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Motorola XTL 2500 Install

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jmatherly421

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Bristol
To anyone that can help, I have a Motorola XTL 2500 800mhz mobile radio that I will be installing. I have all the cables, coax, and antenna to do the install. Looking for someone that can help with how to wire this radio up for operating. On the back of the radio it has the power connector, the coax connector, and another connector that looks like something that would plug into a computer but its for the speakers. All wires have their own fuses except for the coax of course.
 

mancow

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Big red to battery hot

Little red to line switched on and off by ignition

Black to good ground point on body etc...

Antenna...well self elxplanatory

That's about it really.
 

jmatherly421

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Explain little red to line switch, and the speaker it has a red wire as well does that go to the battery as well or can it be tied into the other red wire that goes to the battery?
 

fineshot1

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Explain little red to line switch, and the speaker it has a red wire as well does that go to the battery as well or can it be tied into the other red wire that goes to the battery?

First of all - tell us if this XTL2500 is a chasis mount or remote head mount.
That makes a difference.

If its a chasis mount (radio all in one piece) the main power plug wires -
Red goes to +12V (hot all the time).
Black goes to ground on the vehicle body or frame.
The accessory plug has a Red wire that goes to ignition controlled +12V(hot only when ignition is on).
The speaker wires of course go to the speaker.

If the radio is a remote mount (radio head and boby seperate).
Control head wires:
Red goes to +12V hot all the time.
Yellow goes to +12V ignition controlled
Black to vehicle ground.
Control Head cable is routed to radio chasis(J300L blue plug)

Main radio chasis wires:
Main Power Plug Red wire goes to +12V hot all the time.
Main Power Black goes to vehicle ground.
Antenna port goes to antenna.
Control Head Cable goes to control head(J800L blue plug)
Accessory port not used.

Hope that helps
 

jmatherly421

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The radio is all one piece you can't remove the control head and place it elsewhere. I have a bracket with grey twist screws that came with the radio to install it.
 

N5TWB

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jmatherly421 - I write this with total kindness in my heart but your questions tell me your reach has exceeded your grasp and you might be better served to head to the nearest Motorola shop for your install. Your blood pressure will thank you...
 

jmatherly421

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Location
Bristol
jmatherly421 - I write this with total kindness in my heart but your questions tell me your reach has exceeded your grasp and you might be better served to head to the nearest Motorola shop for your install. Your blood pressure will thank you...

Thanks for the advice N5TWB, but after 3 hours I have installed the radio, antenna, and speaker. Its all up and working fine with crystal clear voice after doing a radio check with dispatch the radio is getting out just fine, thanks to all that helped.
 

jmatherly421

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Jun 15, 2011
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Bristol
I think that will be the one and only one ill be installing, but wasn't too bad kinda like installing a FM/CD radio. XTL 2500 went in my POV for responding to fire calls, have a XTS 2500 model 3 portable as well but we had extra mobile radios so decided to give my brain a twist and try this out. Thanks for the help the radio didn't come with a install manual but your directions did the trick!
 

Ikarskarn

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Nov 3, 2011
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Motarola XTL 2500

I would love to have some help with the wiring. Is there a way to hook up an emergency signal to the radio? I am wiring a 2011 Dodge Charger Pursuit and it has 12V output when the air bags deploy, I would love to hook that up to the radio so that dispatch will know if the officer gets into an accident where the air bags get deployed. If anyone can help me with extra wiring of the radio for things like that, it would be great! Thank you so much in advance.
 

steele_lpd

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Nov 3, 2006
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Location
Campton, NH
I would love to have some help with the wiring. Is there a way to hook up an emergency signal to the radio? I am wiring a 2011 Dodge Charger Pursuit and it has 12V output when the air bags deploy, I would love to hook that up to the radio so that dispatch will know if the officer gets into an accident where the air bags get deployed. If anyone can help me with extra wiring of the radio for things like that, it would be great! Thank you so much in advance.


I know with some of the older Motorola's you could put in a remote switch (say down by the officer's foot) that they could use to trigger the emergency feature... I'm not sure if the XTL's have that feature or not. Definitely worth looking into.
 

fineshot1

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Sep 17, 2004
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NJ USA (Republic of NJ)
I would love to have some help with the wiring. Is there a way to hook up an emergency signal to the radio? I am wiring a 2011 Dodge Charger Pursuit and it has 12V output when the air bags deploy, I would love to hook that up to the radio so that dispatch will know if the officer gets into an accident where the air bags get deployed. If anyone can help me with extra wiring of the radio for things like that, it would be great! Thank you so much in advance.

Here is the rear accessory connector part number and pinout.

Looks like pin 15 may be your only choice but it only puts out
the standard motorola alarm which can mean anything and I am
not sure exactly what voltage level is the trigger threshold. It is
possible you may need to do a voltage level conversion but I do
not have enough info to confirm that. Perhaps someone else
can help with that. Good luck...

The XTL mobile rear accessory connector:

1 Ground
2 Bus + part of SB9600 bus
3 Bus - part of SB9600 bus
4 DCE_TXD RS432 transmitt data
5 DCE_RXD RS432 receive data
6 USB- data
7 USB+ data
8 Reset part of SB9600 bus
9 Busy part of SB9600 bus
10 DCE_RTS RS432 request to send
11 DCE_CTS RS432 clear to send
12 USB PWR 5 volts aoolied by USB host
13 CHAN ACT channel activity
14 Ground
15 EMERGENCY must be connected to ground to disable
16 AUX_PTT
17 ONE WIRE used for smart accessory cables
18 VIP OUT 1
19 VIP OUT 2
20 SPKR+ (do not ground)
21 RX FLT AUDIO fixed RX audio (squelched) 100 mv per 1KHz deviation
22 MONITOR used to detect when mic is off hook
23 AUX MIC
24 SW B+
25 Ignition
26 SPKR- (do not ground)

XTL Accessory Connector Part Number = HLN6863A for the 26 pin plug.

3980034F01 for the extra pins.
 

Bote

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XTL2500 control head power

First of all - tell us if this XTL2500 is a chasis mount or remote head mount.
That makes a difference.

If the radio is a remote mount (radio head and boby seperate).
Control head wires:
Red goes to +12V hot all the time.
Yellow goes to +12V ignition controlled
Black to vehicle ground.
Control Head cable is routed to radio chasis(J300L blue plug)

Ho boy. I had an XTL2500 sent to me to test it for use in a remote control application, but all I got was the radio, control head, and control cable. No accessory cables.

Do I understand that I can't power up the XTL without the accessory plug for the control head? I have no way to apply +12 Volts to the control head otherwise.

Thanks!
 

jim202

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Mar 7, 2002
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New Orleans region
Ho boy. I had an XTL2500 sent to me to test it for use in a remote control application, but all I got was the radio, control head, and control cable. No accessory cables.

Do I understand that I can't power up the XTL without the accessory plug for the control head? I have no way to apply +12 Volts to the control head otherwise.

Thanks!

Yup, your going to need the accessory plug cable that goes into the back of the control head. They need to send you that cable. The part number is HKN6188B the last time I bought some.
 

jim202

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Mar 7, 2002
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Location
New Orleans region
Thanks for the advice N5TWB, but after 3 hours I have installed the radio, antenna, and speaker. Its all up and working fine with crystal clear voice after doing a radio check with dispatch the radio is getting out just fine, thanks to all that helped.

if you hook a siren up to the Motorola speaker wires, make sure that it doesn't ground either wire. You will blow the audio output stage in the radio if you do. You might need an isolation transformer if the siren input requires to have one side grounded.
 
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