In-cabin power point in 2022 Toyota Tacoma?

[SteveShannon]

A friend of mine wants to permanently mount a radio in the cab of his 2022 Tacoma.  I know conventional wisdom says to run all the way to the battery to avoid engine noise, but testing with the radio connected to the power port in the cab hasn't resulted in any noise. So, do any of you know (first hand knowledge preferred) is there a convenient power point in the cabin already, perhaps connected to an unused fuse in the fuse-box? 

[WSEL489]

GMRS radios do not seem to be overly sensitive to noise. Trucks and their systems have evolved over time as well. Most go straight to the battery for the high power needs of the 50w mobiles.   My 20w mobile plugs into the 12v port and has no issues. 

[SteveShannon]

19 minutes ago, WSEL489 said:

GMRS radios do not seem to be overly sensitive to noise. Trucks and their systems have evolved over time as well. Most go straight to the battery for the high power needs of the 50w mobiles.   My 20w mobile plugs into the 12v port and has no issues. 

We were testing on 2 meter. He doesn't have a GMRS license (or much interest in GMRS) but he is a ham.  He just wants to leave the power port open since it'll be a more permanent installation.

[WRUE951]

It may not help to run direct to battery.  My mobile in my RAM 6.7 Cummins picks up electrical noise generated from either the electric fuel pump or the manifold heater element.. Not sure which one is causing it yet. It's not really annoying but you can hear it when it cycles on/off..  My mobile is ran direct to one of the batteries and yea, i checked with two different mobiles and both radios pick it up..    

[BoxCar]

Ask the dealer service dept which fuse block locations are unused for his truck model.

[SteveShannon]

3 minutes ago, BoxCar said:

Ask the dealer service dept which fuse block locations are unused for his truck model.

That's what I suggested to my friend and he intends to do that.  We can see which circuits have no fuses; we just don't know if there are wires coming from them into the cabin somewhere, and if so, where. I thought since the Taco is pretty popular that maybe someone on the forum had already gone through this exercise.

[WRUU653]

@SteveShannon full disclosure I do not have this year Taco. I did run the radio in mine all the way to the battery and have no noise issues. I also programmed my radio to turn off after a certain amount of time should I forget to turn it off to save the battery. All that said I looked over the interior fuses on the year in question albeit on line and noticed that there is a 20 amp fuse for a sun roof which may come in handy for your friend if he doesn’t have a sun roof. Good luck. 

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, WRUU653 said:

@SteveShannon full disclosure I do not have this year Taco. I did run the radio in mine all the way to the battery and have no noise issues. I also programmed my radio to turn off after a certain amount of time should I forget to turn it off to save the battery. All that said I looked over the interior fuses on the year in question albeit on line and noticed that there is a 20 amp fuse for a sun roof which may come in handy for your friend if he doesn’t have a sun roof. Good luck. 

This is basically the correct answer.  Just run the wires to the battery.  It will guarantee no noise as the alternator gets hot and cycles on and off and ages.  As the computers it has Atleast 3 do different things at different times.  It’s so simple and fool proof why not.  Messing with the factory harness if you don’t know what you’re doing can result in all kinds of expensive issues all the way to burning your truck down.  If you put a radio on a sun roof circuit for example the computer might get upset and shut down or fry.  Leave the factory harness alone.  If you really want a plug wire in a plug from Amazon directly to the battery.  You could even ad a switch.  All seperate from the factory harness.  

[N6CST]

A 2M mobile is probably 50 watts and that's a bit much for the cigarette lighter plug.  I have both a Tacoma and Tundra and running power to the battery is pretty easy and well worth the effort.  Both trucks have dual band Ham radios and GMRS mobiles. 

[LeeBo]

I have a 2018 CRV and above and to the left of the left foot rest in the floorboard are a couple rubber grommet plugs, one unused. I removed the plug and used a coat hanger to pull cable from the engine compartment to the inside (I mounted my radio under the drivers seat with removable faceplate). Maybe this will help.


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[SteveShannon]

1 hour ago, N6CST said:

A 2M mobile is probably 50 watts and that's a bit much for the cigarette lighter plug.  I have both a Tacoma and Tundra and running power to the battery is pretty easy and well worth the effort.  Both trucks have dual band Ham radios and GMRS mobiles. 

It’s a 20 watt radio now, but eventually he might want to install something like an Icom IC-7100 which requires 20-30 amps. If necessary we’ll run the positive back to either the fuse box or the battery, but first we’ll look for an existing unused power point. 

[WRXB215]

Like @N6CST I have a Tundra and went straight to the battery. The grommets on each side of the truck have a nipple top and bottom. I used the bottom nipple on the driver's side. Top was already used. The install was very easy. Running the wire from the cab side made it easier to see where to fish the wires.