Stereo wiring or load question

[spirt320]

Hello all. I have a 2006 320DA since last year. Here is my problem. The stereo plays fine no problem in the cabin at all times, but will only play out in the cockpit when the galley lights and head lights are off. The other cabin lights can be on and the stereo will play through the cockpit speakers. From what me and my stereo guy can tell, nothing has been wired in such a fashion. I have changed the stereo and the amp anyway for an upgrade, but still same problem. He feels that it is the load and suggests that if I change to LED bulbs, all the lights would draw less and not cause the cockpit speakers to shut off. Nothing from the stereo looks to be wired to the galley light switch. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions of where or what to look at, I sure would appreciate it.

Thanks!

 

[Wylie_Tunes]

I get 2-3 boats a year that have some deep wiring issues. In a lot of cases, i know where the issue lies. I find its sometimes easier to do a complete rewire over that trying to dissect the system just to replace the offending circuit.

1st, whats driving the suspect speakers, the amp or head-unit? Start there. Each component has 3 wires needed to run. You can trace them down to see how they interact with the light switch, and fix the issue. The head-unit needs a ground, and constant B+ from the same source as the amp and a switched 12V trigger. The amp needs a ground from the battery, constant B+ from the battery or main switch and a 12V trigger from the head-unit's REM wire. None of these should intersect with any other non-audio circuits. It may take a volt meter to "see" what tied somewhere it shouldnt be.

 

[spirt320]

My stereo guy was checking with his volt meter. Only so far that he could tell was that when the galley lights get switched on while the stereo is going, the DC side drops to around 11.5 volts. With the galley lights off, the DC side stays well above 12 plus volts and there is no issue. Of course anything could have been wired in some crazy way by the previous owner. The stereo I removed, Clarion CMD6 was not the original. Also, previous owner or someone rewired, or disconnected/bypassed the helm on/off switch, the one with the little speaker looking thing on it. It is my understanding that the amp drives the cockpit speakers. We replaced the amp today with another because the other was having issues and thought that was the source of the problem. We will keep searching. He is supposed to go up next week to rewire some TV's and add a cockpit TV with my satellite dish in the slip, so hopefully he can get looking around at the wiring and in the engine compartment and see if anything is wired up weird.

 

[JimG]

In my boat, the cabin speakers are on the head unit, and the cockpit speakers are on the amp. They are in no way tied to your cabin lights... at least by Sea Ray!

Sounds like your cabin 12V bus is low, either you batteries are low or there is a bad connection somewhere. You should not have to go to LED's to fix this problem... although that is always a great upgrade.

 

[spirt320]

I agree about not having to change to LED's for this, about the speaker split from head unit and amp and that they are not tied into the lights. Batteries are good. They are new as well and this problem was happening prior also with the older batteries. It is just something somewhere that will take some time to track down. What is the 12 volt bus you mention? Is it replaceable or able to be checked?

 

[AMFM3]

In AMFM the while audio system has its own battery. It's hooked up to the charging system. Basically it's an added power source to drive the 3 amps. No issues and works with the house system.


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[JimG]

I agree about not having to change to LED's for this, about the speaker split from head unit and amp and that they are not tied into the lights. Batteries are good. They are new as well and this problem was happening prior also with the older batteries. It is just something somewhere that will take some time to track down. What is the 12 volt bus you mention? Is it replaceable or able to be checked?

There is a 12V feed to the breaker panel that supplies all of the DC to the cabin... this is the cabin 12V bus that I refer to. A charged, good battery bank should read 13+ VDC unloaded (even with alternator or generator not running). If it drops to 11.5V with just cabin lights on, I would be checking with a volt meter to find where it drops off. Start at the battery(s) and work towards the cabin breaker panel.

On my setup, the amp for the cockpit speakers is on a separate 12V source than the head unit. Check there and see if the amp 12V drops like the other cabin source (wherever your "stereo guy" measured it).
I'm not yet convinced that this is your stereo problem, but this symptom jumps out at me first.

 

[spirt320]

There is a 12V feed to the breaker panel that supplies all of the DC to the cabin... this is the cabin 12V bus that I refer to. A charged, good battery bank should read 13+ VDC unloaded (even with alternator or generator not running). If it drops to 11.5V with just cabin lights on, I would be checking with a volt meter to find where it drops off. Start at the battery(s) and work towards the cabin breaker panel.

On my setup, the amp for the cockpit speakers is on a separate 12V source than the head unit. Check there and see if the amp 12V drops like the other cabin source (wherever your "stereo guy" measured it).
I'm not yet convinced that this is your stereo problem, but this symptom jumps out at me first.

Yes, my amp is on a separate source than the head unit and overall it is reading over 13+ volts unloaded. With the stereo on, amp on with cabin and cockpit speakers working, and the cabin lights on except for the galley lights, everything works great. With all that running good, when you turn the galley lights on in addition, the voltage drops and the cockpit sound only cuts out. Agreed, no problem with the stereo equipment, must be a wire issue somewhere.

 

[spirt320]

Again, thanks to all the input from everyone. Another minor problem solved without a major expense. Located the issue. It was both a loose 12V ground and loose 12V power connection behind the distribution panel. Once tightened up, no more stereo problem and no more voltage drop.

 

[JimG]

Again, thanks to all the input from everyone. Another minor problem solved without a major expense. Located the issue. It was both a loose 12V ground and loose 12V power connection behind the distribution panel. Once tightened up, no more stereo problem and no more voltage drop.

Thanks closing the thread with the solution... good job!