Wiring a stereo in a boat!

[lncoop]

Re: Wiring a stereo in a boat!

Maybe I'm confuzzed (wouldn't be the first time), but are all marine stereos not turned completely off (zero draw) by the source button? I guess I'm working with the assumption that they are. I have the red and yellow wires together and when I hold the power button (in my case source) down for a couple of seconds the HU goes completely dead. Are they not all (at least the newer ones) like that?

 

[Audio Greg]

Re: Wiring a stereo in a boat!

Coop,

That sweet new Clarion you have still draws about 45 milliamps on the YELLOW lead when you turn it ?off? with the Source Button. That is with RED and YELLOW tied together. Pull the 15amp fuse, and check for yourself if you have a DMM. Once you confirm, go ahead and pull the 1amp fuse and watch the current draw spike before resting around 5 milliamps. Now, add the 10 milliamps RED draws to the 45 YELLOW draws when RED is connected. A 55-milliamp draw is not much, but it is enough to kill your battery 10 times faster than a 5-milliamp draw. Either draw is more than ZERO

Keep in mind, Clarion is high end and does a better job than most at minimizing draw. Some brands draw a lot more, especially with additional accessories connected.

If you kill power to both leads when you hang her up to dry, this is a non-issue. Hope this helps, maybe someone can confirm and I can avoid posting the proposed radio draws my batteries down thread.

I hope that made sense.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Wiring a stereo in a boat!

Agree with Greg. If I leave the power going to the red wire my battery will be toast in no time.

 

[john15]

Re: Wiring a stereo in a boat!

Guys i have connected a toggle switch and heres how i connected it red and yellow from radio are spliced together to the positive lead on the battery, and the black wire from the radio is running all the way back to the negative post onj the battery. I installed a toggle switch by splicing a short piece of wire into the yellow and red wires and connected to the toggle power port and then took another short piece of wire and spliced it to the ground and hooked that up to the ground port on the toggle switch..... blue light still stays on the radio and the toggle does turn anything on or off. DID I HOOK SOMETHING UP WRONG.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Wiring a stereo in a boat!

DID I HOOK SOMETHING UP WRONG.

The red and yellow go to one side of the switch and the other goes through a fuse to power.

 

[lncoop]

Re: Wiring a stereo in a boat!

Coop,

That sweet new Clarion you have still draws about 45 milliamps on the YELLOW lead when you turn it ?off? with the Source Button. That is with RED and YELLOW tied together. Pull the 15amp fuse, and check for yourself if you have a DMM. Once you confirm, go ahead and pull the 1amp fuse and watch the current draw spike before resting around 5 milliamps. Now, add the 10 milliamps RED draws to the 45 YELLOW draws when RED is connected. A 55-milliamp draw is not much, but it is enough to kill your battery 10 times faster than a 5-milliamp draw. Either draw is more than ZERO

Keep in mind, Clarion is high end and does a better job than most at minimizing draw. Some brands draw a lot more, especially with additional accessories connected.

If you kill power to both leads when you hang her up to dry, this is a non-issue. Hope this helps, maybe someone can confirm and I can avoid posting the proposed radio draws my batteries down thread.

I hope that made sense.

Thanks Greg! I learn something every day on iboats. Haven't had any battery issues since the installation, but if I do I'll know the first place to look. This is the second time you've set me on the right path (remember the faulty XM receiver?). The Clarion is probably overkill for my set up, but I found it for less than a c note, so I figured I might as well.