Car radio/CD wiring for boat

[ianc1200]

Yesterday spent a fruitless 4 hours trying to wire a new Pioneer CD radio Bluetooth etc radio, taking out old cassette radio player. The 4 hours were wasted because it kept blowing a fuse, following wiring runs etc. After taking much apart I found a small fuse box at the base of the food cupboard, I guess this is the fun of 2nd boats. Whilst on the boat I did a search here & found on an old thread the "continuous supply" connection should be simply doubled off the red on/off from the battery, and accept the radio will never be permanently powered unlike a car.

I did notice the VHF radio in the same panel had an odd wire screwed to the ply panel & onto the metal casing at the back of the VHF, almost like it was a grounding wire (but seemingly not doing anything). However I did wonder whether the new radio should have it's body grounded to the earth supply, presumably it would be so in a car via the fixings, and there were two similar (to the VHF) grounding screws on the radio, but no mention was made of them in the fixing instructions.

Anything to worry about?

 

[nigelmercier]

Most car radios are not chassis bonded anymore, they slide into a plastic tray. If they need it, they do it themselves.

 

[elton]

I wired the continuous supply straight to the battery, with an inline fuse right next to the battery positive). Draws a few milliamps, but saves having to retune every time. I have a small solar panel mounted on the pushpit to compensate.

 

[Avocet]

Don't worry about earthing the radio case. it will be done internally anyway. Modern cars have far too much plastic in them for the radio manufacturer to be able to be sure of a decent earth otherwise. I have commoned the permanent and ignition feeds together because I flip the battery isolator switch whenever I leave the boat anyway, but there probably isn't much harm in doing what Elton has done, if you have a suitably small fuse. I just live with the hassle of re-tuning the stations each time I get on.