I ran 8 gauge I think. It’s bigger than what’s coming out of the amp
-
You can now help support WorldwideDX when you shop on Amazon at no additional cost to you! Simply follow this Shop on Amazon link first and a portion of any purchase is sent to WorldwideDX to help with site costs.
655hp and amps. What’s your thoughts?
- Thread starter Jk”killer”
- Start date
I ran them both straight to the battery. Should I have ran the ground to the chassis or will the battery be ok?
I run mine to the battery. You should be fine. Make sure you fuse the positive at the battery.
Ok. I’m running a magnet k40 antenna right now. I know it’s prolly gonna fry that thing soon as I key up with both buttons pushed in. What are these band pass filters the earlier comments were talking about? Is this just for quality of sound or a must have thing that I need to be ordering?
No just to keep your amp from amplifying everything, including what you don't want, coming at it from the radio.
Some 10M - 2 - 11M conversion radios are not the best at the 2nd Harmonic XXdB down noise figures - spurries and artifacts show up and if you've got open modulation - why waste it on the spread spectrum?
You just get heat and wasted power anyways...
The filter keeps the amp cleaner - when people can't.
Best results - if the power is a long run, #8 AWG MINIMUM for the amerage it will need. - and fuse it too.
BOLT THE AMP CASE TO FRAME/CHASSIS ground where you're going to mount it. Soldered and Crimped coax for maximum shielding between Radio, Amp and antenna and or any other stuff in line. Failure to do so will generate RF floating about the cab and possibly kill if not destroy much of todays USB phone stuff. Whether BT or if you use SD cards, the phones can get "wiped" from the excessive RF in the cab - and is why much of what was said by Rabbi I promote as well - sounds redundant but it's not - there's too much of a risk with BT enabled and WIFI devices to kill them (vehicle electronics) using the amp - any amp - with open broadband radios that are conversions.
:+> Andy <+:
Some 10M - 2 - 11M conversion radios are not the best at the 2nd Harmonic XXdB down noise figures - spurries and artifacts show up and if you've got open modulation - why waste it on the spread spectrum?
You just get heat and wasted power anyways...
The filter keeps the amp cleaner - when people can't.
Best results - if the power is a long run, #8 AWG MINIMUM for the amerage it will need. - and fuse it too.
BOLT THE AMP CASE TO FRAME/CHASSIS ground where you're going to mount it. Soldered and Crimped coax for maximum shielding between Radio, Amp and antenna and or any other stuff in line. Failure to do so will generate RF floating about the cab and possibly kill if not destroy much of todays USB phone stuff. Whether BT or if you use SD cards, the phones can get "wiped" from the excessive RF in the cab - and is why much of what was said by Rabbi I promote as well - sounds redundant but it's not - there's too much of a risk with BT enabled and WIFI devices to kill them (vehicle electronics) using the amp - any amp - with open broadband radios that are conversions.
:+> Andy <+:
Last edited:
I agree with the above post.
The Texas Star amplifiers will amplify pretty much everything coming out of the radio.
So, it really depends how clean the signal is from the radio to the amplifier.
I have had some radios pushing Texas Star 500 amps that was very clean coming out to the antenna. Change the radio only, and the antenna output signal was as spread out as the radio.
A low pass filter will just help to clean all that up.
The Texas Star amplifiers will amplify pretty much everything coming out of the radio.
So, it really depends how clean the signal is from the radio to the amplifier.
I have had some radios pushing Texas Star 500 amps that was very clean coming out to the antenna. Change the radio only, and the antenna output signal was as spread out as the radio.
A low pass filter will just help to clean all that up.
If you plan on having that TS400 and the K40 actually last make sure you turn the power on the radio down. Keep the dead key out from the amp at 80 watts max or the capacitor in the base of the K40 will go poof.
With a radio that can do 80-100 watts peak I don't think a TS400 or 500 is the best choice. If you can get the dead key on the radio down to 2-3 watts and keep peak power in the 25-35 range you will be ok.
Hope it all works out for you.
With a radio that can do 80-100 watts peak I don't think a TS400 or 500 is the best choice. If you can get the dead key on the radio down to 2-3 watts and keep peak power in the 25-35 range you will be ok.
Hope it all works out for you.
You must not have done enough homework?!?!? So exactly what good do you think it does to add a second battery. Adding a second battery in a situation like this is like needing to shoot a deer at 1000 meters and you decide to add a 20RD magazine. It is the wrong answer and does nothing to help your cartridge shoot flat or accurate to 1000m and it does not help with your ability to aim at said deer either.
What you need is an alternator that has a lot more amperage capacity and an output that peaks at the rpm you want to be doing while talking. Depending on your skill set adding another alternator is also an option. Do not waste your time with a second battery get a 340amp alternator and be done with it or get a smaller amp and a different radio that will match with what the vehicles electrical system can easily support.
If I had a dollar for every idiot I have seen with flashing headlights at night with a second battery I could eat lunch for a year at Subway. Car audio and CB'ers with amps are usually idiots in this regard. Do not forget the stiffening cap you have to have one of those! Does that radio have BLUE LED's if not get some of those too so it looks like your arc welding or operating a tanning while driving! The headlights are flashing to the bass or the modulation because the alternator cannot supply what the vehicle needs to run, power the headlights and the car audio gear of linear amplifier all at the same time!
On top of that do you know what type of battery you should get or where you will put it? Do you know what an isolator is and where you would use it? How many seconds at the full output can you talk with said second battery if the engine is not running? How long can you talk with the engine running at idle and at 1800 rpms before the batteries will be dead?
Do more homework and think a little deeper about what is going on, what you really need, why you need it, and the questions you really need to ask yourself! Both of my post's give you some really good stuff to think about and to stimulate thought!
I can not believe I am giving this much away but think about building a complete system everything has to work together. You can not just slap some crap behind your radio and think all is going to work great!!! You obviously did not give this any thought when you ordered your radio. You have this radio and never gave any thought to what you would do latter if wanted an amp. You have not thought about the wire, coax, alternator, antenna etc....all as one system.
When I picked my radio, amp, antenna, hookup wire, coax the first things I said was " What can my Toyota Camry support electrically?". Once I knew that I knew exactly what I had to work with and I knew I was not going to want to modify my electrical system for a radio and amp. Once I knew how many amps I had to play with which is not the full capacity of the alternator, by the way, I know what I had to work with and I chose my radio, amp, wire, coax, antenna accordingly. I did not just buy crap toss it at the car and hope for the best.
If you can not or do not want to afford a bigger alternator to power the amp you should have behind that radio then get a less powerful radio that does not need as much amp. Instead of tossing money foolishly at things think. It is far cheaper to buy a less powerful radio and a less powerful amp that works with what you own vehicle wise. Lucky for you it is a GM vehicle you can not get any cheaper than that in terms of shopping for a higher output alternator!
Do not think you can just turn down the RF power because as you do that your modulation goes down too. On top of that it never fails you will forget to turn the RF power down at some point and your amp will go "pop"! Only anal-retentive OCD idiots like myself can remember to do that constantly!LOL
Maybe it is because I am 45 and have already made all my mistakes 20-30 years ago? Maybe it is because I think too much? LOL I tell my kids all the time "There is never a time when your brain should be in neutral except when you're asleep!". Ideally we do not want to think too much and fail to act and we do not want to act and fail to think! We need a balance of the two!
For some reason, no one shows up on this board before they have whipped out the debit/credit card and asks " What do I need to set up a nice CB system in my Silverado Pick-em-Up-Truck?" "Oh I would like an amplifier and I would like to be able to work in XXXXX freq. range." etc......Instead of seeking out knowledge and wisdom first they always show up on this forum with some insane amp like a Texas Star sweet 16 but they drive a Yugo or they have some insanely powerful radio that will not work well with 90% of the amplifiers built int he last 40 years for mobile applications!
Onelasttime^ I completely understand where you r coming from. No I prolly didn’t do enough homework, like u said, but I did do some. I traded around and ended up with the radio that I have. And about a month ago I decided I would like to have an amp. Now I’m not very knowledgeable in this stuff so I started looking on here and all around the internet and reading things that people with knowledge, like yourself, post on here as well as other places. Now I know this radio that I have is not the best radio unless I wanna have a great big set up. I have learned that I needed a bigger amp. I had also learned that said amp couldn’t be real big because of the truck I’m putting it in. I kno that everything that I’ve got is not the best for said situation. But said situation is what I have to work with. And said situation should all work together. Except for the k40, and it’s gonna be replaced with a Wilson 5000 in the coming weeks. And yes I know what an isolator is. Just because I’m going at this a little backwards to the way you done it doesn’t make me a dumbass like u r thinking I am. Like I said. My setup may not be ideal but it will work. And just because I don’t know most of this stuff doesn’t make me a dumbass that can’t learn it. But I do want to thank you for your comment.
A 340A alternator to run a DX400? Man you are all over the place here.
He just wanted to write a big long post to look smart.
The forum has an ignore function for people that are full of it. Isolators suck. They have their purpose but if you're trying to keep voltage drop to a minimum with extra batteries the isolator is counter productive.
I can't imagine you really needing an extra battery for what you have. Run some good heavy cables to the battery and see what happens. Be careful if you use a digital multimeter to measure voltage drop. RF can cause erratic readings. I would have gotten a bigger amp for your radio. If you keep the drive power turned down and don't push the amplifier too hard it should be fine.
My old truck that used to be a daily driver has a 16 pill. The biggest alternator that would fit without excessive modification was a 205 amp and it was not enough. The truck has 2 batteries under the hood and I put a tool box in the bed with 3 1000cca group 31 batteries. No isolator, just fuses and 2/0 welding cable. No more voltage sag.
The batteries gave me a stiff supply of amprage and had more than enough time recharge between transmissions. Without rambling I'll just say the truck has been this way around 7 years and were tested yearly when it was a daily driver.
If one battery fails it can drain the other and leave you stranded but regular maintenance is your friend. Even then dead batteries happen to people without radios in their cars.
This is going in my company work truck so I can’t get to carried away with it. I’m not trying to be the big dog on the airwaves just a little something extra. I had done enough home to know that the dx400 that I bought was small for my radio but big enough that it’d be ok. And small enough that I won’t get into trouble at work for trying to go all out in a truck that’s not mine lol