stereo / amp wiring

[schreck123]

I recently purchased a new Kenwood head unit along with new speakers, sab, and amp. I just want to make sure I am hooking everything up correctly as I am a total rookie at this. from the amp I ran the red wire back to the boat battery. I have also run the ground wire back to the battery. I have also connected the blue/white remote wire from the head unit to the amp. My question is do I still need to run the red wire from the head unit to the boats ignition and do I have to run the yellow wire from the head unit to the battery or the ignition or not needed at all? any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[alldodge]

My question is do I still need to run the red wire from the head unit to the boats ignition

The head unit is powered separately from the amp, so yes it needs to be powered from something but would not recommend the ignition circuit. I would suggest powering it from a separate switch coming from power from the battery via the fuse panel.

and do I have to run the yellow wire from the head unit to the battery or the ignition or not needed at all?

Depends on what the yellow wire is? If it is the memory stay alive power it needs to have power to it or all memory will be lost. If it is the power on wire then yes, but something else maybe no. What does the documentation say it is used for?

 

[spoilsofwar]

Red is for switched power - you can connect this to the ignition, if it has an accessory position (for example, one turn to the left is the acc position on my boat's ignition switch, and it powers just the stereo), or you can connect it to a seperate switch as alldodge suggests. I would NOT connect it to constant power (ie, the battery directly, or any non-switched source).

Yellow is for a constant power source. It is used to provide a memory to the stereo. This can be connected to the battery directly, or to the amp's power (+) terminal if it conveniently located to the head unit so you don't need to run a long power wire back to the battery. It is not a big deal if it connected to a power source that is turned off (such as a battery switch) but realize you will lose most if not all the stereo settings when the battery is switched off. There will be no drain on the battery in this case, though.

Some marine stereo's have the ability to save settings even when totally cut off from power. My Rockford Fosgate head unit, for example, will only lose the current source setting when the battery cutoff switch is turned to off. The radio and SXM presets, as well as the equalizer settings, are retained.