NEED HELP! just put in a new radio

[ratking20]

ok so i just put in a new radio in my sea ray
i bought the kenwood 700u marine reciever and alpine speakers
im pretty sure everything is wired right
it turned on, played for a minute or 2 then shut off
then it comes right back on and keeps doing the same thing
any ideas???? my guess would be a bad wire, battery wire probably?
if so how hard is it to re-run a new battery wire(red), ground(black), and whats the yellow wire? remote i think?

 

[pheasanthunter]

Re: NEED HELP! just put in a new radio

Sounds like low voltage. Could be low voltage on the battery. Is it fully charged. My first thought would be that the hot wire to the radio is bad. It could be corroded from water exposure. If you have a volt meter test voltage at radio. Try to do it while your having the problem. Probably dropping below 12 volts.
As for the yellow wire. In car audio you will have a red and yellow power wire. One is for battery, holds memory in the stereo, the other is for an ignition wire to turn the stereo on when you turn on the key. Usually one is a larger wire and that is the battery + wire. Blue is a remote to turn on an amplifier. In the limited marine stereo experience that i've had, i've found you only have one hot wire, so i believe the yellow wire is your remote, to turn on an amp.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: NEED HELP! just put in a new radio

A very cyclic power on/off sequence is indicative of a circuit breaker tripping and resetting. Put a voltmeter or test light on the power wire with the radio on. If the radio is turning on and off but the voltmeter or test light remains active, the radio is the problem. If both the radio and the voltmeter/test light go dead there is a wiring issue that is tripping the breaker.

 

[ratking20]

Re: NEED HELP! just put in a new radio

i had a crap radio hooked up before. it was doing the same thing. i thought the radio was the problem but now i obviously dont think thats the case now. but i will try and get my hands on a voltmeter

 

[rwilliek]

Re: NEED HELP! just put in a new radio

That problem could also be a grounded speaker wire. Most modern radios will shut down if a speaker wire is grounded or shorted.

I would check the voltage coming to the radio, if it is consistent, and around 12.5 volts, I would then move to taking the speaker leads off and then turn the radio on to see if it displays this same problem.

One more thing to check - if the radio has a removable face, make sure it is snapped on tightly, and that the pins behind the face are clean and line up correctly.

I was a car stereo installer for 8 years for Circuit City

 

[ratking20]

Re: NEED HELP! just put in a new radio

ok so i got my hands on a voltmeter
with the radio on, the red wire was reading from 28-30
and the yellow wire was reading around 25
zero from the black(thats supposed to be zero i think)
i ran all new speaker wire, shouldnt be a problem there
radio is not a removable face

 

[rrhodes]

Re: NEED HELP! just put in a new radio

ok so i got my hands on a voltmeter
with the radio on, the red wire was reading from 28-30
and the yellow wire was reading around 25
zero from the black(thats supposed to be zero i think)
i ran all new speaker wire, shouldnt be a problem there
radio is not a removable face

28 or 30 what? You need to read Volts and those should be around 12.5

What you want to do is keep the Voltmeter On the Power wire until the radio turns off. If it is a breaker or power issue you should see the voltage drop off. I am betting a bad breaker.

 

[ratking20]

Re: NEED HELP! just put in a new radio

im not sure what setting i had the voltmeter on. but i did keep it on when the radio shut off and it read the same. the voltmeter had a knob and it was turned to something that said 200 i believe???? does that make any sense????

 

[Sixmark]

Re: NEED HELP! just put in a new radio

The voltmeter needs to be set to DC Volts, black lead is the common/ground, red is the positive.

Check your voltages agfain using a good known ground, then test for voltage on all the leads going to the stereo, including the ground so you can be sure you are not running current through the ground source of the stereo.

 

[Fireman431]

Re: NEED HELP! just put in a new radio

Disconnect the power and ground wires that you currently have running to the radio. Using jumper wires, connect a short run of power and ground directly to the battery and see if that solves your problem. If so, run new power/ground feeds. Or do one at a time to isolate your malfunction.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: NEED HELP! just put in a new radio

DO you have a volt-ohmeter or what? If you have a multi-tester the knob will have several settings for AC Volts, DC volts, and resistance (ohms). You need to understand the meter to make any sense of what you are looking at. Set the meter to read 12 volts. Putting the test leads on a powered circuit with the meter set to OHMS (resistance) can damage the meter.

 

[ratking20]

Re: NEED HELP! just put in a new radio

i was using a multi-tester i believe. mechanic at the boatyard let me use it. i can use it again. as for running new power and ground wires. i have a bunch of red and black wire to use. i would need a fuse near the battery if i ran a new power wire...correct? whats the deal with the yellow wire, its also a power wire but i dont fully understand it. if that was cut would the radio still work? i plan to take another shot at this tomorow?

 

[rrhodes]

Re: NEED HELP! just put in a new radio

The yellow wire is continuous power used to hold memory. The red wire is your main power. On mine I have a 1amp fuse on yellow and 15amp on red. My main power is running through a breaker which could be the problem on yours and that is what it sounds like to me.

 

[ratking20]

Re: NEED HELP! just put in a new radio

can the breaker be easily replaced. or would it be easier to just run a new wire and bypass the breaker????

 

[rrhodes]

Re: NEED HELP! just put in a new radio

If it is the breaker... yes to both but bypassing the breaker will also leave you radio unprotected. I would bypass as a temporary test to see if it is the breaker. You should have a fuse block where the power is run from. Try running your power from there.

 

[mrchev]

Re: NEED HELP! just put in a new radio

you should have meter set to the 20 volt dc (20vdc) (can puts leads a cross battery to see what the battery is at) and to make sure the meter is on the right scale. should read 12-14 volts
blk test lead - to known good ground
other lead to red on radio
should have around 12-14 volts depending on battery charge
when radio shuts off should still have 12volts or better?
next take lead off red and put on orange ,with radio on do you have 12v?
shut radio off do you still have 12 volts on orange wire?
un hook test leads and now take black test lead and place it on battery positive and take other lead and place it on black wire of radio should have 12v even when radio quits working. if you can answer yes or no to these with the voltage at each question then we can better help you figure it out. thanks

 

[Silverbullet555]

Re: NEED HELP! just put in a new radio

I am going to disagree with most here and say I doubt its the power supply side. It sounds much more like you have a shorted speaker or wire (or you have it wired wrong an don't have enough impedance.) and its drawing too much power from the stero and it's internal protection is shutting it down. Once the unit cools off it begins working again. As an example lets say the stereo is designed to work with an 8 ohm load and due to how you have the speakers wired you only have 2 ohms impedance. That will cause exactlly what you see happening.

I think you are on to something.

Question to the OP. Did you mentioned the other stereo did this. Were the new speakers already installed. If so, a previous poster advised that you disconnect the speakers and try it and see if it goes through the shut down cycle. If not, I would still do it.

Did you use the existing wiring for the speakers? Boat Mfg will often wire the speakers in an odd fashion to make their wiring simpler. I've heard of all kinds of wiring, but I would not be surprised if the speakers were wired originally in parallel or series depending on what the mfg needed to accomplish to make the system work.

Be careful with a multi meter. They are easy to use, but set wrong and you can damage something. Have it set to measure amps and use it to measure voltage and you can create a dead short.

 

[ratking20]

Re: NEED HELP! just put in a new radio

i rewired the speakers with new speaker wire
they are not in series
im goin to retest with the multitester the right way this time

 

[Sixmark]

Re: NEED HELP! just put in a new radio

I am going to disagree with most here and say I doubt its the power supply side. It sounds much more like you have a shorted speaker or wire (or you have it wired wrong an don't have enough impedance.) and its drawing too much power from the stero and it's internal protection is shutting it down. Once the unit cools off it begins working again. As an example lets say the stereo is designed to work with an 8 ohm load and due to how you have the speakers wired you only have 2 ohms impedance. That will cause exactlly what you see happening.

I also think you may be onto something also, however I also thing it's best to start with simple readings using a voltmeter on the power source for the stereo rather than jumping past it and to the output side of the stereo itself

 

[ratking20]

Re: NEED HELP! just put in a new radio

i rewired all the speakers myself, they are all in parallel, with new speaker wire
the old radio i had in did the same thing. it was an old car radio i had laying around
so i dont see it being a problem with a faulty radio
and i dont see it drawing too much power due to wiring in series