car stereo instal vs. boat
 

I have a kenwood deck that when i took out of my truck a few yrs ago, it worked, i found the power and ground in the boat that comes from the stereo switch and they are gettin juice, (the cb works) but when i hook up the deck the deck doesnt work?? other than checking the deck fuse, am i forgetting anything else?

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

maybe the costant feed/ memory wire.... in most cases usually yellow or orange

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

Make sure you have both power leads form the head unit hooked up to the power. Should be a yellow for constant power(clock & preset memories) and a red for the main power.

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

yea, i had them both hooked up, the red is the ignition on my deck, is that the one??? the yellow has an inline box on it that i cant open, assuming its a fuse, any thoughts?

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

Not claiming to be an expert by any means but try to hook it up direct to any 12 volt battery to see if it works. Make sure if it has a removable plug into radio that it is in all the way. Also that box that you can't open sounds like it may be a noise filter. If there is a fuse in line with the power lead you should obviously check that.

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

this might sound stupid, but cant i jsut take some wire, hook up my ground to my truck battery and to the deck, then hook up a live wire to the battery and run it to the 2 wires on the deck, i should be able to get some juice then right?

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

If you have your two power leads hooked up (red and yellow), and your ground hooked up then you should be good to go. it it still does not work then start testing. First pull the plug off the back of the radio and make sure that power is getting through to the head unit. The sealed up box that you are talking about is I do not think a fuse it is probably a noise suppressor. If you have voltage at the plug on both the red and yellow then make sure there is no fuse at the back of the head unit. If that fuse is ok or does not exist then look for a reset button. Ussually behind the face plate or the front. It is a small little button that you use a paper clip to hit. Some head units did have two yellows but that was I think Clarion. If all that is tried and it still does not work then you are probably bettter off getting a new one.....

Jon

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

Power And Accessery Wire Together Should Work. Also Check The Connections On Yhe Face Plate Clean With Terminal Cleaner. The Box That You Can Not Open May Be A 9v Dac

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

I think the Kenwoods also have a reset button on the top part of the head unit.

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

PM Naughty Kitty, he will be able to help you with any boat stereo questions.

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??

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

because you are doing it wrong, or the radio is screwed up. the CB uses no more, or less, power or ground than the radio... and it wires up the same....

Get a meter, it will make life simpler..... it is just $8...

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

So you are switching back and forth and the CB always works and the stereo doesn't? If that is the case I'd be checking the wires on the back of the stereo.

Get a volt/ohm meter and you'll have it figured out in 5 minutes.

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

The stereo will certainly use more current than the cb. If your batterys are below 10.5 volts the radio might not work but the cb might. Noboat said it , get yourself a volt ohm meter! Much better than a test light! My guys hook up systems all the time and by the time they get it tuned the batt is dead and the thing shuts off and they think something went wrong. I laugh. Sounds like a simple thing though.

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

alright, bought the meter just a minute ago, havent been home yet to check anything but after a nite of no sleep and thinking this over, ive narrowed it down to the battery, contrary to dean's thought, i really dont think i can be doing something wrong, ive used to many other control factors to narrow out human error. after reading what hunster said ive got to belive its the battery, strong enough to power the CB, but too weak for the radio... like i said, the radio is 3 for 3 off the truck battery, never failed, hooked up the same way in the boat, and it even worked in the boat for about a minute, after the boat had been sitting all nite and i hooked up the radio, then turned on the battery switch, (maybe had some stored up juice) cause it only worked for about a minute... Yet the CB right after still worked, and the deck hooked up the same way right after to my truck worked again... gotta be the batteries, otherwise i have a nice kenwood deck for sale,

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

I believe this happened to me once, charged batteries and found that low voltage would not "trip" power on circuit. I think they do this now to prevent low voltage causing higher current draws in the internal amps..thus preventing overheating.

Did not remember this until I reviewed the posts about low voltage in the Battery.

CB does not have this "power monitor circuit".

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

Duhhhh, just called Eugene, he owns a LARGE car audio place....

Said wire it straight to boat battery and see if it works.....

Said it was POSSIBLE CB would work and head unit would not, but VERY low probability....

Also said check your ground again, said it sounds like a grounding problem.

This guy's shop installs 300 to 500 units a year.

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

thanks for calling dean-

ive been wondering about the ground too, but i cant figure out how seconds after i unhook the deck, i can hook up the CB and it works, without moving where i am sitting, moving the wires or anything, and i can do this time and time again, not just a one time luck thing, i just also bought one of those battery jumper packs (always wanted one) since i cant get my truck to the boat battery to jump it, im going to hook this up, i should have the root of this problem in no time, thanks again for all your help guys

Steve

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

Back to the auto parts store for a charger! :argue:

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

Is it possible the CB Antenna ground is supplying the ground to the CB and the actual ground wire is bad or not connected? Run a jumper from the CB chassis to the stereo chassis or ground and see if this works.
Like the other posts say use a light or VOM to confirm!

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

good idea.. im also going to try running the deck right off the battery, what im wodnering, is will running the deck off the battery give me a true result? isnt power lost from the battery to the stereo switch in my cabin,

so the deck may fire up right off the battery, (barely if weak) then not fire up off the switch due to losing power?

the antenna of the CB isnt hooked up, just the ned/pos off the back

Re: car stereo instal vs. boat
 

ok- to wrap this up, i first hooked the deck right up to the boat battery, and the deck turned on off, on off, on off... so i took the CB and hooked it to battery, worked fine, then took CB hooked it to switch, worked fine, took deck hooked it to switch, did not work

Took my new battery pack all charged up, left deck hooked to switch, hooked battery pack to boat battery, DECK WORKED!!!!

thanks for all your help guys