[scorpydude]

What's the best accessories trigger to get at in a Sierra guys? Either in dash or engine bay... engine bay would be great (as it's for a relay to give main battery feed to UHF).

[2stroker]

Please explain what you are talking about

[scorpydude]

For a relay I have installed in my Sierra to trigger on when accessories is switched on I need to take a line from a accessories line somewhere and run it to the trigger pin on my relay ... I'm wondering what the best place is to take accessories line from in a Sierra?

Cheers

[matty_wall]

When i did my EFI conversion i need On and power so i used the spare fuse sections on the back of the fuse panel. No reason why you cant do the same for ACC

ON power


Power

[Scrawny]

No need for a relay to run your UHF

[Reubs]

Scrawn wrote:

No need for a relay to run your UHF

If you have that much voltage drop in the factory loom that you need a relay to power 10-15 watts max of UHF then you are going to have problems with your dash lighting and guage readings.

In one of my Zuks I took a power from the cig lighter socket wires to switch a relay. It is supplied by the radio fuse.

[scorpydude]

Thanks guys.

Already run another 4 earths from negative on battery, 2 in engine bay and 2 to each side of dash and redid the one to engine to firewall...

I've got this weird problem with my UHF that it receives fine but when I transmit other people can't hear me ... or if they can it's so quite (even at full volume for them) that they can't hear over the car idle.

[Reubs]

scorpydude wrote:

I've got this weird problem with my UHF that it receives fine but when I transmit other people can't hear me ... or if they can it's so quite (even at full volume for them) that they can't hear over the car idle.

Checked your mic, mic button, or plug into the uhf?

[2stroker]

That will have nothing to do with voltage, have you checked your arial and your mic.

[Scrawny]

Blown PA inside? What aerial are you using? Lots of different factors to consider

[scorpydude]

Ah okay, I thought since I can receive fine and since it's only when I transmit that there might not be able to draw enough power through the crappy 12v feed I have it on at the moment. I'm running the UHF off a 12v line I found behind the dash... I have no idea what it's for. I earth just to the dash earth wire (that screws into the big horizontal metal bar). I thought that if I took it from the battery directly it might rule out that possibility.

Mic working OK.

The aerial might be the problem in two places
- When I put it in initially the connector on the back has to do a hard left turn before the cable runs to the hole in the firewall, perhaps that bend has caused the wire to degrade the signal to the aerial
- The aerial is mounted to the bullbar to a U shaped aerial bullbar mount... then with two hose clamps. I read a while ago aerials need to be earthed well. Perhaps the bullbar isn't earthing well? Should I check the potential difference between the bullbar and the negative on the battery?

The aerial kit for the UHF was purcahsed together, aerial, cable and bull bar mount + hose clamps. So I assume they are all OK.

[scorpydude]

UHF:
http://dicksmith.com.au/product/D1897/uniden-uh7700nb-uhf-cb-radio

Antenna kit:
http://dicksmith.com.au/product/D1912/benelec-uhf-cb-premium-antenna-kit

[Scrawny]

Bullbar mount should be fine. Was the plug already on the cable?

[scorpydude]

Yeah the plug was already on aerial lead and a converter was supplied in the kid that converts from the large connector on the back of the UHF to small connector (on aerial cable) it didn't leave much room - thus the sharp left turn now.

[Scrawny]

You could cut the mini UHF plug off and just solder a large UHF plug straight onto the cable. Do you have excess cable coiled up somewhere?

[fritter]

If it's recieving fine then it's not likley to be the antenna that's causing problems.
Are others receiving a strong signal from you and your voice is really quiet?
If that's the case, then either the deviation setting in your radio is set too narrow, or there is a problem with either your mic
Or one of the low level audio stages.
If that's the case and it's under warranty, take it back to the dealer. If it's out of warranty then it's the repair shop.
You need to do some testing with someone close, but not too close by.

[scorpydude]

Yeah Scrawn there is about a meter extra coiled up under the dash in 30cm loops.

Yeah that's the situation fritter. I'll check the documentation for the deviation setting and find a way to test mic (or perhaps try and find someone with a simular mic I can borrow).

[Mattmorgo]

Chris i know others have said against what im about too say but try direct power, i was having the exact same problems and it was fixed after taking it out of the radio loop.

[royce]

check your voltage at the radio when transmitting, if its close to battery voltage its not the problem

though even if it was it would effect signal strength not audio volume, try another mic or that mic in another radio

[Mattmorgo]

royce wrote:

check your voltage at the radio when transmitting, if its close to battery voltage its not the problem

though even if it was it would effect signal strength not audio volume, try another mic or that mic in another radio

Is more voltage required when transmitting opposed to recieving? the reason i ask is that scorpydude wired my radio up and it had the exact same symptoms that it would receive at 9+ loud and clear but its output was limited too only 1- on a radio i was trying to transmit to (ie would light up the microphone of receiver but signal wasn't strong enough to actually receive).

Once i wired it direct to the battery via a fuse it transmits 100%

[fritter]

Mattmorgo wrote:

royce wrote:

check your voltage at the radio when transmitting, if its close to battery voltage its not the problem

though even if it was it would effect signal strength not audio volume, try another mic or that mic in another radio

Is more voltage required when transmitting opposed to recieving? the reason i ask is that scorpydude wired my radio up and it had the exact same symptoms that it would receive at 9+ loud and clear but its output was limited too only 1- on a radio i was trying to transmit to (ie would light up the microphone of receiver but signal wasn't strong enough to actually receive).

Once i wired it direct to the battery via a fuse it transmits 100%

Yes Matt it does draw more curent when transmitting. Should be less than 1 amp on receive and generally 2 to3 amps on transmit depending on the efficiency of the driver and PA stages.
Check the voltage at the radio as Royce said, or try a direct battery connection.
Low voltage maybe having some weird effect.

[Mattmorgo]

Chris how'd you go?

[scorpydude]

Was busy today but going to try tomorrow, will let you know how it goes cheers