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Ideas for Power

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FHOP

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I have a 2006 Impala police package and would like to run the following 4 radios:
Icom IC-2820h (Remote Head)
Icom F-6061 (Remote Head)
Uniden BCD99XT
Uniden Bearcat 980 SSB

Constant on, not ignition switched or anything. As direct as it gets. The Icom's brains will be mounted in the trunk, where I would like the power to be located for the whole console. (Just the radios in the console, no lights or anything)

So my question is, where should I draw main power from and what kind of distribution block and gauge of cables to use, etc.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 

rescue161

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If this is a police package, then there should be two 12 volt taps in the trunk, on the passenger's side. They are under a grey plastic cover. There is a ground lug to the right of that. They are constant. Also, there should be a bundle of wires under the passenger side rubber mat. They are as follows:

Red with White stripe - 12V constant
Light Green - 12V switched
Dark Green - 12V switched
Light Blue - Trigger wire for Light Green 12V switched
Dark Blue - Trigger wire for Dark Green 12V switched
Pink - 12v switched (Hook this to both Blue wires to enable both Green wires to become switched)
Yellow - same as Pink, except it remains on until the door is opened
Yellow/Black - Park sense - Good for turning siren off. Car must be out of park for the siren to turn on.
Brown - Speed sense (We never use this)
Green with Red stripe - Trigger wire for wig-wags & Flash-Backs. Put 12V on this wire to flash the headlights and tail lights.
Black - Ground

Other Optional wires:
Grey
Green
Blue
Tan

All four of the optional wires run from the passenger's side to right behind the driver's side head light. These can be used for siren speaker and grille lights.
 
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rescue161

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Each of the Green wires is 30 Amps. The Red/White wire is 50 Amps. Each of the two 12V taps in the trunk are 50 Amps.

There is also a Black wire for ground in the floor bundle.
 

jackj

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Sure would have made my job of installing police/sheriff radios about 40 yrs ago a lot easier.
 

rescue161

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The wiring in the Impala is not bad. It's just that we still have to add a ton of wires for other things like camera/data recording systems, license plate readers, etc.
 

jackj

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The only stuff we installed were two 2-way radios, light bar with speaker, scanner (usually a Regency) and a cut-off switch for the tail lights/brake lights. Still took most of a day.
 

rescue161

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Here is a de-install that we just did. This was not done by us and the people who did the install must have been proud as they put a sticker on the driver's door with their company name. The wires that you see were just shoved under the rubber mat just like that. A rats nest if I ever saw one...
20140620_135504_zps190b00af.jpg


20140620_135449_zpsbee6401c.jpg
 

FHOP

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Thanks a bunch for the responses, guys. Especially the wiring map for the entire car rescue121. That impala uninstall does look like a mess!
So do you think I could run both Icoms in the trunk from the two 50 amp taps, and ground them both on the ground lug? And then run the two radios that are console-mounted from the bundle up in the passenger footwell off of the Red/White 50 amp lead on some sort of splitter, or maybe jsut splice them both onto it. Then both on the black ground as well?
 

rescue161

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Yep. That should work great for you. Or, you can wire them to the green wires so when you turn the car off, the radios turn off. If you're dead set on running them on constant power, then what you described will work just fine. Just make sure to put the red/white wire on a fuse block to feed your devices, then use an appropriate size fuse for each device (not to exceed 50 Amps total). For the rear, if there are only two radios, you can use the two taps and use inline fuses on each line.

Depending on where you got the car from, the wires may have been cut very short. On our de-installs, I always try to leave as much of the factory harness as I can.
 

rescue161

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We get ours through GSA Advantage (government), but I'm sure you can pick them up at your local automotive supply store. Heck, if you're just using two radios in front and two in the rear, I'd just stick with inline fuses. We use ATC inline fuse holders for single fuse installs.

The Impala police package has radio interference reduction, so no worries about engine whine getting into your radios.

On all other vehicles, we use a 90 Amp solenoid under the hood to feed switched power to a fuse block the cab of the vehicle. The solenoid is energized with switched power from the fuse block. When the key is turned on, the solenoid energizes and feeds power from the battery to the fuse block in the cab.

All vehicles get a Battery Brain as well, so if something is left on by accident, then the Battery Brain will pop. Then when the user goes to start the vehicle, they realize it won't start, then they press the reset button and the car will start.
 

FHOP

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Awesome! I'll just stick with inlines. And that's good to know about the radio interference reduction, I had wondered if I would get any electrical noise. You seem to know quite a bit about these impalas. Where is this Battery Brain located? Or the reset button, I should say in case I ever need to use it. It sounds like a built in Havis Charge Guard. Pretty cool feature.
 

rescue161

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If I were going to do this install, I'd put the two remote radios in the trunk and the other two in the front.

Use two 30A relays in the trunk and connect one lead of the relay contacts to one of the 12V constant power lugs and the other relay contacts to to the input power of the radios. One relay for each radio. Make sure to put a fuse between the relays and the power lugs. Then, run a ground wire from the coils of the relays and from each radio to the ground lug. Then, extend the pink wire to the rear of the vehicle and put it on the other side of the coils. This will energize the relays when you turn on the vehicle, therefore turning on each radio when the car is turned on and will also turn off the radios when you turn off the vehicle.

For the front, use the same pink trigger wire and feed it to the light and dark blue wires. Then put the dark green wire on one radio and the light green wire on the other. Then, once again, when you turn the car on/off, the radios will turn on/off. Of course, make sure you fuse the radios.
 

rescue161

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The Battery Brain is an add-on that we add to all GSA vehicles. It is not a factory option.

There are different versions of the Battery Brain. Some have a remote control key fob, some have a remote switch (that we install right on the console) and some just have a reset on the BB itself. It is located as close to the battery as possible. We put them right on the positive terminal.

I do this for a living, so it kind of sticks in my head...lol
 
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rescue161

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We were using mostly Jotto Desk consoles, but moved to Troy as they hold more. Getting a new TRS, so we're having to put two radios in each vehicle until the new TRS is completely online.
 

rescue161

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Also, run your wires down the passenger's side. To remove the rear seat, just pull on the two tabs under each seat, near where the rear passenger's legs would be. The bottom seat will pull right out. There are two 10mm nuts at the bottom of the rear back rest. Take those off and then pull out the bottom of the rear back rest and then lift up. Then slide it left or right to remove. The trim on the pass side just pops out. There are front, middle and rear door jamb trim peices that need to come out to reveal a channel to run your wires. You'll only be running the two control head wires and the pink wire extension, which is EASY.

Pop the trim back in and replace the seat after the wires have been run and the radios have been mounted. You can mount the radios up high on the bottom of the rear deck. You can use self tappers.

I like the Jotto Desk consoles as you can retain the factory cup holder. Plus you don't have to remove the seats like you do for the Troy consoles.

Anyway, have fun.
 

FHOP

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I am getting a troy console. With the floor plate that goes over the crush box. It has 18 inches of mounting space. Just perfect for what I need. I thought about a charge guard just in case. And yes, I had intended to mount the icom radios under the rear deck. That wouldnt be too hard.
 

rescue161

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You shouldn't have any trouble at all. Have fun and post some pictures when it's all finished.

Take care,
Scott
 
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