Hey Y’all,
My Midland MXT275 arrived today, and I’m trying to figure out the best way to wire it.
The plug it comes with is for the cigarette lighter and has an in-line fuse.
I don’t want to use the GX’s cigarette lighter. It’s already used for my phone’s mount (powered mount that auto-locks onto the phone and provides wireless charging).
I’d like to mount the radio in the glovebox, and have the wiring from the radio to the handheld unit figured out. Where I’m struggling is getting power to the radio. I’d like to have the radio always-on so it can be used when the car is off.
My tentative plan is to install an always-on 12v cigarette lighter port in the glovebox. That way I can simply unplug the radio from the lighter outlet when not in use, and not worry about draining the battery (but retain the ability to plug back in and use while the car is off).
Question 1: Is there a better way to provide always-on power to the unit while not having to worry about draining the battery? I worry that wiring directly to the battery would risk draining the battery.
Question 2: I already have HID lights with power cables wired directly to the battery terminal. For the always-on cigarette lighter, that would also need to run directly to the battery. This seems amateur and sloppy to have so many cables directly to the battery. Is there where an accessory fuse box like something from blue sea comes into play? Is it as simple as wiring that fuse box to the battery, then HID and always-on cigarette lighter to the fuse box?
Question 3: is there a better approach than the above? Should I just leverage the existing fuse box?
Appreciate any feedback here. Electrical is not my forte, but I want to do this once the right way.
My Midland MXT275 arrived today, and I’m trying to figure out the best way to wire it.
The plug it comes with is for the cigarette lighter and has an in-line fuse.
I don’t want to use the GX’s cigarette lighter. It’s already used for my phone’s mount (powered mount that auto-locks onto the phone and provides wireless charging).
I’d like to mount the radio in the glovebox, and have the wiring from the radio to the handheld unit figured out. Where I’m struggling is getting power to the radio. I’d like to have the radio always-on so it can be used when the car is off.
My tentative plan is to install an always-on 12v cigarette lighter port in the glovebox. That way I can simply unplug the radio from the lighter outlet when not in use, and not worry about draining the battery (but retain the ability to plug back in and use while the car is off).
Question 1: Is there a better way to provide always-on power to the unit while not having to worry about draining the battery? I worry that wiring directly to the battery would risk draining the battery.
Question 2: I already have HID lights with power cables wired directly to the battery terminal. For the always-on cigarette lighter, that would also need to run directly to the battery. This seems amateur and sloppy to have so many cables directly to the battery. Is there where an accessory fuse box like something from blue sea comes into play? Is it as simple as wiring that fuse box to the battery, then HID and always-on cigarette lighter to the fuse box?
Question 3: is there a better approach than the above? Should I just leverage the existing fuse box?
Appreciate any feedback here. Electrical is not my forte, but I want to do this once the right way.