Fusion radio flaky & freezing up

[guy48065]

I replaced the old JVC am-fm-cd radio in my 2000 Bayliner with a Fusion MS-RA70 so I could have Bluetooth and a brighter display.
I love this radio but it keeps intermittently freezing on the "Fusion" screen on power-up and I have to pull the fuse to get it to respond again. It will also reset & freeze if I start the engine while listening.

The radio gets power from a fuse panel (factory) that's wired direct to the battery.
Battery is good, voltage at the radio fuse is solid. Problem happens whether running on battery or alternator. Seems to be worse when using Bluetooth.

Is this a known issue with either Fusion or boat power?

 

[Scott Danforth]

its not the boat side if the radio is stuck on a particular screen

call fusions customer support line

 

[cyclops222]

It appears like your unit has lost the input DCV regulator.

 

[mike_i]

Before you call fusion measure the voltage at the radio while cranking the motor. if possible hook the radio to a house battery and non the starting batt.

 

[airshot]

Might try hooking the radio to the house battery rather than a start battery,

 

[Scott Danforth]

OP said power up, as in first powering up the radio. vs start up.

 

[guy48065]

OP said power up, as in first powering up the radio. vs start up.

Thank you.
And to reiterate: sometimes it works fine. Nothing is burned out (like an internal regulator circuit). It just does this quite allot and requires I remove the fuse to reset it. A major PITA.

This is the 2nd Fusion radio to act like this so my assumption is there's something not right on the boat side. I can't imagine WHAT since everything connects to the fuse block, and that is wired directly to the battery via 8ga wire. Fused power does not go thru the ignition switch, relay, or anything. The ordinary radio that was in there before worked perfect and I didn't change anything in the wiring.

When the 1st Fusion started acting up--a couple hours after the install--I called customer support. Their only suggestion was to disconnect power for 20 minutes. Like every other menu-driven support center I've ever called. This of course did nothing. I sent the radio back and ordered another. THAT one worked for an entire day before it started freezing up.

Very puzzling.

These suck to install because they are slightly smaller that a regular DIN-standard radio, and rely on 4 screws to hold them in place instead of a standard DIN sleeve.
I'll give customer support 1 more chance. If they have nothing more to offer than "reboot it" it's going back & I'm installing a standard Sony radio. Garmin can suck eggs.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Or Fusion just isn't a quality radio

If it was boat side, the radio would not come back