My 2002 Silverado 1500

[351stGoff]

Spent a lot of time tweaking things, figured it was time to share. Some notes:

In the pic with the fuse busses, the buss blocks are located underneath my cup holders. Wired straight from the battery to the busses where everything is fused on both positive and negative sides.

In the picture of my exterior, the antennas: On the roof front 900Mhz, roof rear 2 meter/70cm, on the side is another dual band 2m/70cm, and that cheap piece of crap stub attached to my rear window is my ghetto stick currently being used as a scanner antenna (really need/want to replace it). Signal is junk.

I built the center console myself since I needed custom stuff. I removed the original center console pieces that held the cassette deck (cassette? seriously?) and the space for storing CD jewel cases. No need for either, much better suited to house radios. You know why GM went bankrupt? OEM doesn't include scanners and ham radio equipment... duh. Please enjoy the pictures.

Comments welcome, questions also welcome.

 

[351stGoff]

Ran out of pic space. 3 more:

 

[jim202]

Just a simple question. What caused you to place fuses in the negative side of the power feed?

I know there has been a number of discussions on this subject. The comments seem to be
based on where you come from. Owners of the jap-track radios or the commercial two way
radio service field. I am not looking to start up another silly thread on the subject, but am
just curious on your stand as you have 2 Motorola Spectra radios installed.

Jim

 

[rocksteady]

Very nice install...

 

[351stGoff]

To be completely honest Jim, the answer to that is "better safe than sorry". The cost of a fuse buss and fuses is considerably cheaper than new radio's/equipment should the unforseeable occur. I've always heard that under certain circumstances the possibility exists where a short or surge can travel back through ground. Between everything installed in my vehicle, there's a lot of really expensive stuff that could be destroyed by one problem. I have about $2,000 worth of stuff in there which is:

2 moto spectras
Yaesu FT-7800R
Pro 2055
Strobe light system for headlight/tail light
Wig-wag box for high beams
Traffic backer unit for tail light/reverse lights
Siren unit
Arrow Stick
Spotlight

All of that equipment is running through busses on positive and negative. Too many things to go wrong. BTW, no I'm not just a whacker, I'm in Emergency Services. Just throwing that out there to save me the trouble later.

 

[texasemt13]

Nice install. Tidy and very well planned out.

 

[kirka127]

nicely done install. Looks good.

 

[rhicks6000]

Nice install

 

[nytechservices]

Nice install. Did you have to notch the door for the spotlight?

 

[1150RT-P]

Great setup! That console is very clean - almost OEM looking.

 

[tekshogun]

First off, I want to say, as others already have, very nice and clean install. Well done there.

To be completely honest Jim, the answer to that is "better safe than sorry". The cost of a fuse buss and fuses is considerably cheaper than new radio's/equipment should the unforseeable occur. I've always heard that under certain circumstances the possibility exists where a short or surge can travel back through ground. Between everything installed in my vehicle, there's a lot of really expensive stuff that could be destroyed by one problem. I have about $2,000 worth of stuff in there which is:

2 moto spectras
Yaesu FT-7800R

I have to agree on the fusing of the ground. When I first go into ham radio, my FT7800R (my first radio) came with a power cable that was fused on both the power wire and the ground wire. I have since learned that electrical issues in your car, such as shorts or some kind of back feed on the chasis/ground can fry quite a bit of stuff. So if you want to protect your $2000+ worth of equipment, then like you said, better safe than sorry. The truth of the matter is, depending on your setup, it may or may not be necessary. I'll keep the fuses, you also never know when you'll screw up yourself and cause a fault that could fry the equipment over the ground wire.

Also, could you tell me a little more about your Spectras? UHF/VHF, power, do you have your EmergServ/Public Safety stuff programmed into it as well as amateur radio? Have the "time bomb" capacitors been replaced?

Thanks.

 

[canav844]

I built the center console myself since I needed custom stuff.

Props to you it turned out great, and I for one love seeing people make equal to or better than off the shelf products that match their vehicle and needs perfectly. All in all a very clean install.

I may have missed it but how's the volume on that scanner and dual band? Is there a ext. speakers hidden in all this as well?

 

[n8emr]

Nice look, Have any more console up close photo's or console build photos?

 

[digitalanalog]

Very nice install, Congrats......

 

[DELCOLHFC]

Very nice install 351, excellent work on the console contruction, it looks great! I agree with the fusing on both leads but have you given any thought to also fusing at the battery connections? It's a common thing for folks to overlook but it is a serious exposure that should be protected. If that heavy pos cable from the batt to the fuse buss gets grounded out it will generate a whole lotta heat and you may loose more than the cost of the radios........Maybe you already have done this and didn't mention it, otherwise an outstanding install.

 

[351stGoff]

Nice install. Did you have to notch the door for the spotlight?

Yes I did, but very little. Only about 5/8th inch.

Also, could you tell me a little more about your Spectras? UHF/VHF, power, do you have your EmergServ/Public Safety stuff programmed into it as well as amateur radio? Have the "time bomb" capacitors been replaced?

Spectra on the bottom is VHF, almost all 2 meter ham. It does have one public safety frequency that is used as fire/paging. Spectra on the top is 900MHz ham only. All capacitors have been replaced. I have 4 more spectras in the garage, all caps on those have been replaced as well. Great radios, solid as rock.

I may have missed it but how's the volume on that scanner and dual band? Is there a ext. speakers hidden in all this as well?

External speakers are connected to everything. They are mounted on a speaker rack in the back of the cab that hangs down from the headliner on the back window. I'm really not satisfied with the speaker setup, it works for now until I come up with something better. I'll get a picture for you. The scanner however, is not connected to an ext. speaker right now. Volume is very low. I used to have it connected to a radio shack amplified speaker that worked well, until the speaker turned to junk. Then I hooked it up to an amplified motorola motorcycle speaker, after blowing out my ear drums, the alternator whine gave me a headache. So still on the drawing board with that one.

Nice look, Have any more console up close photo's or console build photos?

Build photos no, close ups, I will take some for you and post.

have you given any thought to also fusing at the battery connections?

They are fused by a main 40amp at the battery yes.

 

[red8]

That's a very clean setup, I like it
red8

 

[jparks29]

Just a simple question. What caused you to place fuses in the negative side of the power feed?

There's a very simple answer, actually.

Fuses are there ICSH..

In a situation where a body ground is bad, or there are electrical problems, you run a real risk of the ground wire for the radio attempting to use the body of the radio, which is usually also grounded, as a ground.

So, imagine you've lost this body ground, but you have a ground wire going from the battery to the radio. The starter, not having a proper ground, is going to try and find an adequate ground.... through your 8ga wire and the body of the radio.. Wanna guess what 300A does to a radio and 8ga wire? If it's fused, nada. If not.. You'll probably be calling the FD.


So, do you buy a 3$ fuse holder, or let a 20k$ truck go up in flames?

A little dramatic, but I've seen it happen.... Actually, recently.... A member in MD had his van go up in flames from a ^$&tty no fuse install....

 

[ScanManQSL]

That setup is awesome, thanks for the pics!!

 

[j86u]

Now that is nice!