So... parents finally parted ways with their 90 Chris Craft 217 to me. It's been in our family since new and is in fantastic shape! I installed an Aerial Airborne tower on it yesterday with 2 sets of 2 6.5" speakers and wired them up appropriately. Also purcahsed an Alpine deck with the plug & play amp that provides 4x45W for the speakers. I have a Bazooka bass tube that's self-amplified that has 250W of power to it as well. Because of the age of the boat, the pre-existing deck was a tape deck (yup you heard me!) with only 2 4.25" speakers. The pre-existing electrical lines are just the power, ground, and speaker lines. They are all 16 gauge. I went ahead and tested my new deck/speakers using those and noticed if I turn it up too loud it auto-shuts off. I'm not that surprised given the gauge of those lines.
What is my safest setup to power the 250W amp for the sub, and the 180W amp for the speakers? New power line directly from the battery terminal in a heavey (10 or 8?) gauge fashion? I assume since I'm trying to use such a thin gauge line that was NEVER supposed to provide that much power, my system isn't going to operate worth a damn until I do, correct? Also - The deck has a yellow (to-battery) line and a red (to-ignition) line- Should I go ahead and fetch an ignition line over from the starboard side to use or just attach both of those deck lines to the power line I create? It'll function just fine doing the latter but I didn't know if fetching the ignition over had a benefit.
If any of you have a similar deal doing an install on an older boat like this and can provide the safest route to providing the best amount of power to it that would be awesome!
On a side note- On a typical day on the lake, I arrive with the battery off, turn it on for operation, turn it off when we stop to eat/relax in the sun, turn it back on for the remainder of the day, then turn it off for towing and storage. With this deck, it appears I will then lose all settings (audio) and bluetooth pairing EVERY time I shut off the battery. Is there a way to avoid that occuring? A bit of a hassle if every time I go out I have to re-enter my settings and re-pair my phone for playback.
What is my safest setup to power the 250W amp for the sub, and the 180W amp for the speakers? New power line directly from the battery terminal in a heavey (10 or 8?) gauge fashion? I assume since I'm trying to use such a thin gauge line that was NEVER supposed to provide that much power, my system isn't going to operate worth a damn until I do, correct? Also - The deck has a yellow (to-battery) line and a red (to-ignition) line- Should I go ahead and fetch an ignition line over from the starboard side to use or just attach both of those deck lines to the power line I create? It'll function just fine doing the latter but I didn't know if fetching the ignition over had a benefit.
If any of you have a similar deal doing an install on an older boat like this and can provide the safest route to providing the best amount of power to it that would be awesome!
On a side note- On a typical day on the lake, I arrive with the battery off, turn it on for operation, turn it off when we stop to eat/relax in the sun, turn it back on for the remainder of the day, then turn it off for towing and storage. With this deck, it appears I will then lose all settings (audio) and bluetooth pairing EVERY time I shut off the battery. Is there a way to avoid that occuring? A bit of a hassle if every time I go out I have to re-enter my settings and re-pair my phone for playback.
