CB Wiring on 3rd Gen, need help

[AKAndy]

I'm trying to wire up a CB in my Runner, but my knowledge of auto electric stuff is very limited and I could use some help. I want to wire it into the fuse panel under the dash so that it will power off when the truck is off. I bought one of those wired fuse plug things to connect to the + wire of the CB and plug into the panel. I was thinking I would either plug it into the radio or cig lighter fuse plug. When I pulled the fuse box cover off, I don't see either of them on the diagram. Just 4wd (20A), ECU-IG (10A), ACC (15A), Turn (10A), Wiper (20A), ECU-B (7.5A), Guage (10A), and IGN (7.5A). Where should I plug this thing in? Also, the CB manual says to run it on a 2A fuse, and none of these are 2A. There is one open slot on the upper-left, but the panel diagram just shows a line going through that slot. Not sure if that means that the slot has no power, or just isn't reserved for anything. Can I use the open slot, and if not, which one should I use? See attached fuse panel diag.

TIA,
Andy

 

[AKAndy]

ACC is what you want to use.

Thanks for the help... I'll give that a try.

 

[AKAndy]

ACC is what you want to use. If your add a circuit tap has two fuse slots, use a 2A fuse in the slot for the CB and put the original 15A in the other slot. The package should specify which fuse slot is which. My add a circuit fuse holder said that the fuse slot close to the red power wire is for the CB,GPS, radar or whatever you are adding to the car. The 15A slot will still protect just like it was originally. The 2A fuse will protect the CB only. (or whatever is tapped into that red wire) Hope this helps.

Thanks Bump, I didn't realize before I opened the package on the circuit tap that it has two slots. I did exactly what you suggested, and it worked great... I have a functioning CB now... thanks for the help!

Followup question... how would one add another aux device? Obviously it wouldn't be a good idea to plug a circuit tap into the existing circuit tap. If I wanted to plug in my GPS, would I have to add an aux. fuse panel, or is there an easier way?

 

[broncosi]

Just a tip for the future that may or may not make it easier. Instead of messing with the fuse box, for an easy acc tap, i go to the radio harness.

 

[AKAndy]

Just a tip for the future that may or may not make it easier. Instead of messing with the fuse box, for an easy acc tap, i go to the radio harness.

That sounds like a good idea....How would you go about doing that? Could you just splice a wire with an inline fuse into the red wire that goes to the harness? Sorry if this is an obvious question... I know nothing about car stereo wiring.

Another related question... say I want to wire up my gps, or anything else that has a 12V cig lighter plug. I don't think I can just cut off the plug, because the output voltage is lower (I think it's like 1.5V for the GPS) than the 12 input voltage. Do I have to figure out a way to connect the + and - wires to the cig plug? I'm hoping there is a more elegant way of doing it without keeping the cig plug.

 

[broncosi]

same thing. Pull the cig lighter out, it will have a black wire and a power acc wire. tap into the acc wire. You do need to test it though. I have worked on some cars that the cig lighters get constant power. Test with an volt meter.

As far as the radio, i can recognize what the acc and power and ground look like. They are all basically the same on aftermarket radios. If you are unsure, again, hook up a volt meter and test the wire you want to tap. Make sure it reads 0 when the key is off, ~12 when the key is turned to acc and ~12 when the car is running.