't get pre-occupied in the vehicle and hold an open mic for a long time. Using boldily fluids to extinguish a fire is not recommended either.


Now what I want to know is what channel was this mic open on while he was doing this?

[perthcom]

Hi.
Yes Motorola does have a cigarette lighter plug power cord.. I can't seem to get into Motorola from home here right now.. but the PN HMN3149 seems to come to mind.
I'd set the radio back to 25watts to lower the current drain. Cigarette lighter sockets were never designed to be power points, so they tend to be noisy... especially if you use the lighter for lighting cigs. Even the power points sockets are noisy.
As for the keying up for 5 mins striaght... program the Time-Out-Timer in the radio. I always set it for 90 seconds. If you are still babling on after 90 seconds... no one is listening to you any more any way!!