stereo help?

[ratking20]

i had problems last year so i want to make sure this time

im going to be wiring my stereo tomorrow, and i had issues with the battery draining last year.
im going to run all new speaker, power, and ground wires from the wiring harness
speaker wire is simple. ground wire too.
the red and yellow wire is what confuses me
red is power and yellow is memory correct??
i want there to be no drain on my battery so i was planning on twisting the red and yellow wires and connecting them to the ignition switch? is that right? i don't care if the stereo doesn't keep the time. thats not important. i read somewhere that people run it to the battery switch.? any help would be great??

 

[ratking20]

Re: stereo help?

anyone?

 

[pyrotek]

Re: stereo help?

Give people a little more time to read your post!

It helps to think about a car setup. Yellow is straight to +12V battery all the time. Red is the ignition and turns on the internal relay (switch) in the radio. The yellow and black pulls all the current. Yellow is just a low current signal telling the internal relay (switch) to turn on.

You can twist the red and yellow wires together and run them off the battery switch. Only problem is your FM presets and time get reset as you mentioned. However, I would not run them off the ignition switch. I don't know this for sure, but I suspect the ignition wire can not supply the needed current the radio will pull.

A car doesn't get drained having the Yellow to battery and red to ignition so I boat shouldn't either. What was the cause of the battery draining?

 

[ratking20]

Re: stereo help?

i wasn't exactly sure what the drain was. but it didn't start until i installed the stereo

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: stereo help?

OK to start off, it should not be wired into the key switch, that is only for the motor and ignition and gages period. It should be wired into the battery switch or a individual switch and it should be turned off when not in use. And as far as the battery drain, it could be several things, the yellow can be used or not, if it isn't the only thing is it wont have any memory settings while its on but it really wont matter all that much.. Now a lot depends on exactly what type of battery is being used starting vs deep cycle and of course how high power the stereo is and what the amp rating on your charging system is. You have to balance those 3 things.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: stereo help?

If I understand you correctly -- you installed a stereo and the engine didn't start. When? Immediately after the install, a day later, a week later? What?? That memory circuit draws such a minute amount of current you could leave the boat sit for several weeks and it would still start the engine. That is provided the battery was fully charged. If you have a battery that is dying, it needs to be replaced. Charge it and have it load tested. But if you don't care about the presets and clock, twist the two together and go boating. Unless this is a high power unit, it will also run just fine from the ignition switch but it is best to wire it from the fuse panel.

 

[ratking20]

Re: stereo help?

its a regular marine stereo, no amps or anything extra. pushing for 6.5" coaxial speakers.
last year when it was draining the battery it took a few days, it wasn't immediate.
but i plan on rewiring everything and i want it done right

i have 2 powermaster batteries. i believe they are 750 mca each and they are hooked up via a blue sea add a battery switch and acr. but that wasnt the case last year, i just bought that

 

[mark1905]

Re: stereo help?

You're fine. Personally, I always sum up the red switched wire and the yellow +12v wire so that I can have the stereo on when the boat is turned off. Just don't forget to turn off the stereo when you put it on the trailer or else you'll kill the battery. Using the existing main +12v wire for the gauge panel/ignition is fine as well. That stereo isn't pulling enough to really make a difference.

If you'd like to be extra sure, go ahead and run an 12 gauge marine grade wire for the +12v and the ground straight off the battery.

 

[buildmark]

Re: stereo help?

I would wire them to a switch, having a dead battery sucks, and the radio is not that important to need to keep the time and presets. And if you are like me, I boat on different lakes so having presets doesn't help anyway. And you can still use the radio when the boat is off.