[GCARC] 20212 Grand Cherokee Radio Install

[John Zaruba Jr]

Hi Daniel,

One other thing to check. Newer Jeeps (I had a 2020 Compass) have an auto start-stop for the engine. I had a problem with my Yaesu radio install in that when the engine re-started the bus voltage would drop to 11 VDC and the radio would power off.

I put a LiFePO4 battery and a DC-DC charger in (the one from PowerWerx is a bit pricey but RF quiet) and let the battery charge from a 12v power point. PowerWerx DC-DC has a switch selectable current limiter so the power point fuse doesn't pop.  

I use a similar set up in my F-150 but installed a bigger battery (25 aH) since I’m running both a VHF/UHF mobile and an HF rig. This arrangement also allows me to the run the radios for a while with the engine off and not worry about draining the starting battery when I play POTA in the pine barrens.

73,

John K2ZA