Ignition Sense - APX8500

[treydawgmt]

Hello all,

I took over radios a couple of years ago and wasn't involved in a lot of planning/implementation of our current rigs at my fire department. Our battalion chief mobile radios (APX 8500's) are currently tied to the ignition - only turn on when you turn the rig on. I'm guessing this is ignition sense, but I've heard conflicting reports on if this is a hardwired thing, or if it is due to programming in the CPS software. The goal is to have the main radio on all the time - not tied to ignition. Can I fix this in a setting in CPS? Or do we need to get someone to move a wire to a different location? Or remove a wire?

Thanks!

 

[mmckenna]

Yeah, so there are two ways to do that:
1. Wire the main power for the radio and head through a relay that is either directly ignition controlled, or involves a timer.
2. Use the radios ignition sense lead wired directly to ignition or through a timer (Lind Timer, etc).

You'd need to look at the radio/control head wiring to see how it is set up. Usually the ignition sense circuit for the radio is a small red wire coming off the back of the head/rf deck, separate from the main power feed. If it has that, you'll need to trace it out and see where it goes.

Or, go into CPS and see if the ignition sense setting is programmed. If it is then you can just disable it and let the BC drain his own vehicle battery and complain later. It usually takes the fleet services guys replacing a few batteries before they think to come looking for the radio guy.

 

[ramal121]

1 Down and dirty move the ignition sense wire to a non-switched circuit.
or
2 Set Ignition Switch to Blank in CPS.
or
3 My compromise, use Ignition Auto Power Off available in CPS. When the radio is turned on by ignition it will stay on for the programmed amount of time after loss of ignition. Set it high and the chief may like this. 8 hours of use is better than leaving it on for a 3 day weekend.

 

[Echo4Thirty]

Yeah, so there are two ways to do that:
1. Wire the main power for the radio and head through a relay that is either directly ignition controlled, or involves a timer.
2. Use the radios ignition sense lead wired directly to ignition or through a timer (Lind Timer, etc).

You'd need to look at the radio/control head wiring to see how it is set up. Usually the ignition sense circuit for the radio is a small red wire coming off the back of the head/rf deck, separate from the main power feed. If it has that, you'll need to trace it out and see where it goes.

Or, go into CPS and see if the ignition sense setting is programmed. If it is then you can just disable it and let the BC drain his own vehicle battery and complain later. It usually takes the fleet services guys replacing a few batteries before they think to come looking for the radio guy.

If its a dash mount the igition is the small red wire coming off the D shaped accessory connector, if its a remote, the ignition is the yellow wire coming of the round connector on the head along with speaker. As per Motorola's install practices, nothing should be on the rear accessory connector on the brick. Yay consistency.

Also there is some programming involved to tell the radio what you want it to do when it senses B+ on the igniton line and the behavior of the power button as well.

 

[N4KVE]

Or, go into CPS and see if the ignition sense setting is programmed. If it is then you can just disable it and let the BC drain his own vehicle battery and complain later. It usually takes the fleet services guys replacing a few batteries before they think to come looking for the radio guy.

This right here. Don’t play with any wiring because it’ll have to go back after multiple dead batteries. Easier to do the CPS.

 

[mmckenna]

If its a dash mount the igition is the small red wire coming off the D shaped accessory connector, if its a remote, the ignition is the yellow wire coming of the round connector on the head along with speaker. As per Motorola's install practices, nothing should be on the rear accessory connector on the brick. Yay consistency.

Also there is some programming involved to tell the radio what you want it to do when it senses B+ on the igniton line and the behavior of the power button as well.

Thanks for the clarification, it's been a while since I installed Motorola's.

 

[ramal121]

This right here. Don’t play with any wiring because it’ll have to go back after multiple dead batteries. Easier to do the CPS.

Moving the ignition sense wire is no problem whether it is a dash or remote mount. You just have to press the button to turn it off and all is fine. What you don't want to do is in a remote mount is switch the small red wire and leave the yellow hot or in a dash mount switch the main A+ red wire and leave the small red wire hot.

 

[JustinWHT]

1 Down and dirty move the ignition sense wire to a non-switched circuit.

My Motorola TLD-1000 IMTS mobile phone had a vacuum tube in the final. I would forget to turn it off with the control head key. I wired in a simple 555 timer to time out after several hours.

 

[davidgcet]

do the BC rigs have a battery disconnect switch like the engines? if so main power MUST be connected on the battery side of the battery disconnect switch. in my area BC rigs are roughly 50/50 on having one, just depends on the department.

the BEST bet is to call the radio shop and tell them you want these rigs hot all the time. it can be a combination of programming and physical wiring changes needed.

 

[hitechRadio]

Just FYI,
In either remote mount or dash mount, just be sure the main deck power (Big RED/Black) is always connected to unswitched battery.
Never switch the deck main power if on a trunked system or if not using infinite key retention.
On a vehicle that has main power disconnect, radio main power needs to be wired to the battery line side of the disconnect.

We install a console heavy duty toggle switch in the BC vehicles. This way we do not have to depend on timers that have failed us and as usual at the worst time. And it gives the user the option. We also program the radio in CPS for soft power.

There are pros and cons to switch vs. timer, we just prefer switch, and well its cheaper.

 

[ramal121]

Just FYI,
In either remote mount or dash mount, just be sure the main deck power (Big RED/Black) is always connected to unswitched battery.
Never switch the deck main power if on a trunked system or if not using infinite key retention.
On a vehicle that has main power disconnect, radio main power needs to be wired to the battery line side of the disconnect.

I agree 100% but the install manual says you can switch all power leads at once. No mention of a caution for keys or de-registration. I would also think there would be a little housekeeping regardless prior to full power off. Now you don't power off a computer by yanking the cord out of the wall, why would you do this in a modern radio?