Electrical--power to stereo receiver

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raingolfer's picture
raingolfer
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Electrical--power to stereo receiver

I purchased a new car/marine AM/FM CD Stereo receive w/ Bluetooth capability to replace the existing (and working) receiver that is mounted on the little wall above/forward of the nav table. a PO cut out through that plywood so the radio hangs on the inside of the first cabinet on the starboard side.
There is a red and black cable lead from a unique breaker on the panel to power this. I don't recall what gauge wire, but I'd guess about 12 or 14.

I installed and connected up the new stereo (tying the yellow (ignition power) and red (constant power) leads on the stereo to the red/positive from the panel), and the negatives (black) together.
Stereo worked fine the first day. I flipped off the breaker when we left the boat to turn it off.

Next time out, stereo doesn't work. I contacted Crutchfield (where I bought it), and we tested/measured power to the unit with my multimeter. I'm not getting a full 12 V DC, (I don't recall the exact voltage). However, I neglected to test the radio when powered direct at one of the battery systems. (my bad)

Anyway as best I could initially figure, the unit went bad, so they sent me a replacement. When it didn't work either, I then realized I needed to test at the battery, so I tested at the engine start battery. Bingo, both radios work.
Egg on my face.

But, I'm trying to figure out what has occurred that I'm not getting enough/correct power where the radio is installed. Radio worked, now it doesn't.

I'm planning to pull the panel out, to look at the wire run and connections at the breaker. Possibly there's a fuse hidden or something else?
What can I test, and what should the readings be?

Doug

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newguy
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Check both sides of the stereo circuit breaker with your radio connected and "on".  With the breaker "on", you should measure the same: battery voltage, and this voltage would be 12.6 volts on fully charged batteries with all charging sources off.  You might have a bad circuit breaker or low house batteries.

Nick Caballero
Retired C36/375IA Mk II Technical Editor

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raingolfer
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Posts: 17

Thanks, Nick. I did some more checking. I thought I'd eliminate the possibility of the cable run from the panel to the stereo location. Using some wire I connected the receiver to the terminals on the back of the breaker panel. Radio worked. So I went back to the installation location, and cut off the crimp connectors and tied in the stereo wire to wire. Radio works. I cut back the wire, redid the crimp connectors very carefully, and we have music. I don't understand why previously my multimeter could read 12+ volts, but the radio didn't work. But I can only conclude that my connections weren't ideal.
Fingers crossed it'll still come on when I come back.  :)

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GaryB
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Posts: 570

Based on the year of your boat I am going to assume you have fuses on your panel vs. circuit breakers, by the Nav station. Then another assumption is that the PO attached the radio leads to the accessories switch. You could check the fuse associated with the switch. Another area to check is on the backside of the panel make sure all the wires are plugged in. I had a 1984 Catalina 30 and when you dropped down the panel board some wires would unplug themselves as the wire was either short or the fit of the connector was loose.

Gary Bain
S/V "Gone With The Wind"
Catalina 36', Hull #: 1056, Year: 1990, Engine: M-35
Standard Rig
Moored: Boothbay Harbor, Maine
Home: Auburn, Maine

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Chachere
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Posts: 825

I haven't had this problem exactly, but I've noticed on our boat that the stereo is very voltage sensitive, such that it starts cutting out if the battery voltage is low, before other systems on the boat start complaining).  Gary's comment about the wiring on the back of the panel brings to mind the substandard panel wiring on the older Mk Is (like ours), where the circuits are fed by a series of daisy-chained connections, as opposed to a nice solid buss-bar.  Although we haven't noticed significant voltage drop issues from this, I recall reading here that others have and installed a bus-bar (or totally rebuilt the panel).  See, e.g.,
https://www.catalina36.org/forum/technical-discussion/question-about-12v...
  So you might want to carefully inspect and clean ALL the connections that get the power (eventually!) to the fuse for the stereo -- all those spade plugs connections could add up to a voltage loss.

Matthew Chachère
s/v ¡Que Chévere!
(Formerly 1985 C36 MKI #466 tall rig fin keel M25)
2006 Catalina Morgan 440 #30.
Homeported in eastern Long Island, NY

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raingolfer
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Joined: 3/21/15
Posts: 17

Thanks, Gary. I have an updated panel with breakers. One of the previous owners made that improvement, thankfully. And I spent another couple hours tinkering and testing, and then reconnecting and have it working. I think my crimp connection skills have room for improvement. But, I'm getting practice. :)

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clennox
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Posts: 212

Doug
If you haven't read Mailsails great article concerning wire crimping. Please check it out.
Thank you Mainsail!

 http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/terminating_small_wires

 

Chuck Lennox
97 MKii Ventura Ca
Island Girl Hull #1611

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