Electrical question about my truck
 

Ok, I have a couple of related electrical questions.

I got my current truck last March. The previous owner had installed a CB radio in the truck and had run wires from the CB radio straight to the battery to power the radio. He had the wires taped to the connections on the battery. Thinking this could cause a drain on the battery, I disconnected the wires. I'd like to hook the CB radio back up, but I don't want to tape the wires to the battery. Is there a better way of doing this?

My power mirrors are toast and need replacing. I'd like to upgrade to the 98-01 style of power mirror. I know that the newer mirrors have 5 wires, and the style on my truck have 3. The extra 2 wires are for the heated mirror feature. I'd like to run 2 additional wires into the doors and connect them to a rocker switch, allowing me to have heated mirrors.

So the big question is, how do I accomplish this? Is it best to tap into an existing circuit on the truck to power the CB radio and heated mirrors, or is it best to add a new circuit? Do I need to add a relay to the truck (in the relay box)? Tap into the fuse box? I'm no electrician, but I'll get it done with a little direction. I'd like to add these new features the right way and not tape the wires to the battery. Thanks for any help!

I have no idea on the mirrors but on the CB I would, for convenience, tap into the existing radio accessory 12 volt. Or if I could find/trace (using test light and/or wiring diagram) a 12 volt accessory wire coming off ignition switch I would use that. I would not add a relay initially but if i ran into any issues after installing CB radio then i would splice in a relay for it. Hooking it up directly to battery is ok but i would use an inline fuse, even then that would be constant 12 volts and you would have to turn CB on/off as needed otherwise you will drain the battery when not in vehicle if left on. Accessory/key 12volt is more convenient. Make sure all connections are crimped, soldered, and shrink tube wrapped.

Thanks Chevelle!

I think I'm going to try to tap into the power for the radio for the CB, from what I can find online, the Power Windows work off the same fuse (Fuse 12), I hope it's not too much on the fuse to add heated mirrors.

I would ad a separate fused link for the heated mirrors. To prevent you from frying the mirrors in case you forget to turn them off get a time-delay relay. You turn on the mirrors and they stay on for a predetermined time then automatically turn off. The mirrors would not go on again until the power switch for the heated mirrors was reset (turned off-then back on). Look at a relay like this http://www.wolstentech.com/products/...elay/tdr-t.php

Don't tap into another circuit that is already fused. You will put extra load on it and will be blowing fuses. You can run the power wires like it was just make a good connection with the battery using these...
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/dodgefo...40a0cf601d.jpg

Just take the nut off the terminal and put it on. As for the mirrors i would look at the factory wiring diagram and see if you can get any of the parts needed to add this at a junk yard. I know some of the wiring harness are different so you may need to run a new wires to power them.

FYI on the heated mirror switch. The factory switch is not on/off. It's push once and they disengage on their own. The term escapes me, but think of it like a timer, yet no actual timer.

Correct. On my '01 it runs the mirror heating element about 5-10 minutes before automatically shutting off.

Ok, so I think I might have a plan. I'm going to try this on the CB radio first. I went to Autozone and they sell an Add-A-Fuse kit. I plan on using it to power the CB radio. If that works well, then I'll try the heated mirrors with a similar set up, but with a 10 minute Time Out Relay. I'll keep you all posted.

Ok, so I added the circuit for the CB Radio using the Add-A-Fuse kit and it works great.

I just ordered my Time-Delay Relay for the heated mirrors. The Relay I ordered should cut power to the heating elements after a preset amount of time; this will allow me to turn it on via a rocker switch, and then they turn off automatically after the timer has run.