Galaxy DX93t power cable

[HOUNDOG]

So, I'm getting back into radios after about 8 years or so. I'd like to get my Galaxy into my pickup and I need to make the power cable longer to get to the battery. I stripped off the end of the cable and the stranded wire is silver colored. I would assume it is tinned copper but I don't want to solder anything if there's a chance it might be aluminum. Can anyone confirm the material Galaxy uses for their 10m radio power cables?

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[MDYoungblood]

Hello HOUNDDOG,
Welcome back, long time no see. I doubt it's aluminum because it is stranded, most likely tinned copper (a cheap version of copper),if you don't want to solder the connections crimping will be fine, I like to do both. For that radio it should be at least a 10 gauge wire and requires a 15 amp fuse. I think the 93T and the 95T were two of the best radios in the Galaxy lineup.

3's

Greg

[HOUNDOG]

Thanks Youngblood. It's been a while. Good to be back! I suppose I'll end up just crimping it but that really goes against my OCD tendencies. The cable actually came with 30a fuses in line back when I bought it from Mike years ago. Definitely a great radio. I pulled it out of the box and 3 of the digits were burnt out on the freq counter. A guy I work with fixed that for me and now she's just waiting for my lazy rear to get it back in the truck. Thanks for reply.!

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[MDYoungblood]

One of Mike's radios,, cool.

3's

Greg

[Scipio Kid]

If you crimp right, it's as good or better than soldering. The key is to use professional crimp fittings and tools, not the junk they sell at the hardware stores.

I've never seen any good radio with aluminum wire (or even a cheap radio for that matter). Undersized? Yeah you see that all the time. I've seen guys spend a bundle on a hopped up radio or a high powered amp and then use #20 speaker wire to run power to it and then wonder what's smokin' when they key up. I once saw a guy run a tiny speaker wire from his battery to his starter and wonder why his car wouldn't start! A lot of people just don't understand electricity. it's like these guys who run a main sprinkler line 100 feet and use 1/2" pipe to save a couple bucks and then wonder why they don't have any pressure at the sprinklers. Just a little understanding of volume vs. pressure or voltage vs. amperage is all you need.

You also see kids spend a bundle on huge wire for their car stereo speakers, sometimes as big as a #6! when all they need, even for a "loud"system is a #14. Sheesh, you can run a 1 hp air compressor on #14 and you could run a 15 horse on #6. . Of course, running over sized wire to a radio won't hurt anything. It's just more expensive and harder to run. But if you're pulling 10 amps at 13.5 volts, yeah a good #10 stranded copper would do you fine. The National Electrical Code rates #10 copper at 40-55 amps max (constant load), depending on the insulation's heat rating.

I was testing a Galaxy DX 48T and it had 10' of #8 spliced onto the #12 factory leads with a 40 amp inline fuse on the positive. I thought it was overkill until I keyed up and said "Test...". Just that one syllable blew the 30 amp breaker on my power supply. I had to run it on an 80 amp supply to keep it on-line. (Whether you like Galaxys or not, that unit really put out!) The big wire and the big fuse weren't overkill at all for that rig.

Most of your factory U.S. market CB radios (Cobra to Connex) come with #16 leads and that's fine for a stock radio pushing stock wattage. The only reason to use larger wire is if you're running higher wattage, or a longer than average distance to your power source. I always use #12 (which is overkill) to run directly to the battery for instance, just to be sure there isn't any voltage drop. Running bigger wire to your key switch isn't necessary because the auxiliary circuit you're tying into is only fed by a #16 wire anyway. One thing to be wary of; a lot of aftermarket stuff, especially from China, will look like the original but have thicker insulation and smaller wire inside it. I've seen guys buy aftermarket pig-tails for Cobras and the wire is a #20 instead of a #16. You'll notice the same thing with cheap jumper cables, lots of thick, plastic insulation and very little copper wire inside. Also, the thicker insulation is usually low-grade as well and will crack or break sometimes in less than a year. Go buy a set of jumper cables or some air hose at Harbor Freight and you'll see what I'm talking about. Anything rubber out of China, is garbage. (And don't tell me you didn't know everything at Harbor was Chinese even though it says "Pittsburgh" or "Chicago" on the name tag. Sort of like Galaxy, Cobra, Uniden and such. Where would we be without our Chinese friends?)

I prefer crimps, especially on bigger, higher amperage applications. I'd never worry about crimping a power supply lead but I'd never use a crimp from Harbor, Lowe's or Home Depot. Inside a radio however, soldering is much easier, just make sure to use a small heat shrink to insulate it instead of electrical tape.

Well there's my two bits worth. All-in-all, worth at least one bit. That wasn't all intended for Houndog, just got to ramblin' on.