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admin
| | Posted on Friday, November 30, 2001 - 10:25 pm: | 
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Did you hook your CB up backwards ?
I am sure in the past you have hooked up at least one of your CB radio's backwards (red to black and black to red) and you had a little smoke come out of the top of the radio . Not only is it frustrating but then you have to take it to the local CB shop and have it repaired . Plus then after the repair you have to spend about 35 bucks to get the radio out of the shop . There are ways to get around this problem if you are one of those color blind people and that is to ALWAYS use a 3 or 4 amp fuse in the fuseholder (on typical radios) . Larger fuses only are applicable to high power radios that put out more power than the typical radios .
The reason that the radio does not work after you hook it up backwards is because there is a "polarity safety diode" in the radio that whenever power is hooked up backwards the diode shorts out and when you try to hook the radio back up it continuously blows the fuse . You can fix your own radio in less than 5 minutes and it will only cost you about 25 cents . First of all you will need two things . One is a cheap soldering iron (Copper has them) and the other is a diode . The diode needed is a "1N4003" diode which can be purchased at any electronic parts store . Generally they come in packs of three for about 99 cents . A diode (in simplified form) is a device that lets current flow one way . The diode we are talking about is black and has a white band on one end . The first thing to do is remove the covers on your CB and look for the diode . ALL CB radios have a diode in them and in most cases is within one inch from the power connector . If you look near your power connector you will see it , it is mounted either flush with the circuit board or may stick up in the air a little bit . One thing to remember ....it is usually the ONLY diode that's close to the power connector . After you find it simply remove it using your soldering iron . Install the new one making sure it goes in the EXACT SAME WAY you removed the bad one . Diodes only can be put in ONE way so remember which way the white band was pointed before installing the new one . Once the new diode is installed , replace the covers and the fuse and that's it. |
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