Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

ok, so i came home today, used some old speaker wire, hooked one end up to my batteries, then hooked up the yellow and red to the positve, and the black to the negative, and the deck turned right on, why wont it in the boat?? The only thing ive had work off that switch in the boat is an old school CB, but it did work, and that shouldnt matter should it??? Also, do i need that noice suppressor?

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

I would leave it in. Getting it to work in the boat is as simple as finding the 12 volt constant, switched, and ground.

Jon

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

does it matter what way that noice suppressor goes, does the current flow one way or another, it doesnt have arrows or anything, i i dont remember which way it was

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

alright, so now i know it works, i tried the unit in the boat again, with better connectors then just twisting ends, and the head unit came on, then it flashed on and off, then it went off and stayed off, any ideas, is this the ground??? thing is, i have live leads hanging from the refridge switch, and the stereo switch(both which have had other things work off), and the stereo worked breifly off the stereo switch, then not at all of fridge, after all that i took it back to the truck battery and it fired right up???

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

Do you have a test meter or test light?

Jon

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

i guess bottom line is, my CB works off both the stereo switch and the refridge switch,

my deck does not

however my deck works off my truck battery

could it be my boat batteries have enough power to run the CB, but not the deck?

no meter where i am now, but plan to buy one, any other thoughts tho?

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

go to wal-mart and get a $8 light tester. If the CB is working on the refer switch, the radio will too, unless you do not have a good ground.

Boats are tricky, no metal body to ground to like a car, so you need to pay a little attention to that. If you want the clock on the radio to work, I would wire it straight to battery, but peronally I would just twist aux power and main power together, make one lead and one ground and go on.

If it works on in the truck it will work on the boat, as long as power and battery power are there.

Get a test light, cheep way to make certain of what you are doing. Check refer switch, that may be why wiring it there will not work.

I am religious nut about nothing between batteries and kill switches, but others may disagree, depends on how you use your boat.

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

how does that explain why the CB works but deck wont??? could the CB use less of a ground?? doesnt make sense, or maybe less battery, why does the CB work off the switch and a second later when i hook up the radio, the radio doesnt work??

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

My guess is when you unhooked the CB and tried hooking up the stereo you moved the wires around and now have a bad connection. Or a bad connection at the back of the stereo itself. Get yourself a volt/ohm meter and track it down. Those meters are cheap and priceless. I have used mine hundreds of times in the last few years.

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

how does that explain why the CB works but deck wont??? could the CB use less of a ground?? doesnt make sense, or maybe less battery, why does the CB work off the switch and a second later when i hook up the radio, the radio doesnt work??