I have a prob. I wnt to hook up my cb but in my truck I'm not sure which wire is pos and which is neg. One wire is green and one is white. I know I can use a multimeter but I.m not sure exactly how to do that. Also the end of the coax that hooks to the antenna is that safe to be out in the rain and weather? Plz let me know some info here. I'm clueless when it comes to electronics. Thanks in advance
Safe to be out in the weather. yes and no. Yes it will be fine out there for about a year. then corrosion sets in and starts to ruin the wire. Any good multi-meter should come with instructions on that model. http://www.ehow.com/how_4537477_use-a-multimeter.html
Wrap the coax and connector up to the base of the antenna with a good electrical tape and then coat it with 3m's liquid tape. It will provide a water tight seal for many years, even in harsh climate.
Is the wire the same color at both ends, or are you just looking at one end of the wires? If you are looking at only one end of the wires, intentionally touch the bare end of each to a good metalic ground. The POS wire will spark when it is touched to ground, the NEG won't. I am assuming you are using a 12 volt NEG ground system here, this is the most common type. You may blow a fuse when you do this...so if you have a multimeter, it could save you some trouble replacing a fuse. Set the multimeter to VOLTS and use the scale that will show the biggest needle swing on 12-15v. Make a good connection between the black lead and a good metallic ground (you may need a jumper wire to get you there), then touch the red lead of the meter to each wire. If you have power to either of these wires, the needle will swing to the voltage, (or, if you are using digital meter, the display will indicate), 12-15v power. The wire that indicates the voltage is the POS, or "hot" wire, and the wire that does not indicate voltage is the NEG, or "ground" wire on a normal negative ground system. It is best to make sure that the wire is the right size for the current draw your radio has and the fuse is sized to the wire...NOT the radio amps. I would recommend running new wires even though those are there just so you know for certain that the wire is sized correctly and the wire is fused appropriately for the wire size. It sounds like someone has connected some wiring to old wiring that was probobly black and red, and the only way you can be sure it is all connected properly and sized and fused for your radio's amp draw is to phisically look at the whole wire to the power source. This is more trouble than just running new wiring most of the time. If you can find the other end of those wires, maybe connected to the battery directly or to the fuse panel, and they are the exact same wire color and size there, you are probobly ok to use them. In a 12 V DC NEG ground system the RED wire is the POS (+) side of the current, and the BLACK wire is the NEG (-) side. I hope this has helped, I didn't see any other posts on this part of your question here.
"I would recommend running new wires even though those are there just so you know for certain that the wire is sized correctly and the wire is fused appropriately for the wire size. It sounds like someone has connected some wiring to old wiring that was probobly black and red, and the only way you can be sure it is all connected properly and sized and fused for your radio's amp draw is to phisically look at the whole wire to the power source. This is more trouble than just running new wiring most of the time. If you can find the other end of those wires, maybe connected to the battery directly or to the fuse panel, and they are the exact same wire color and size there, you are probobly ok to use them. In a 12 V DC NEG ground system the RED wire is the POS (+) side of the current, and the BLACK wire is the NEG (-) side. " Is there an echo in here?
If it is a new prostar then green is + and white is - I just got a new prostar today and that is how it was wired factory
I just hooked up a CB, and I had one green and one white wire. The white wire was the ground and the green was the hot. I hooked them up the reverse the first time around, and the in-line fuse blew, so I knew I had the polarity figured out...I had a 50/50 chance of being right... So if you have an inline fuse, don't worry too much about polarity, as long as you have another 2 amp fuse available.
