Radio cut off and wont come back on

[mward82]

Hey yall! First time on the forum!
So I installed a new marine radio and speakers and everything was great. It worked fine and it comes on when the ignition is turned, isn't an accessory. Yesterday we were out on the boat and having some engine problems and the radio cut off and wouldn't come back on. At all. No power. brought the boat home, charged it up, let her sit and still today it wont turn on at all. Any ideas? THanks!

 

[alldodge]

Since it was just installed, maybe something is loose or broke connection, otherwise did you check the fuse?

 

[mike_i]

You said the radio has no power, why? Have you traced the leads to the power source both pos & neg? I assume you're radio is a am/fm radio, it's not a good idea to wire a vhf radio thru the ignition switch. What engine problem did you have?

 

[mward82]

I replaced botht he 3a and the 1a tube fuses on the red and yellow lines and she turned back on. Good to go! thanks for the help yall!

 

[gm280]

Glad you got it working again. Any time you start trouble-shooting any electronic issue, the very first thing you need to do is check to see if you have power going to it. Amazing how many times people tear into things and forgot they unplugged the power cord... Hard to believe but it happens more often then you would think.

 

[Grub54891]

Just fixed one for a guy. He installed a vhf, worked fine till the nav lights were turned on. Bang the vhf would quit. He tapped the power to the one for the nav lights, not enough amps in to small of a wire to run it all. New run of wire directly to the radio fixed it quick.

 

[mike_i]

Remember, fuses blow for a reason. You may have fixed the reason the radio didn't work but what caused the over current that caused the fuses to blow?

I replaced botht he 3a and the 1a tube fuses on the red and yellow lines and she turned back on. Good to go! thanks for the help yall!

 

[mward82]

Remember, fuses blow for a reason. You may have fixed the reason the radio didn't work but what caused the over current that caused the fuses to blow?

Thats what I was thinking too. The old radio ran a 1a on the red line and a 3a on the yellow. or vice versa, i can't remember. That doesn't sound like much. The Pyle Marine radio came with a 15a in the back of the unit itself. The 1a was the one that blew, the 3a seemed fine but I replaced it anyway while I was down there. Do you think it needs more power? It was working fine for three outings.

 

[mike_i]

"Do you think it needs more power?"

If you're thinking about installing a higher amperage fuse don't do it.
What is the model number of the radio? What are the 1a and 3a fuses for?

 

[Scott Danforth]

Thats what I was thinking too. The old radio ran a 1a on the red line and a 3a on the yellow. or vice versa, i can't remember. That doesn't sound like much. The Pyle Marine radio came with a 15a in the back of the unit itself. The 1a was the one that blew, the 3a seemed fine but I replaced it anyway while I was down there. Do you think it needs more power? It was working fine for three outings.

you didnt use the fuses for the old radio with your new radio, did you? because that would be a sure way to a failure

 

[Grub54891]

No it don't need more power. 12 volts is 12 volts. What you should have is the appropriate sized wiring to carry the required amps the instrument requires. To small of a wire just creates a chain reaction of events that could cause the magic smoke to leave the wire or start a fire.

 

[mward82]

you didnt use the fuses for the old radio with your new radio, did you? because that would be a sure way to a failure

I did so I just replaced them both. Oh the new wires messed up with all the wires. Cut and splice them together only purple and green I didn't have the those are for another set of speakers and I only have front left and right. black and yellow anything size in the new stereo as the existing wires from the old stereo. the black had a filter fuse box the red had three and the yellow had one amp fuse. And now replaced both the three and the one app and it seems to be working fine however I didn't reinstall the filter fuse box. Do I need it? The new radio is a Pyle Marine bluetooth radio 12v.

 

[Scott Danforth]

you completely undo the old radio wires, then you follow the instructions on the new radio wiring.

 

[gm280]

Okay seem some confusion here. Why not wire the radio and install the fuses that the manufacture suggested? And if you don't know what sizes, then call them and get their answers. The 1 amp fuse was probably for memory for the radio. Where as the 3 amp was more for the actual radio operation.

But you need to understand just because you have 12 volts doesn't mean you have the correct amount of current. Voltage is not Current. So to power the radio, you need 12 volts, but also the proper amount of current and that is where the fuses come in. They limit the amount of current the radio draws and anything more then 1 amp and 3 amps, they will blow open...

 

[mward82]

So it came with practically no instructions just a wiring diagram. On the box it says it uses 10amps max. It comes with a built in 15amp fuse. It says it uses 75x x 4ch, but I only have 2 speakers not four so the math would be 150watt max not 300watts. So 150w and 12v would be 12.5amps. It comes built in with 15 so I could put another 15a inline right? It doesn't say but does the inline fust go black or red? I can place it on either line correct?

 

[gm280]

Use exactly what the box says, and most go on the red line. It doesn't matter if you are not using all four channel outs. You still use the max amp fused suggested.

 

[bruceb58]

Not sure why people wire their boat stereos to come on only when the ignition is on. I want the radio on when the engine is off and I prefer it off when the engine is on. On my boats, I have a separate switch that I can power the radio whenever I want. I don't care about presets so both yellow and red go to this switch.

 

[dingbat]

So it came with practically no instructions just a wiring diagram. On the box it says it uses 10amps max. It comes with a built in 15amp fuse. It says it uses 75x x 4ch, but I only have 2 speakers not four so the math would be 150watt max not 300watts. So 150w and 12v would be 12.5amps. It comes built in with 15 so I could put another 15a inline right? It doesn't say but does the inline fust go black or red? I can place it on either line correct?

Your going about this backwards....

The fuse protects the wire, not the radio

The current draw of the radio determines the size of wire. The wire determines the size of the fuse.

The fuse always goes on the “+” (Red) side of the circuit. No guarantee the “-“ (black) wire is the path of least resistance to earth.

 

[mike_i]

You want to fuse the positive side with the proper rated fuse as close to the power source as possible.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Not sure why people wire their boat stereos to come on only when the ignition is on. I want the radio on when the engine is off and I prefer it off when the engine is on. On my boats, I have a separate switch that I can power the radio whenever I want. I don't care about presets so both yellow and red go to this switch.

agreed on ability to have radio on when ignition is off, either a separate switch or the accessory side

for example, my boat had an accessory side switch next to the key switch originally. when I did the new dash, I wired my boat with an accessory position on the key switch for all hotel loads

the accessory side controls a solid state relay that then allows power to cabin lights, cabin power outlets , radio/amplifier, dock lights, under water lights, etc.