Twister_Ken
Well-known member
Any reason to shop at a chandlery, rather than Halfords?
'Car' radio/CD/MP3 for downstairs.
- Thread starter Twister_Ken
- Start date
Kylora
Member
Dockhead
Active member
The damp will kill an automotive unit faster, than a marine one. Probably cost effective to put in automotive ones and repace them from time to time, but I bought top-notich marine sound (a nice Alpine ida-x100m) for only $300 in the states; less than 200 squids. At that price it's hardly worth compromising on the damp-proofing of marine-specific units.
Allan
Well-known member
I fitted one from Lidl or Aldi, which cost me £50, it takes USB sticks, sd cards plus CDs, the sound is great. It came with a remote control, which seems strange for use in a car but is great on the boat. As it has front and rear speakers I plan to fit speakers in the cockpit soon. To use the remote you have to be able to see iit from the cockpit. It has last a year so far without problems. When I bought my boat it had a cassette player which looked quite old and still worked.
Allan
Allan
Csprod
New member
What about the stereo memory ?
Does it draw enough current to flatten the ships battery when away for an extended length ??
Does it draw enough current to flatten the ships battery when away for an extended length ??
john_morris_uk
Well-known member
Mrs Morris bought me one of these:http://www.fusioncaraudio.com/united-kingdom/marine-audio-2/stereo-units-15/msip500-56-product.aspx at the boat show.
Its their marine version and waterproof and at £199 was a lot cheaper than the £360 which I was quoted for Sony Marine equivalent.
It doesn't lose its memory when you turn the power off and has a remote control station feature if you want to control it from your cabin or up top.
I haven't fitted it yet, but it seems nicely made and I hope will last longer than the cheap car radio I had once which fell apart from the salt laden damp air of the marine environment.
Your i-Pod slides inside very neatly and its also got four zones, so I am thinking of speakers in cockpit, saloon, and our cabin....
Its their marine version and waterproof and at £199 was a lot cheaper than the £360 which I was quoted for Sony Marine equivalent.
It doesn't lose its memory when you turn the power off and has a remote control station feature if you want to control it from your cabin or up top.
I haven't fitted it yet, but it seems nicely made and I hope will last longer than the cheap car radio I had once which fell apart from the salt laden damp air of the marine environment.
Your i-Pod slides inside very neatly and its also got four zones, so I am thinking of speakers in cockpit, saloon, and our cabin....
gjgm
Active member
The remote is almost certainly infra red, meaning you need clear line of sight. Good for a tv control, but maybe less use on a boat. I m about to experiment with bluetooth music streaming, if the stuff will turn up! BTooth signal does deteriorate a bit with physical objects, and normally has a a range of 10m (should be enough), but the advantage would be you can mount down below in the dry, and have an effective remote playing control- you can stream off mp3/ipod/phone/laptop too, so if it works, it would be very flexible.Got a phone in your pocket, or on the helm..? Thats all you'd need.
How much for all this on-the-move flexibility ? Not much. If you get a BTooth player, thats it.... If you need a streaming receiver, well, yet to try it, but £15...Also need transmitter? About the same.
The other possibility is to use an FM transmitter, but this tends to mean the player has to be plugged in to 12v cig socket.
So, I think its worth deciding what you might want to do, bcz the car cd players have lots of possible extras.
tillergirl
Well-known member
I've had a car radio/CD acquired cheaply from Cash Converters and it's survived the damp on a wooden boat for over 10 years. I never remove it. It will be fine. Always powered down by battery switch. Need one that doesn't security lock when the power goes off though!
lw395
Well-known member
I would not worry too much about the current, it's likely to be less than the battery's self discharge.
S o it won't significantly change the need to keep the battery topped up imho.
It does mean you have to thik about how you isolate different circuits, rather than having a simple, bullet proof 'off at the batteries' approach.
Twister_Ken
Well-known member
"Need one that doesn't security lock when the power goes off though!"
Good point!
Good point!
Vara
Active member
Nope non at all, unless you're going to install it on the fly bridge.
Halfords is a bit pricey,E-bay/Aldi/Lidl have good offerings.
Make sure you get a loose tailed connector at the same time. (£15 Halfords, £3.50 E bay)
If you dont want the battery drain don't connect the memory wire (yellow IIRC)
Still works.
I got an SD/USB one, 8 giga whatnots total cost £60 and sounds good to me,and as it's hidden in a locker it's inferior aesthetics don't offend.
salamicollie
New member
The other way to avoid the power off problem is to buy one with a removable front panel - they tend not to be PIN protected, so all that you loose is the stored FM stations if you fully power down. Standard automotive units seem to last quite well enough down below. I have used http://www.audio66.com/ in the recent past who are prob a bit cheaper than halfords (a swinderly for cars!)
noelex
Well-known member
Providing it’s a reasonably dry boat there is no problem using a car unit. The life is typically many years and they usually fail from a worn drive mechanism on the CD player.
I just purchased an Alpine X200. It only plays MP3 not CD's which means there is less chance of salt getting inside. You can fit all your music on a USB stick and never have to touch it. There is still access individual albums or songs from the interface. Another advantage seems to be slightly lower power consumption than a similar CD player. About 0.5A with reasonably inefficient speakers.
For lowest power consumption disconnect the unit completely as they do use a bit of power on standby (this varies a bit with different units so it’s worth measuring to see if worthwhile). It is also worth connecting the “headlights on” wire to the + supply. This will dim the illumination and save another 5-10%
The sound quality is great (for a boat) despite what some other posts on MP3 have said and I am fussy.
I just purchased an Alpine X200. It only plays MP3 not CD's which means there is less chance of salt getting inside. You can fit all your music on a USB stick and never have to touch it. There is still access individual albums or songs from the interface. Another advantage seems to be slightly lower power consumption than a similar CD player. About 0.5A with reasonably inefficient speakers.
For lowest power consumption disconnect the unit completely as they do use a bit of power on standby (this varies a bit with different units so it’s worth measuring to see if worthwhile). It is also worth connecting the “headlights on” wire to the + supply. This will dim the illumination and save another 5-10%
The sound quality is great (for a boat) despite what some other posts on MP3 have said and I am fussy.
Twister_Ken
Well-known member
On reflection a CD player is probably unnecessary, and if it could run from a USB stick or an ipod, that makes it pretty much a solid state unit, with no moving parts to wear, or pull in salty air.
As to battery drain when not being used, considering these things can sit in parked cars for weeks on end, and not suck all the sparks from a smallish auto battery, being permanently wired into a boat's domestic bank shouldn't pose a problem, surely?
As to battery drain when not being used, considering these things can sit in parked cars for weeks on end, and not suck all the sparks from a smallish auto battery, being permanently wired into a boat's domestic bank shouldn't pose a problem, surely?
25931
Well-known member
I´ve used car radios in various boats for the past forty years, so far without a single problem - which is more than I can say for several items of marine equipment.
Jim
Jim
Gordonmc
Active member
I fitted a Fusion model from ebay which came with a pair of waterproof speakers for just under a hundred sovs. It replaced a car radio which fell to bits in a pile of rust (damp wood boat).
The CD slot has a cover with a neoprene seal. A tail allows for MP3/Aux input via mini-jack.
I also invested in a VHF/FM aerial splitter which gives very good reception from the masthead antenna.
So far so good. The memory battery drain is not significant and as the unit is powered from the main fuse array the power goes off altogether when the boat is unmanned.
It would be perfect if it had long-wave which is the only frequency range that penetrates the sea loch where the boat is moored.
The CD slot has a cover with a neoprene seal. A tail allows for MP3/Aux input via mini-jack.
I also invested in a VHF/FM aerial splitter which gives very good reception from the masthead antenna.
So far so good. The memory battery drain is not significant and as the unit is powered from the main fuse array the power goes off altogether when the boat is unmanned.
It would be perfect if it had long-wave which is the only frequency range that penetrates the sea loch where the boat is moored.
Richard10002
Well-known member
If you've got a TV on the boat, this one plays DVDs:
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_730003_langId_-1_categoryId_165474
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_730003_langId_-1_categoryId_165474
seanfoster
Member
There's some quite reasonably priced marine units here: http://www.incarexpress.co.uk/marine-head-unit.php
rob2
Active member
My boat has a car radio/cassette built into the cabin - works great after twenty odd years, but I can't change it as newer units are much deeper (originally to accomodate CDs) and protrude from the wall! It also doesn't have presets, so i guess I'll stick with it...
Rob.
Rob.
PetiteFleur
Well-known member
I've used car radios on several boats without any problem. My current boat did have defunct ancient car radio in the rear cabin which when removed had an obvious leak dripping directly onto the casing. I cured the deck leak, fitted another car radio and it's worked fine for 4 years and I suspect for several years more. As long as they are are in a dry internal space they should be fine, and they are cheap to replace if they do pack up.
I currently have two cheap eBay radios on my boat, in the rear cabin and saloon. Had to choose carefully, as said earlier to avoid radios with a security feature. I don't wire in the 'memory' wire so it doesn't flatten the battery.
I currently have two cheap eBay radios on my boat, in the rear cabin and saloon. Had to choose carefully, as said earlier to avoid radios with a security feature. I don't wire in the 'memory' wire so it doesn't flatten the battery.