Bluetooth Installation Questions?

MonacoMike

Well-Known Member
Sep 15, 2009
14,721
Indiana lakes and Lake Michigan
Boat Info
2000 Cruisers 3870
8.2 Mercs
Engines
85 Sea Ray Monaco 197
260hp Alpha 1
I want to replace my old Clarion head unit that is located in a closed cabinet down in the salon. Will a head unit located in this position be able to receive signal from my phone all over the boat?

I currently am using a cassette adapter plugged into a Bluetooth adapter. The Bluetooth adapter is not inside the cabinet though it is in the salon. It has great connection.

What should I expect?
 
I would assume it depends on the bluetooth receiver, but I just put in a new Fusion MS-RA770 in my salon and the bluetooth works on the bow and the transom.
I think you should be fine, but of course, YMMV.
 
I have my Fusion 755 in a cabinet on the starboard side just aft of the V Berth Bulkhead. 40' boat, bluetooth range is really hit and miss, but overall no, it doesn't reach the entire length of the boat. I have the little fusion remotes and they work better.

I didn't install the stereo, but if I was to do it all over I would put the head unit in the dash, not in the cabin, to get better bluetooth range. I can control the head unit very nicely from my Garmin MFD, but I really would like to have easy connectivity for the Fusion app. With my set up now that would be a complete pain in the a$$, given all the cabling that is run, so I probably will just leave it as-is.

At one point I configured my fusion and my phone to connect via wifi, and that worked great, but it meant I always had to have my wifi network powered on, which meant always running the generator when I was out of the dock. Not really worth it when moving the head unit would have been an overall better solution.
 
I want to replace my old Clarion head unit that is located in a closed cabinet down in the salon. Will a head unit located in this position be able to receive signal from my phone all over the boat?

I currently am using a cassette adapter plugged into a Bluetooth adapter. The Bluetooth adapter is not inside the cabinet though it is in the salon. It has great connection.

What should I expect?

I plugged a Fusion BT-100 into my Clarion and can stream bluetooth anywhere on the 340SDA and even onto the dock.

-Kevin
 
Agree, can be a crap shoot on a boat your size. I use an old iphone as my music "server" and leave it down by the head unit then utilize the Fusion bluetooth remotes stuck in a couple places around the boat(including the helm) to manage volume and track selection.
 
The aftermarket Clarion on my boat installed by a previous owner has Bluetooth via the auxiliary. I set the stereo to auxiliary, then connect to Bluetooth on my phone. It works well while in the cabin but as I get into the cockpit it's hit or miss.
 
Like @KevinC says I'd think you can add a BT adapter to your existing unit?

I was in your spot -- wanting BT -- but ended up keeping the Clarion head unit and installing an aux in at the helm and that did the trick.

I have a portable Sirius Xm at the helm and that goes into the aux in, or else I could plug in a phone if I wanted to.

I only use BT for the Vessel View mobile
 
I wonder if the Fusion Bluetooth Dongle is what's on my boat. I there a way to tell without pulling the unit out/taking the cabinet apart to look?
 
Like @KevinC says I'd think you can add a BT adapter to your existing unit?

I was in your spot -- wanting BT -- but ended up keeping the Clarion head unit and installing an aux in at the helm and that did the trick.

I have a portable Sirius Xm at the helm and that goes into the aux in, or else I could plug in a phone if I wanted to.

I only use BT for the Vessel View mobile

With Clarions it depends on the model. If adding to existing I would mount the bluetooth receiver (ie BT-100) as high as I could in the panel by the stereo. I would also think the cheap ones from Amazon and Ebay are just... cheap ;)

-Kevin
 
I wonder if the Fusion Bluetooth Dongle is what's on my boat. I there a way to tell without pulling the unit out/taking the cabinet apart to look?

What does bluetooth tell you that you are pairing to? My phone clearly tells me paired to "FUSION MS-BT100".

-Kevin
 
If you are not at the boat you can probably see your previously paired connections in a list someplace.

-Kevin
 
I have a Fusion MS-RA770 same as @Shaps and I don't have his reception. The head unit is in the salon in the electronics cabinet and while at the stern of the boat by the transom door it's very hit or miss, the bow is better. But the Fusion app via wifi works great everywhere.
 
My Fusion BT 100 plugged right into the Aux of my Clarion and I have signal everywhere around my boat, even on the dock.
5B0F2F67-1148-4F33-ABED-5D4F53328F5F.jpeg
 
With Clarions it depends on the model. If adding to existing I would mount the bluetooth receiver (ie BT-100) as high as I could in the panel by the stereo. I would also think the cheap ones from Amazon and Ebay are just... cheap ;)

-Kevin

I bought two cheapies for $15 that have been amazing. It is no longer available on Amazon or I would link it.
 
I have a JB Bluetooth dongle and it is plugged into an old CMD4 and works all over the boat and 10-20 yards up the dock. Never a miss.

Bennett
 
I want to replace my old Clarion head unit that is located in a closed cabinet down in the salon. Will a head unit located in this position be able to receive signal from my phone all over the boat?

I currently am using a cassette adapter plugged into a Bluetooth adapter. The Bluetooth adapter is not inside the cabinet though it is in the salon. It has great connection.

What should I expect?
I think it depends more on the transmitter (phone) than the receiver. As a for-instance, my older Macbook laptop has trouble transmitting to my soundbar from across the den, but, with my newer iPhone, i can walk all over the house and the same soundbar continues to clearly receive a signal. It really comes down to what's between the transmitter and receiver versus the transmitter's strength.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
112,950
Messages
1,422,862
Members
60,932
Latest member
juliediane
Back
Top