Just bought a used CB from Goodwill the other day for $6. Took it into my shop teacher and we tested it - first on a battery to see if it would turn on (turns out, it fried his finger) and then with a continuity tester. When touched to the battery, the wires sparked. On the continuity tester, it showed up as 0.00 - not a good sign? My friend who has a CB in his Bronco told me that the red wire was the hot wire and the black was the ground. My shop teacher touched the red wire to the positive terminal and the black to the negative terminal. I told him what my friend told me and he said "that doesn't make any difference." What i'm wanting to know is, did the teacher fry it, or did i buy it fried? Steve unplugged his CB from his Bronco and plugged the new one in and says it turned on. Who should I listen to? Should I just take the thing back to Goodwill? Any input appreciated. BTW, it's a Midland model # 77-104 if that helps. Thanks!

 

Yeah, black is the ground (Negative) Red is hot (Positive). So what do you mean? Also does it have a fuse on it?

 

The Midland uses the same plugs as a Cobra, Superstar, etc. I believe. Does the power plug have 3 holes on it for 3 pins - 2 close together and one farther over? If so, then the red is power and black is ground.

Does the CB have a digital readout?

If you plug the CB in your friend's Bronco, does the power come on where you can see the channel? Is there any static? IF you key up, does the radio go quiet? If yes to any of these, then you are getting power into the radio, but where it is going from there is the question.

If you live close to an interstate and you know where some truck stops are - there is a good chance there is a CB shop at on eof the truck stops. I would go by one of them and have them test it. Even if you are getting power to the radio, you could have blown a final or capacitor in the radio and it still not work...

 

Cobra-
The unit has 2 wires coming from the back of the case, a coaxial plug and an extension plug. One of said wires is black, one is red and there are only 2. As far as I can tell, it has a digital readout. I left it with my friend last night to test, and he told me that the readout came on and he could hear static. I tried plugging it into his Bronco this morning and burned my finger. Is it just me that's messing it up?? If, in fact, it does work, I will put an inline fuse on the hot wire to keep from damaging it. There's an electronics repair shop in the next town and the man that owns and runs it has repaired a stereo for me before, so he might be a good bet. Another friend of mine saw me carrying the carcass back to the truck after shop class and told me that his dad does electronics work also.

Any opinions on who to go to for the electronics work would be appreciated. Thanks again!

ace-
What I meant to say was does touching the ground to the negative terminal on the battery have the same effect as a body ground? I'm guessing the body is grounded to the neg. terminal because the whole dang thing is insulated with the tires. Yeah, call me a dummy, but I'm new at this, so
-Thanks for your input.

 

Yup, it would have the same effect.

 

When you say 'burn my finger' - you mean the wire is getting hot enough that you can't hold it?

If the wires are coming out the back - then the red is (+) and the black would be (-). I would definitely take it to someone and have them test it...

 

when i say that, i mean that i basically welded my finger to whatever metal i touched the black wire to after touching the red wire to the positive terminal, which made a tiny arc - i now have a blister on my right index finger

 

Holding the positive and the negative terminals is usually a bad idea.

 

i realized that after it was too late

 

hmm, 6 bucks? chalk it off as a loss....

 

Or do the cheapo thing and return it.

 

Little do we know, if you return that $6.00 CB you'll be the 444 person to return it, that radio has already netted $2658.00 for Goodwill

 

Open the unit up ......u will see a polarity intake diode soldered to the board attached to the red wire intake, cut it ......turn it on. easy as that.