If you are frying the wires with the cb off there is definitely a dead short somewhere. Is there a chance that you have a hot wire pinched or insulation skinned off it from pulling through the fire wall? It wont hurt to run larger wires, but if you are running a 14 guage wire set up from the battery to the cb you have plenty of current carrying capability. 14 gauge wire is good for 15 amps. Like mentioned above put maybe a 10 amp fuse at the battery, and then a smaller one at the cb. That way if the wire is grounding out as I suspect, it will blow the fuse before it melts the wire. Let us know.

 

ok i been using 16 gauge wire i will try 14

 

If you run your power wire to the battery, you place a larger in-line fuse (10amps is perfect) within 12" of the battery terminal connection. You radio should have a fuse in its back panel or on the power line(s), within a few inches from the back. Check you radio's documentation for the proper size (usually 1amp to 2amps.)

Use a minimum of 14ga wire, especially for any run over 8 feet. Over 12 feet, use 12ga. When in doubt, go larger.

Mine has constant (red) and switched (orange) power lines. Some CBs may only have a red line.

 

I dont think the wire size is an issue. I 16 gauge wire is good for about 8 to 10 amps. You get this issue solved yet?

 

I guess he got it fixed.

 

Check polarity.

 

i grounded my ground very well and got my power source from the cigarett lighter had no problems.. it has enough power to run your cb and should not blow the fuse