High drive amp

I'm not up this stuff like I used to be but I'll try to help as best I can..

On the drive yes depending on the amp, some high drives can handle more drive than others..

I buy my stuff from William at Rolling Radios Richmond, VA area..
rollingradios@aol.com

I have an X-Force straight 4 pill I'm not using it was changed to Class B at time of build might sell it if the right offer comes my way..

Yes on the grounding, some trucks require more than others depending on how much power and what kind of truck you drive...I've run two different straight 4-pills in two different Peterbilt 379's the install was a breeze but like I said every truck is different some can be a simple plug and play others not so much..

Others will be along with more help like I said I'm not up on it like I used to be..

 

Groundpounder's advice is great.
The best info about drive levels required would, I believe, come from the amps' manufacturers if you're able to get ahold of them. Second choice would be from a place that sells *and* services them, because they'll want to make sure your product works correctly.
As for "grounding", if you mean "Should I make sure the case of the amp is grounded when I mount it?", then yes. Ideally mount it to a substantial piece of the vehicle's frame/chassis/cab that's made of metal, if possible. That will help make sure that the case gets a bit more heat sink area, and help keep any common mode RF currents that may arise on the outside of the coax are shunted to ground.
Many popular modern amps will *not* tolerate more than a couple of watts input without modification. That's the reason so many radios either come with, or get modified for, lower "dead key" output. The popular line of smaller RM Italy amps, for instance, can really only tolerate a drive level of less than 2 watts on AM. Their web site, www (daht) rmitaly (daht) com , has specs for each of their amps.
I believe your CB tech's info is likely to prove costly. It would seem you thought so, too, as you're asking for second opinions here -- good move
And I don't know how close you are to Phillipsburg, NJ. In case you are, I recommend you avoid a fellow there who calls himself "tomcat". He's a wealth of bad info, but manages to reel in passing truckers with promises of "rip your lips off" audio. Unfortunately, he doesn't really have either the understanding of what he's doing, or adequate bench gear to do it even if he did understand it.
Hope that helps,
-- Handlebar --

 

You could go with a higher powered radio instead of an amp also if 200 watts is all you want..

 

Sell whatever you have and then buy would be an option, I almost want to say Connex had radio out at one time that did a couple hundred watts just go direct to the battery with whatever gauge wire the radio maker suggests...

 

I wouldn't be that concerned about current draw on the alternator/battery. Most modern large truck alternators are spec'ed to supply the 40 or so amps a HP radio or amp would need, since it's an intermittent current draw. Look at it like an electric winch. It's not like a big 110V inverter that draws a lot of current all the time.

Unless you're one of those ratchet jaws that talk non-stop I wouldn't worry about it. I would be more concerned about the wiring install. Go straight to the battery with 8 AWG. High power is definitely not safe to use with a cig lighter adapter or the factory supplied radio connections.

With high power your SWR is critical. Get the best antenna you can and make sure it's tuned.

Good luck. It's only advice. Take it or leave it.

Ted

 

I have been thinking about another amp myself. Soemthing to put behind my connex 4600 turbo. I can turn the RF power down to less then 10 watts deadkey but it still swings to about 200 watts.

I know that I can run my old palomar 450 with my stealth Cobra from sparky and reach out a bit farther then my connex will but I would love to keep running the connex as it sounds a little better on the air.