Has anyone else run constant power to their radio?
 

Had the killer system put in last week and here is the problem. The stereo is wired to a power toggle switch. So when you kill the power the constant and the acc wire die. This gets rid of all stereo settings memory so if I put in changes when I turn the stereo back on it is all distorted to hell. Shop told me that if I wire the memory to constant it will drain my blue top optimas over time. Anyone found a way to tackle this???

buy a radio w/ an on-board battery that stores the user defined settings.

Some stereos have a very small power wire that most shops just don't connect as they have to run them to the battery. This small wire is basically for memory only (stations and pre-sets). It draws a very small trickle that I doubt would run down your battery in over 3 months of setting. You may just want to check with the mfg to see if yours has one. If so, you'll need to run to a full time power source like connecting to battery post or upstream from battery switch boxes.

My amps are mounted right beside my stereo so I will probably just steal some power from my monster wire running to the amps. This will be easier.

It is only going to draw as much as it would in a car, so if you leave in connected for several days at a time without starting or using a battery tender then it will run the battery down. With a healthy battery this would be around 5-7 days.

Some radios like Alpines draw most of the power from the yellow memory wire when powered up and the red is simply a switched wire that draws very little. So you would need to be carefull when you start borrowing power from other circuits as you may overload them when the radio is at louder volumes.

If you had to deal with this stile of setup you can buy "back up" batteries that are 12v that you would see in a commercial alarm system, hook the memory to this and use a relay and a battery regulator so that it doesn't overcharge and that when the radio is off it does not draw from the rest of the system. this way if you leave it unattended it will not affect your optimas

I turn mine off when I leave the boat......so no, it is not on constantly. :D

I had that same problem and ran my memory wire only on my Sony head unit directly back to my Group 29 deep cycle that powers the stereo. I use my boat at least every 2nd weekend and have not had an issue with it affecting the battery. The current draw for the memory is very small. Many new cars do the same thing.