I run a President McKinley CB radio with no problems. ( It makes some noise when I hit the brakes.). Question is can the car handle an additional 30 amp draw if I add a RM Italy KL 200P Amp? I use 8 ga wire straight to the 12v battery. I’m about to upgrade the 12 v battery to a VMAX MR107-85.
What are you running a flag car set up I don't think it'll be happy with the 30 amps maybe while going down the road and everything running Yes sitting in a parking lot probably not
Well it's a 46 amp hour battery so I'd probably give it a whirl I mean whatever is going to possibly pull this 30 amps I'm assuming has about a 10 gauge cable going to it maybe 8 That's pretty stout for a car but whatever it takes I'm running some two gauge this afternoon not anything to do with a car
I can't imagine a CB radio drawing 30 amps., unless you are running a linear amplifier. Nevertheless, some Prius owners have replaced the wimpy 12-volt battery with a regular size car battery to provide more 12-volt power. If you search for battery replacements for the Prius, you might get more information.
It's right there in his post, that's exactly what he's doing. @ANCHORMAN The DC/DC converter in the Prius can definitely keep up with a 30 amp load on the sort of occasional duty cycle a radio amp would see, so as long as the car is in READY mode you're set. If you want to operate while parked with the car shut down, I would strongly suggest getting a fresh 12v battery at a minimum, and would also suggest you look into using a generic portable battery carried as cargo in the car.
This is a good discussion and I need to work on mine. I have a President Richard and I want to install a K-40 or a Wilson 500 magnamount antenna. Does anyone have experience and this wont twist, warp or bend the roof surface of the prius since its so thin? My other question is, I want to make sure that the stock radio will not interfere with the cars computer performance. My radio has a 50 watt output for its a 10 meter. My input in the OP's post, if you want to run "power", I'd parallel another extension battery to be sure like a cheap battery you can buy at walmart and I'd put a switch cut off in between.. When youre using "power." ans work you way from there. Along the way if you feel that the cars charging system can support it, just leave the switch on. PS with yours, you shouldn't be eating more than 12 amps on hi mode. low is 5 to 6. Long ago I use to run "power" at my base station and I was only using a regular car battery and a 10 amp charger. It works. The reality is you cannot run your "power" that long due to the heat. A fully charged stand alone battery is enough to sustain and keep it running for a good 35 minutes without charging. But not the prius battery since its extra small.
