Stereo ground wire
 

I have a 232 islander with the "stock" stereo setup. The deck is mounted on the port side below the glove box.


Question: does anyone know where the ground wire ends up? I've tried to trace the wiring all the way down the port side to the engine compartment, but I loose track of the wire and can't figure out where it's grounded. I think I'm having a groud wire problem, but can't find it.

The stereo 'clips' out when i turn the volume up to crank it. It works fine at normal vilume, but when it;s turned up, it shuts down.

A few guys at work said it might be a ground wire issue.

thanks

Baja232
I had the same problem but it wasnt a bad ground.
My stereo wasnt getting enough voltage after being anchored
half the day with the tunes cranked. The batteries were
running down. I put in new batteries and it helped.
To be sure test your power wire at the stereo with a
volt meter, should be at least 11 volts with stereo on.
Hope this helps.
Jeff

Baja force is right,,, its not getting enough voltage,,,if you had an amp an had that problem I would say it was getting to hot.

But it also happens when the boat is turned on and were cruising. (That's usually when I'm turning it up louder). I have 2 new batteries (this year).

Should it be getting the most volts when the engine is running and recharging them?

It happens when the boat is running or sitting. That's why I figured it's a ground.

thanks for any more help. If I'm not getting enough volts, what do I do about it?

I had the same issue with my stereo (and there's nothing stock about it). Ran a bigger POWER wire and a bigger ground wire and the problem went away!!!!! MORE POWER!!!! And if it were me, I'd run my own ground wire just because.!

Run new dedicated circuit
 

Low voltage, mine does the same..tapped in general wiring of boat. Run a # 8 or larger multi-strand, prefably marine grade wire for both the ground & 'hot' wire. Don't forget to fuse that 'hot' wire. Stop at a local stereo store & they wil probably help you out.

I'll preface this by saying I'm an electronic novice.

Will just adding a bigger wire increase the voltage? or is it more involved than that?

I actually have a Sony MP70 head unit that has 52 W / channel and plays MP3's etc. It's a great stereo and hasn't skipped once. Playing 1 disk with 150 mp3 songs on it is great. Don't have to change cd's all day.

I'll talk to the shop that installed it and see if they can add a new bigger hot wire and a thicker ground.

thanks

A bad speaker can cause this problem. Take an ohm meter and check each speaker for 4 ohms. If you want to check to see if your power and ground wires are good use a high watt test light on them and see if it will cary the load of the light.

final recap
 

I brought the boat in yesterday, and after giving me the run around about how it's my boat, or the rocker switches, bla bla bla, they added a new power wire (bigger, thicker etc with a relay?) and it took care of the problem.

Now the stereo cranks and does not cut out.

thanks to all you experts, I went to them and sounded like I knew what I was talking about and made them check the power wire and the ground.

thanks

2002 25 Outlaw SST. Stereo started cutting out-just a bad battery probably from boat just sitting on lot. Replaced and 2 JBL amps are fine but here is the kicker!!!! Baja ran the ground to the fuse box under the steering wheel. Turn off the batteries and you lose all the presets? Yup. Ran a new ground to a large Tsunami fused switch and everything was fine.