HELP! Replaced stock radio now it receives no power and my boat is alarming

[Tha_Hilly_88]

Hello! I’m in need of some advice. I have a 2004 Sea Ray 200 Select with a 5.0 Mercruiser. The factory radio went out so I replaced with a marine Kenwood and went ahead and updated the speakers while I was at it. Everything worked great for about 15 min. Then, the radio shut down and the boat started alarming. I’ve pulled all fuses under the dash (with none directly related to the radio), the stereo memory fuse by the battery, and the 2 inline fuses (yellow and red wire) behind the radio. All were good. If I put the radio directly on the battery, it works. I connected an ohms meter to the yellow wire and it reads 12.4 Volts, the red ignition wire reads nothing. What am I missing?

 

[ColoSR]

I have a 2003, and had no voltage on the red wire either. After trying to run down the issue for a couple of hours, I added a fused red wire from the fuse block power and called it done. There was also an empty accessory fuse and wire in the block.

 

[bajturner]

Hello! I’m in need of some advice. I have a 2004 Sea Ray 200 Select with a 5.0 Mercruiser. The factory radio went out so I replaced with a marine Kenwood and went ahead and updated the speakers while I was at it. Everything worked great for about 15 min. Then, the radio shut down and the boat started alarming. I’ve pulled all fuses under the dash (with none directly related to the radio), the stereo memory fuse by the battery, and the 2 inline fuses (yellow and red wire) behind the radio. All were good. If I put the radio directly on the battery, it works. I connected an ohms meter to the yellow wire and it reads 12.4 Amps, the red ignition wire reads nothing. What am I missing?

Yellow goes to battery, regardless of whether the boat ignition is on or not. It's for clock memory, presets, etc.

Red will get the same 12.4V (I assume you meant volts) once the boat ignition is switched on. Of course the black is ground. There will also likely be a blue for remote on for an amp, and maybe an orange or two for lights and dimmer.

How did you connect the red, yellow, and black wires?

 

[Tha_Hilly_88]

I have a 2003, and had no voltage on the red wire either. After trying to run down the issue for a couple of hours, I added a fused red wire from the fuse block power and called it done. There was also an empty accessory fuse and wire in the block.

Did your boat alarm out or stop alarming once you done this?

 

[Tha_Hilly_88]

Yellow goes to battery, regardless of whether the boat ignition is on or not. It's for clock memory, presets, etc.

Red will get the same 12.4V (I assume you meant volts) once the boat ignition is switched on. Of course the black is ground. There will also likely be a blue for remote on for an amp, and maybe an orange or two for lights and dimmer.

How did you connect the red, yellow, and black wires?

I just connected them straight to the red, yellow, and black wires on the new wiring harness.

 

[bajturner]

I have a 2003, and had no voltage on the red wire either. After trying to run down the issue for a couple of hours, I added a fused red wire from the fuse block power and called it done. There was also an empty accessory fuse and wire in the block.

Red should come on with ignition so when you turn your boat off the radio turns off also.

 

[Tha_Hilly_88]

Red should come on with ignition so when you turn your boat off the radio turns off also.

Correct, however, even when I have the ignition on it isn’t getting any power.

 

[bajturner]

I just connected them straight to the red, yellow, and black wires on the new wiring harness.

I don't know. I have seen problems when the metal basket of a speaker grounds out to the frame of a car. Not likely happening here.

No amp in the picture at all?

Battery have lots of juice? I guess so if you're getting 12.4V. Do you have any SmartCraft readout on the boat at all that could explain the alarm?

 

[bajturner]

Correct, however, even when I have the ignition on it isn’t getting any power.

Ah.

 

[bajturner]

Correct, however, even when I have the ignition on it isn’t getting any power.

Have you traced it back and checked for power along the way?

Does the boat start? Alarm or no alarm? Alarm only when radio connected?

 

[Tha_Hilly_88]

Have you traced it back and checked for power along the way?

Does the boat start? Alarm or no alarm? Alarm only when radio connected?

Boat runs as it should. Alarm goes off constantly now, even after I disconnected the radio.

 

[bajturner]

Boat runs as it should. Alarm goes off constantly now, even after I disconnected the radio.

Did you put all your fuses back? Do you have gauges with an LCD readout?

 

[Lazy Daze]

I'd start by going back and checking every single wire you touched.

But... do you have a carb'd or MPI engine? With an MPI, you'd have Smartcraft. What does the SC gauge say when the alarm is going off? You might have a separate issue. Or, you might be confusing the engine alarm with your depthfinder alarm.

 

[Tha_Hilly_88]

I don't know. I have seen problems when the metal basket of a speaker grounds out to the frame of a car. Not likely happening here.

No amp in the picture at all?

Battery have lots of juice? I guess so if you're getting 12.4V. Do you have any SmartCraft readout on the boat at all that could explain the alarm?

I do not believe my boat has an amp. I do not have the readout on my dash.

 

[Tha_Hilly_88]

Did you put all your fuses back? Do you have gauges with an LCD readout?

Yes, all fuses were put back in place. My gauges do not give a readout.

 

[ColoSR]

Random thought, the lube oil bottle has a low level alarm on it and none of the gauges give a readout when it goes off. Sometimes the floats develop a hole and sinks even when the bottle looks full. You can unplug the float switch and see if it turns off the alarm.

 

[ColoSR]

Red should come on with ignition so when you turn your boat off the radio turns off also.

The PO on mine had used the yellow wire to feed both yellow and red on the radio. I wanted to put it back on a switchable source, so added the red wire to the fuse block. I tried key on/off, battery on/off, but never did figure out why there was no power on the factory red wire.

 

[Tha_Hilly_88]

Random thought, the lube oil bottle has a low level alarm on it and none of the gauges give a readout when it goes off. Sometimes the floats develop a hole and sinks even when the bottle looks full. You can unplug the float switch and see if it turns off the alarm.

This is a good thought. I will check it when I get home.

 

[Lazy Daze]

So, with no smartcraft, an engine alarm will only sound for low oil pressure, high engine temp or low drive fluid. None of these are related to the stereo. So, back to the thoughts above... are you confusing the depth alarm with the engine alarm? Go back and recheck everything you touched.

12.4V (volts, not ohms) is getting on the lower side of a healthy battery. Is that with the engine running or turned off? It's possible the radio shut off due to low voltage.

With the engine alarm, you either have a real issue or something you touched during the stereo install is now shorting out.

 

[Tha_Hilly_88]

So, with no smartcraft, an engine alarm will only sound for low oil pressure, high engine temp or low drive fluid. None of these are related to the stereo. So, back to the thoughts above... are you confusing the depth alarm with the engine alarm? Go back and recheck everything you touched.

12.4V (volts, not ohms) is getting on the lower side of a healthy battery. Is that with the engine running or turned off? It's possible the radio shut off due to low voltage.

With the engine alarm, you either have a real issue or something you touched during the stereo install is now shorting out.

That’s with the boat off. It shows 14.4 with the boat running. My first thought was the battery, so I’m going to go ahead and replace it. If that doesn’t fix the issue, I’ll take it in to get it checked. The odd thing about the alarm is it didn’t start until the radio turned off. So, if it is the battery, this should cure it. However; if it doesn’t, it may be another one of the issues you listed.