Hey Guys,
I went to Vegas for the weekend (three hours away); sorry it took so long to get back to your questions. Here are the answers I think your looking for:
When I said “lag bolts”, I just meant ‘bolts’. Poor choice of words on my part. You can see from the picture below that I bolted through the console, then the ¼” shims (orange color) then through the floor-board and then used washers and two nuts. I also used red lock-tight on the threads. I forced black caulking into the bolt holes to seal everything up before tightening the nuts to help with road noise/heat/moisture. It was messy, but I felt it was necessary.
I did my homework and picked up my supplies from several places on the net and locally. Here is a list:
I used two different types of power distribution blocks. The first one distributed the large line from the batteries to each radios main power and also to the other three blocks which were smaller. The smaller blocks (which were switched) broke-out to the radios remote power leads and other, lower-amp accessories such as the map light, computer power, etc... So, following the flow of 12-volt power, the radios had breakers from the batteries, then were fused in the console. Some of the equipment was double-fused because of the two distribution block plan. The sources are:
For the breakers:
http://www.awdirect.com/high-amp-ci...fety-technologies-1310012/battery-protection/ But I have found that they are cheaper here:
http://www.wiringproducts.com/index1.html , Catalog number: CB-HCBP-50
For the larger distribution block:
http://www.newenglandsolar.com/catalog_pages/catalog59.htm It’s the ATC fuse block about half-way down the webpage; model number: 354-006
For the smaller distribution blocks:
http://www.wiringproducts.com/index1.html which is the same site as above. They are catalog number: AF-CFB8
I have to say that although I supplied the above information for what I did with regard to the power distribution of my truck, if I had to do it again I would probably use West Mountain Radio’s Rig Runner distribution systems, along with Anderson Power Poles. Look at this site:
http://www.westmountainradio.com/RIGrunner.htm
I use the bigger Rig Runners for the home set-up and love them.
Auxiliary batteries, heavy cable and copper connectors: “Powerstride Battery” in San Diego, ask for ‘Russ’ at: (619) 260-1211
As mentioned before, the console is: Troy Products
The PDRC mount and docking station is: Gamber Johnson
Most of the radios and NMO antenna mounts: Ebay or HRO
Antennas:
www.Tessco.com
and HRO
Did I leave anything out?
I do indeed have a siren/PA amp installed in the truck. It was an option with one of the radios and I did install it. I never use it, but it’s there. Maybe I’ll hook it up to the car-alarm. (LOL) The amp is installed behind the back seat next to the big radios. You can see it in the fourth picture on the first post. It’s the horizontal black box under the white box that has “Zap” written on it. The siren/PA speaker is not visible from the exterior… it’s behind the front bumper on the driver-side of the truck. For the record, the white “Zap” box is the wireless remote-control receiver for my hydraulic [towing] lift… I did not install it; someone else did.
The switchbox at the top of the radio console is not for siren control. It is a Motorola ‘wildcard’ switch and is connected to a custom-made relay matrix (not pictured) and used to power everything in/on the truck. I got the wildcard switch and relay matrix on Ebay… it’s awesome.
Listening to all the radios at once was easy. Most of the time at-least two of the radios were on fire dispatch talkgroups, while the others were scanning specific law talkgroups. I had nine radios and each radio had its own speaker somewhere in the cab of the truck. One nice thing about this set-up is that I usually have the radios on the same talkgroups/frequencies all the time and at the same audio-level. When a specific talkgroup/radio is active, I know who it is instantly because it always came from that same speaker. (You know what I mean?) If I had to do this installation again however, I would look into audio mixers and use less speakers. I like the sound of the standard large Motorola speaker, so all of the radios use those. I have three of them sort-of flush-mounted in the console, three more across the back window (see picture), one over each of the driver and passenger shoulder seat-belt loops and one on the passenger-side kick plate.
All of the pictures below were taken during installation.
~Chad