Marine CD Player

tdogg

Cadet
Joined
Jun 20, 2006
Messages
6
I recently purchased a Clarion Marine CD player. I had to custom rig all of the wiring b/c as long as I have owned the boat (17' SeaRay Seville w/3.0 Mercruiser) it has not had a stereo. With the motor off it works great, but when I start the motor it will periodically cut out and reset, or turn off. This is not only at a fast speed or on rough waters, but while idling through a calm bay.

I originally had the battery power running off of the battery terminal on the ignition switch/key. In an attempt to fix the problem I decided to run a wire with a fuse directly from the battery to the CD player, I have the same results. At first I thought that it was the CD player, but why would it work fine with the engine off than? Is the CD player being overloaded? Is there something else that would cause this? Thank in advance for any and all help!
 

Boatin Bob

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Sep 24, 2001
Messages
1,858
Re: Marine CD Player

Make sure all connections are good and tight, especially the ground. Do you have a volt gauge on the dash? Some stereo's will turn off if over or under voltage. It was good to move the power wire off the switch as you don't want to have the ignition turned on just to listen to the stereo.
 

deejaycee_2000

Captain
Joined
Mar 28, 2006
Messages
3,447
Re: Marine CD Player

I agree, some cd players will turn off with over or under voltage .... I'm sure you get voltage regulators to keep it constant?
 

Rancherlee

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jun 6, 2006
Messages
621
Re: Marine CD Player

most car audio radios work from a range of 11-15volts, my guess is overvolting.
 

John_S

Rear Admiral
Joined
Jun 21, 2004
Messages
4,269
Re: Marine CD Player

Another possibility is overoad protection shutdown. This could happen from have too low of an ohm load per channel. This may happen if you are trying to drive two speakers in parrellel on one channel.

Also can happen when a single strand of the copper wire touches the other pole. A vibration causes the wire to touch, and that all it takes. I've seen it happen allot with home stereo hook-ups. Very carefully check the speaker and unit side speaker connections.

If that is all good, see if the heat sinks in the back of the unit are getting too hot. If it is in one of those small semi-water tight boxes, it might be getting too hot and doing a thermal shutdown.
 

thunderroad

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jun 19, 2005
Messages
417
Re: Marine CD Player

How many speakers? If only 2, be sure and use ONLY the front OR rear L&R wires. Don't use the wires for all 4. It used to be, with the lower powered units of yesterday, that it didn't matter too much and people would hook them all up so the fader control could be in any position and it still work. The heat sink in back is a dead giveaway. If it gets REALLY hot....you've likely got a load problem.
 

whblaylock

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Sep 6, 2005
Messages
46
Re: Marine CD Player

I read on another post that getting power from the sources at the helm may not be adequate for these high power stereos. The fix was to install a 10amp fuse/switch block and use 10 amp wire to connect it directly to the battery and using the same size wire to connect the stereo to the fuse block. The size of the ground wire was the main focus. It sounded like you might have direct wired the + side but not the -. Even if you do the + what guage wire did you use. I replaced an old stereo in my pontoon with a nice JVC and when I turn it up past about 30 on the volume it will cut in and wout. I haven't tried the above fix yet as my wife will generally not let me go that loud but it sounds reasonable. I know that when I have the stereo on and I turn on my dock lights the radio cuts off. This tells me that I am drawing more power than what the factory wiring will allow. I am going to directly connect it both + and - and see what happens before I go to the trouble of installing a new fuse block etc... wh
 

tdogg

Cadet
Joined
Jun 20, 2006
Messages
6
Re: Marine CD Player

It was the ground... I ran the ground to a spot on the engine and now it works like a champ! Thanks for the help, only problem now is that me friends and I cannot hear ourselves talk over the tunes!
 
Top