Marine Stereo Grounding
 

First the disclaimer: For an owner of a Management Consulting Company I doubt that I am very good at designing stereo installations but I have taken a stab. The pdf file is an illustration of the proposed project.

I don't know anything about grounding a marine stereo so I don't know if what I have proposed is correct, overkill or just completely off track.

Could someone that has a clue please look at the drawing and comment.

Many thanks in advance,
Brad

Re: Marine Stereo Grounding
 

I am guessing that there is a battery selector switch in there that is not shown.

Depending on distance from Batts (or switches) to Amps.... might want to go with larger wire than 4 from the Batt to the cap and then to the distro block. Then you could use 4 from the distro block to the amp power blocks.

Consider running the turn on leads from the head unit up to the dash and then to the amps. Let's you turn various areas on and off independently and gives you a hard "kill" in case of emergency.

My set up is similar to what you have proposed. Having the amp power selectable had made the system very flexible.

Ohh... and I run two small cabin speakers off of the speaker outs on the head unit. This way you can turn off ALL of the amps to save batt power when docked/moored and you only need a half a watt to make plenty of sound down below at night.

You don't show a ground for your head unit, but I would recommend getting your head unit power from your streetwires rig. This will help eliminate a ground loop that can happen with divergent paths to ground.

Good luck.

Re: Marine Stereo Grounding
 

Question for fund razor....I think I know what a ground loop is, but could you elaborate on it? How does it happen and what are the effects?

Re: Marine Stereo Grounding
 

A ground loop is a condition where there are multiple paths to ground.
They are easier to create in a car, because the ground plane is everywhere. Not as easy in a boat, sut you can still have multiple paths to ground if you aren't careful.
When your DC powered object gets it's ground from an alternate path than the main, it can create a loop which induces noise (usually hum or buzz) into the system.
You can avoid this by running a single, quality ground wire and putting all of your audio on the same ground wire.

Re: Marine Stereo Grounding
 

I didn't see where you showed what amps you were going to use, but you may want to reconsider the cap. I have been told that they can cause big probs if (when) they go bad, maybe someone else can verify that. Drawing off 4 batteries and I assume 2 alternators or shorepower as your diagram shows you probably wouldn't need the cap. I have been running a system that is rated at 1000w continuous without a cap with no probs for 3 years of daily use. Be aware of how much your head units remote turn on for the amps can handle, you may be pushing it with 4 amps, might want to consider a relay.

Re: Marine Stereo Grounding
 

I should have been more clear.

Only use a cap if you are doing high watt.

Run the turn on leads to switches individually.
Do not parallel turn on leads.

Re: Marine Stereo Grounding
 

BCK makes a good suggestion about turning on several amps with one head unit. Although the amps are turned on with relays the current draw can be excessive. I have four switches wired to four small 12VDC coil relays wired directly to the remote switching output on my SONY head unit. I picked specific relays with the correct coil impedance and current requirements and actually printed a small circuit board to mount the PC mount, sealed relays and five connectors on. The remote wire from each amp has a small connector that plugs into the circuit board. That way I can turn individual areas off and on at my choosing. At night when we're in bed but want music, I usually don't want the cockpit and cabin speakers on. We just switch the cockpit and cabin amps off and leave the bedroom amp on. This works pretty well for me as we have an electronic crossover feeding only the cockpit system. Everything else is full range with passive crossovers in the speakers. There is no sub in either the cabin or bedroom although I can turn the sub on by itself at any time.

Pretty straightforward and very effective doing what I want.

Re: Marine Stereo Grounding
 

many thanks to all. The project is progressing and I will post pictures later.

Brad