Yaesu FT8800R/FT8900R and BCD996T

[scannerowner]

I'm looking how to wire a Yaesu radio in my 2005 Ford Freestyle and can't seem to get a direct route to the battery. I have noticed that there's a fuse box under the dash, but not sure if that would work?! I can't remember also, if I want to wire my BCD996T, where the orange wire goes. Is it mandatory to use??

Any help would be appreciated!

[scannerowner]

On a side note, I found a grommet, but it's very hard to get into, so not sure what to do about getting wires through it.

[Rt169Radio]

Originally Posted by scannerowner

On a side note, I found a grommet, but it's very hard to get into, so not sure what to do about getting wires through it.

I have heard of people using a wire hanger to get the wires through.

[scannerowner]

Originally Posted by Rt169Radio

I have heard of people using a wire hanger to get the wires through.

I thought about doing that. Just to make room in the grommet and use it as a guide wire til I get to the battery.

The grommet I found is kinda hollow on one end, but the other end seems to clamp down on the hood release cable. I worry I'm going to puncture a large hole through it, and mess up the hood release cable. I need approximately 1/4" to 1/2" of space to wire the wires through it and the coax for the antenna.

It seems is should be fairly waterproof without the grommet, but that's just me...

[trsundstrom]

Wirelessly posted (Moto Droid Bionic: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10_6_3; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.16 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0 Safari/533.16)

FWIW I found an empty 20 or 30 amp fuse connection in my 2006 Ford Escape's dash area. It runs my FT-8800R at 50w without any difficulty whatsoever. I looked for a pass through on the firewall. Impossible for me anyway, and I took the easy way out. HTH.

[trsundstrom]

Wirelessly posted (Moto Droid Bionic: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10_6_3; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.16 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0 Safari/533.16)

FWIW I found an empty 20 or 30 amp fuse connection in my 2006 Ford Escape's dash area. It runs my FT-8800R at 50w without any difficulty whatsoever. I looked for a pass through on the firewall. Impossible for me anyway, and I took the easy way out. HTH.

[trsundstrom]

Wirelessly posted (Moto Droid Bionic: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10_6_3; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.16 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0 Safari/533.16)

FWIW I found an empty 20 or 30 amp fuse connection in my 2006 Ford Escape's dash area. It runs my FT-8800R at 50w without any difficulty whatsoever. I looked for a pass through on the firewall. Impossible for me anyway, and I took the easy way out. HTH.

[scannerowner]

I wondered about that, but everyone tells me not to do that. Is there any reason, why not to?

[scannerowner]

To let others know, I found a spot in the door that led to the battery compartment, so I should be good!

[W8RMH]

Originally Posted by scannerowner

I can't remember also, if I want to wire my BCD996T, where the orange wire goes. Is it mandatory to use??

The orange wire supplies power to the scanner's lighting.

[Tweekerbob]

Originally Posted by W8RMH

The orange wire supplies power to the scanner's lighting.

The orange wiring controls the dimmer function. The scanner's lighting is powered from the main power source. Here's an excerpt from the manual:

"Connect the ORANGE lead to one side of the headlamp switch so that when
you activate the headlights, the scanners LCD backlight dimmer level changes
color and intensity. Be sure all the connections are routed away from any
potentially pinching or slicing sheet metal."

[scannerowner]

I plan to use plastic covering over the wires, to make sure there's not anything being pinched. The hole I come out of, comes out right by where the door hinges. I can route it around the door to the inside, but am worried it won't work well, but that's why I want to get the plastic covering. It doesn't look like it should pinch against anything that sticks out.

[W8RMH]

Originally Posted by Tweekerbob

The orange wiring controls the dimmer function. The scanner's lighting is powered from the main power source. Here's an excerpt from the manual:

"Connect the ORANGE lead to one side of the headlamp switch so that when
you activate the headlights, the scanners LCD backlight dimmer level changes
color and intensity. Be sure all the connections are routed away from any
potentially pinching or slicing sheet metal."

I remember it had something to do with the light/dimmer.

[scannerowner]

I found the metal side of the hood release cable grommet, now if I can figure out how to poke a hole in the grommet to get the wires through.

[scannerowner]

I changed my mind, I'm thinking about going with this to mount the remote heads. Amazon.com: RAM Mounting Systems RAP-105-6D224U 6" Flex Arm with Twist-Lock Suction Cup Base: GPS & Navigation

The only worry now will be airbag deployment, but this seems easier to conceal as necessary.

[davedaver1]

Originally Posted by scannerowner

To let others know, I found a spot in the door that led to the battery compartment, so I should be good!

Congrats on getting to the battery - it's best if you can manage it.

Make sure you fuse the cables at the battery! The fuse value will depend on the maximum current drawn by everything connected to the supply cable. The negative side also needs to be fused.

[scannerowner]

The radio comes with supplied fuses, and I have found a grommet, now I just hope I can go through it some how, some way! I need at least a 1/2" hole to be able to feed coax through the hole as well!

[davedaver1]

The fuses on the radio power cord protect the radio. Putting fuses at the battery protects against a short in your wiring. If I were you, I would run the supply cables from the battery to the passenger compartment to a junction box and then tie the radio's power cables there.

No matter how great a wiring job you do in terms of protecting the wire - you want to have the fuses there to protect in case the positive shorts to ground. There is good reason to fuse the negative side too, unless you use the battery's ground cable chassis anchor point instead of the battery terminal itself.

I have an 8 gauge cable pair from the battery with fuses right at the battery (the car stereo places have some good stuff you can use that they sell for the high power amps) and it runs to a project box under the dash inside. There is another fuse there that protects anything I have wired from the box, and each radio has its own in-line fuses too. You can't have enough fuses.

Here's a good resource: http://www.k0bg.com/wiring.html

[scannerowner]

Yeah that's what the guy I met with tonight said. I will be mounting everything to a cup holder mount, just hoping the weight is perfect!