Chaser Electronics hook up

[Brandon Sullivan]

Ground to vehicle or the battery.. Either is fine... But, make sure if you are creating your own ground lug in the vehicle, to scrape off all paint to that it makes a good ground...

Also... FUSE THE NEGATIVE SIDE TOO!!!!!

I know it sounds weird, but with starter, engine, or alternator problems, sometimes voltage is thrown across and will feed back on the negative side... I install emergency equipment on squad cars and was one of the first things I was told......

As everyone else said, go to a battery, dont use cig plug unless for one item, or small things like radar detector, xm radio, phone charger etc..

Have a good alternator, I have a 160 amp High Output Alternator.. Came standard on my car...

Have a good battery, chase conditions can lead to warm starts, periods with equipment left on etc... I have an Optima Red Top Battery..

Finally, be able to turn your equipment off.. I have a master switch in my car, but all my equipment is wired through a controller in line with battery that kills it after 1 hr of the vehicle being shut off, and turns it all back on when the vehicle is started..

 

[Skip Talbot]

I do ground to the frame, but I also run a 4 gauge ground from the battery to the frame as well, just for extra measure.

When I power my laptop through the AC charger connected to the inverter, I get a lot of static on the laptop's audio output and the touchpad behaves erratically. I assume this is because of a poor ground.

 

[D. Hayes]

Let me add this in there since I know it was brought up before. Brandon may be the exception here, but one word of advice, skip Optima batteries. They was bought out and moved to Mexico and their quality isn't what they once was.

Here's a link to a forum post one of their employee's made disclosing information you might want to know before you buy Optima. I have 2 optima yellow tops and I've had 3 red tops all bought with in the last 4 years. All 3 reds replaced under warranty with yellows. Now my yellows are acting up by not holding a good charge. If you want a good battery go with Interstate or a Sears Diehard Platinum.

Skip it's quite possible. The best ground is the shortest ground. Seat bolts that connect to the frame are great. But I'd recommend grounding the frame to the battery when you do this. It's a good ideal to do the Big 3 upgrade to any vehicle to improve electrical conditions.

 

[Jason Foster]

Ground to vehicle or the battery.. Either is fine... But, make sure if you are creating your own ground lug in the vehicle, to scrape off all paint to that it makes a good ground...

Also... FUSE THE NEGATIVE SIDE TOO!!!!!

And don't worry about rust after scraping the paint off. Once you have installed the ground strap, you can spray the area with type of rust proofing (found at any auto store...or even 'the depot'), or just use a Rustoleum spray can with a few coats on top of the bolt and area where any paint was previously stripped from. Keep and eye on the area too, for signs of rust...usually it'll show up pretty soon if you missed a spot.

OR

Install the grounding strap in the interior of the vehicle....say on the transmission tunnel under the center console. Very little if any rust will occur there...and certainly not enough to worry for 10 years or more.

 

[Joshua Nall]

Doing things "right" is way overkill for what most chasers use. Using the power point or cig lighter to power everything is ok as long as all the stuff combined does not pull more amps than what the circuit can handle. A powerpoint circuit can handle many low power devices, since it was designed to handle huge spotlights and the like. The only reason I wired my inverter directly is because I was getting some voltage drop through the extra wiring and my (sensitive) inverter was shutting down, when I would start my vehicle. If it weren't for that I would be doing everything through the power point including my inverter... I'm not going to be running a skill saw with my inverter. One mega candle power spotlight can draw more amps than all of my stuff combined. It all has to do with what the total amperage is for the circuit when everything is running. If your power point... what ever it is, is fused with a 20 amp fuse for example, theoretically as long as you stay under that your ok. In real life you want to be significantly under that. I have seen fuses get hot and melt without actually blowing when the amperage stays near what the fuse can handle.

My truck came with two batteries... but in reality you don't need two batteries, unless you sit with the car engine off and everything on for an extended period of time. I love the ability to do that and do it regularly on lightning shoots for several hours. The only time extra battery power is needed is when the engine isn't running. You don't need a high output alternator.

Having 4 gauge wire and two batteries with a distribution box and a big alternator is great... it all looks cool.. and it is needed for car audio set ups and the like... or trucks with lots of lights, maybe even some high powered radio setups which some chasers have... don't know much about that... but not for low power stuff. It's like shooting a deer with a 50 caliber rifle when a 243 will do the job.

And I agree, a shorter wire is always better, doesn't matter what you are doing with it.

 

[Shawn Camp]

Dear Chasers

Thank you all for your info on this and if anyone else has any info I would love to hear it. I will take all of your info into deep concideration as I prepare for 2010 which I hope like most of you all will be a Great Season !!!!.

Shawn C.

 

[Kory Hartman]

I have a secondary small LCD monitor that I use and that draws more than my ciggy lighter ports can handle.

I also have the Optima Red Top battery and a 300-watt inverter wired directly to it.

I only have a fuse on the Positive side and I'm grounding on a door hinge bolt.

No more beeping and blown fuses.

Oh, and I have a 120 AMP Alternator... checked by the guys at O'Reilly Auto Parts

 

[Dean Baron]

I ran my laptop and video camera thru my cig lighter using a powerstrip. Never had a problem (atleast that I know of). Just had to be careful and make sure I turned off the power strip before shutting off the car. Gonna have to look in to other options soon though. But I don't trust myself to hardwire anything to my battery.

 

[James Wilson]

I use an inverter wired directly into the battery. It has two plus so I put a surge protector from one of them and that allows for all items to be powered at the same time. I have left them all on with the vehicle off and never had anything die. Good luck.

 

[J West]

agreed...assuming you can. They don't make an "upgraded" alternator for my Subaru Outback

What year is it?

Maniac Electric Motors on eBay

or their website at

http://www.maniacelectricmotors.com/

If they don't sell one, I bet they could build you one. I'm purchasing the HO 140A unit from them for my '08 Outback Sport over the winter.

I run a 6ga cable to the rear of the car into a Blue Sea 6 circuit fuse panel and a 8ga cable to the glove box into another Blue Sea panel. Both are fed by a 100A SEA fuse fed from the positive terminal of the battery.

The rear circuit feeds comms gear, battery chargers and an inverter. The front circuit feeds other comms gear and misc. devices in the cabin.

FUSE THE NEGATIVE SIDE TOO!!!!!

Like you, I also do public safety vehicle installations and I have to respectively say that is horrible advice. If the ground wire is fused also and that fuse blows but the positive fuse doesn't, then things like the radio chassis, antenna feedline shield/braid or control head cable will become the new ground and cause more damage to the radio/equipment. There is a reason that high current draw mobile radios have ground wires that are unfused and only 3 feet long. They should be grounded to the chassis as close to the radio as possible, without a fuse. I had the "pleasure" of redo'ing the install of a hammy radio in a bloke's car that suffered a failure of the negative fuse and the grounded microphone became the new ground path. Long story short, the mic was toast (literally) and the radio ceased to function as the current draw caused arcing from the chassis to the radio's main board.

The rest of your advise is spot-on otherwise.

 

[D. Hayes]

I use http://www.excessiveamperage.com alternators all custom built and fantastic support and prices.

 

[Dan Robinson]

The best and most practical way is to run a new dedicated circuit with heavy-guage wire up to the main fuse panel. You can then fuse it there in an empty slot. I like adding additional inline fuses for good measure. Do-it-yourself vehicle wiring is a big fire hazard so the fuses are a must.

The second battery option is nice if you've got the extra cash, but I've had sufficient results with running a dedicated circuit. Most chaser electrical setups pale in comparison to common mega-stereo systems, and don't need that much extra power.

The common problem point with the cigarette lighter plug is the center contact. It is usually a very small and loose point of electrical contact, and therefore can heat up and/or cause arcing (which causes voltage spikes and 'dirty' power). Most cigarette lighter plugs and cords are not sufficient guage to carry loads from larger inverters powering multiple devices. The longer the cord, the bigger the voltage drop. Shorter cords can help a little if you have to use a cig plug.

That said, the main problem with the cigarette plug is voltage drops. Most inverters I've run seem to always start sounding the alarm when trying to run a laptop plus one or two other devices. The same inverter hardwired to a circuit never has problems. At one point I had a 750w inverter (hardwired) running 4 laptops, two camera chargers & two cell phone chargers for an entire chase trip with no issues. Would never be able to do that with a cig plug.

 

[David Wolfson]

For something I'm working on I was looking for both a moderate current source of always-on 12v and of additional ignition-switched 12v that doesn't require wiring through the firewall and is straightforward to install.

I was contemplating the under-dash fuse panel and the fuse ID chart and thinking, "Wouldn't it be nice to be able to tap into the unused slots?" Well, you can. There are 10A fuse-tap pigtails available for less than ten dollars, e.g. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CQI22K/ref=ox_ya_oh_product, which even allow you to tap off an active circuit. If a 10A circuit isn't enough, then it should be pretty easy to Y-splice two of the 18 ga. taps into a 16 ga. (or better, 14 ga.) lead to get 20A, which is plenty for most ordinary folk like me.

Apologies if this was already mentioned in another thread, but I don't remember seeing it and think it's pretty darn cool.

 

[Benjamin Rock]

Check out this website for power strips, wiring, and connectors. Power pole connectors are the standard for ham radio groups such as ARES and RACES

Not necessarily a standard, but highly recommended..

 

[Bill Hark]

I use rental cars and power direcly off the cigarette lighter. Since I fly in for a chase vacation, I have to travel light. I've never had a problem but I am careful about overloading the system. I use a laptop with XM and GPS that is plugged into the inverter. Occasionally, I will also charge and use the cell phone that is connected with a splitter. I use a small Yaesu portable HAM radio that I charge before each chase day. I also pre-charge my video and still camera batteries before each chase day. I have rarely run out of power on the HAM with heavy and extended use and never had problems with the cameras. I usually carry a spare inverter in case of problems.


Bill Hark