Designated power for communication systems?

Trying to come up with a comms plan, and would like to run a designated power source. Not sure where to start and i'm going blind going reading threads that have minimal detail. What do you do for power for comms?

 

For my radio, I have it going direct to battery; well, now that I have dual batteries I have it running off the secondary, but still direct to the battery. One of the few things I run without a relay (though it is fused), as I want the power to be as clean as possible. Of course downside is I have to manually power it on/off, but I only use it when on the trails or for a long road trip, so not a big deal for me.

 

Interested to hear how others have constant power with battery drain protection.

Since I still have 1 battery and its non AGM I'd be screwed if it goes below danger zone vs AGM can go down to low voltages and can be recharged and bring back to life right?

For now my power is coming from a wire tap behind the dash to the 12v outlet (cigarette lighter) powering the GMRS radio, satellite communicator, dash cam and additional USB charge port. I have also use flush type USB charger inside the 12v outlet to fast charge phones.

 

If you're not getting any static, hum, or other interference, I probably wouldn't worry about alternate power solutions. I've dealt with odd issues in the past, and going direct to battery ultimately solved it, so I have it etched in my brain that it's the way I want to always do it. Could be that my radio is more sensitive too, I'm running a 50 watt Yaesu 8900r, just for reference.

As for drain... prior to my dual battery setup, there was a handful of times that I forgot to turn the radio off and caught it in the morning; never had an issue where it needed a jump to start, but those were also just single nights; might be a different story if it went 2 or more. Now that I have the dual setup, shortly after I turn off my 4Runner, the ACR isolates the two batteries; so if I did leave it on, it of course would never impact my starting battery.

 

BlueSea 7615 - it can be programmed as a low voltage disconnect, or a timed disconnect. Run it online on the power to your comms.

I run a dual battery setup with a DCDC charger so they are never connected. Everything aftermarket it run off the second battery. I have the second battery, to low voltage disconnect, to the fuse/relay block for everything non-OEM. You can do the same setup just off the single battery.

 

No real need for a duel battery system... yet. I have seen some build power distribution set ups using everything from a Spod to a simple relay, but i have no idea where to start.

 

how do you do this? im looking at getting my GMRS set up soon and am going back and forth about where to mount it and how to power it.

 

Initially I just used the 12v outlet (as shown on my video).

Then I use one of this to tap the positive wire from 12v outlet behind the dash. Negative wire goes to an existing bolt connected to a metal part on the dash.


https://youtu.be/YDXOgqfC_Ws

 

Not a fan of taps. I would solder it, but that's how I roll.