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Silly Question

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JohnnyFingers

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I know this is a silly question but I wanted to ask anyway. I got my hands on a ATX PSU that I was going to use to power my mobile CB Radio in the house. My question is, is 11.58 volts enough to run my cb radio? That's all the voltage it will put out. Thanks again guys.
 

JohnnyFingers

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Right now I have it on a car battery. Fully charged its 12 volts but after a few weeks it goes below 12 volts and I charge it up again. That's why I was wondering if a constant 11.58 volts would be a good thing or not. Thank you hill.
 

ten13

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When you put a voltage meter on a car battery when the car is running, that meter should show a constant 13.x volts. Anything lower than that (when the car is running) could be a defective battery (among other things).

With that said, your radio will probably not perform properly at the lower voltage, even on a power supply.
 

FPR1981

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CB radio is designed to operate best at 13.8 volts. I use a 30-amp, adjustable-voltage power supply that costs $23 on Amazon. You have to wire on your own power cable. I just cut the end off of a computer power cable and attach the hot, neutral and ground. Then you have three power taps.

You adjust the voltage with a multimeter and a screwdriver. Mine is set right at 13.9 volts. I have run multiple linear amplifiers and radios with this supply and have purchased five of them and handed them out to friends.

 

WB9YBM

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I've noticed when the vehicle voltage drops (more noticeable on older cars--seems like modern cars have a better regulation) like when standing at a red light with everything on (lights, fan on at full power, windshield wipers, etc.) with the engine RPM being dragged down by having the transmission in "D" the CB will definitely transmit at reduced output power.

A car electrical system is designed to operate optimally at 13.8V + 10% so anything hooked up to it (like a CB) is designed for that range so if you wanted max output of your CB (without doing any peaking inside the radio itself) would be to operate at 15.18V (MAX!!!) although I'm not sure how good it is to push something to the max long term...I guess it depends on how much safety the manufacturer designed into the radio...
 

FPR1981

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You have to set it. There is a little variable resistor that an eyeglass flathead will turn. You place your multimeter with the red probe on a positive lead and the black on a ground, on DC voltage setting. Turn the variable resistor until you reach the desired voltage.
 
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