Fitted a car radio to boat - won't work. Why?

N

NPMR

Well-Known Member
Joined
14 Feb 2006
Messages
2,295
Location
Cornwall
Visit site
Fitted a car radio to boat - won\'t work. Why?

Took the radio out of wife's Clio (she wanted a new one, even though the old one worked fine) and so I fitted it to the boat this afternoon.

Light comes on power switch but 'codes' request (expected) did not light up, nor any other screen activities.

Any thoughts on where to look to sort it? Polarity seems OK. Followed exactly the instructions from supplier of connector block. So now what?

Stumped. Thoughts anyone? Is it a "chuck it and stop being a meany" and buy a new one?
 
Re: Fitted a car radio to boat - won\'t work. Why?

Have you connected the permanent feed as well as the switched feed? When I fitted one the permanent feed became disconnected and I had a similar symptom.
Barry
 
Re: Fitted a car radio to boat - won\'t work. Why?

fleetwoodmac is on the right track, two sources of the go juice is needed, one switched and one unswitched, why ummm.
its got something to do with the demands of modern radio and modern tea leaves.
consider the radio system as one lump to wire in and the amp as another. hope you enjoy the archers :-)
neil
 
Re: Fitted a car radio to boat - won\'t work. Why?

Agree, but a permanent feed will flatten the battery over a surprisingly short time if the boat is not in use. You can avoid this by connecting the permanent and switched feed wires together after the isolating switch but you will lose code and programme settings every time you switch off the supply. This may not matter to you.
 
Re: Fitted a car radio to boat - won\'t work. Why?

And finally car radios usually have a 3rd power input to the lighting which comes on and is dimmed with the dash lights. This however is usually optional but you may have fed the power just to the light circuit.
The permanent power on circuit AFAIK is just for the memory back up for tuning while the switched power gives the radio the necessary power. Yes I found that digitally tuned radios are no good on my meagre power and could flatten the battery after a few weeks. So I went and found an old manually tuned car radio then no probs. good luck olewill
 
Re: Fitted a car radio to boat - won\'t work. Why?

one supply lead on the radio prevents it from loosing its code and memory stations when you switch off. ANd you cant just ignore one of them. Radio will draw some milliamps in maintaining memory, but when you switch off boat power you will not drain the battery .. but you will lose memory settings and CODE. BatterySome car radios are futher complicated in that they have provision for switching on/off of electric aerial (if even non was fitted to the care, the radio may still have it as a feature)
Need wiring diag - might be often pasted under removable plate on radio casing.
 
Re: Fitted a car radio to boat - won\'t work. Why?

You need to be careful with some of the very modern car radios. I don't know if your Clio will be one of them (probably not) but the most recent offerings have the radio integrated with the car's own electrical system to a surprising degree. The car manufacturers are starting to go over to a multiplexed system for car electrics so they can do fancy things like having remote controls for volume and radio scanning near the steering wheel and so that they can mute the radio automatically when a hands-free phone kit is connected as well as automatically crank the volume up a bit with road speed and all sorts of other fancy tricks. I don't know how easy it would be to take one of these out of the car and get it to work with a good, old-fashioned 12v positive-and-earth electrical system.
 
Re: Fitted a car radio to boat - won\'t work. Why?

This thread confirms my fear that car radio is not the way to go on the boat unless you spend a long time hooked up to shore power.

I am still looking for a neat/good/ convenient way to play MP3 files on board through speakers (cockpit and saloon) using the boats 12v power, without the battery power drain of permanent live to maintain memory /security code and the power drain of flashy light displays and the power drain of physically spinning CDs. All of which come with car radios.

Any ideas ?
 
Re: Fitted a car radio to boat - won\'t work. Why?

You could just get a 12V amplifier and use your normal mp3 player to supply the input. But a car stereo will not drain the battery if you make sure the permanent feed is switched. The only issue is the annoyance of re-entering the code every time you start it up, but a face-off set would probably not have a code.
 
Re: Fitted a car radio to boat - won\'t work. Why?

I installed a sony CDX-GT200 last year (and again this winter due to the burglary) without any problems at all. I combined both main power and memory power under the one fuse/line from the switchboard and thus power off at the switchboard kills it completely. It is an MP3 player and has an input point on the front for connection from the ipod - this also works to provide some measure of surround sound when I am watching DVDs on the laptop.
 
Re: Fitted a car radio to boat - won\'t work. Why?

I have had a variety of car radios in various boats for the past 20 years, all with the main power source on the switched supply and the code memory lead permanently on. Battery drain is infinitesimal and has never been a problem. Until recently I had a Sony CD player that will take mp3 on disc. This now changed for a Sony CDX-GT300 that will take mp3 on disc, or via a dedicated connector for Ipod, or from a front mini-jack connector to any other audio source. We can use this for our small DVD player, previously watched with headphone audio, good quality but not very convenient.

An answer to the original question - check the car manual. Some radios need a security code to be input when the battery power is disconnected. The code is normally printed in the manual but if not you can obtain it by contacting a dealer for the vehicle. They should put you in touch with somebody who will 'sell' you a code.
 
Re: Fitted a car radio to boat - won\'t work. Why?

We've fitted a Tevion car CD/radio head unit into our aft cabin without a problem. Bought it in Aldi, cost £40, has a USB plug, a slot for SD memory cards, plays CD-mp3s, and it has a remote so I don't have to lean over John to switch it off when he's fallen asleep!
When we leave the boat ashore for the winter, we take the in-line fuse out, so it can't drain the battery; we don't have any problem with security codes, although we do have to re-tune the radio every time; but as we hardly ever listen to the radio (you can't get Classic fm in Greece!),that doesn't bother us. I've just transferred most of my music from my hard drive onto several 2gb-SD cards (Amazon, £7.50 each), and Bob's your uncle.
 
Re: Fitted a car radio to boat - won\'t work. Why?

On some radio models, you have to connect the chassis insert to neutral as well as by its proper neutral lead. In a car, the bodywork makes this contact almost invariably, but in a boat, the insert is put in a wooden panel, which insulates it from neutral.
As to problems with modern car radios in boats, the following story. Bought a new car radio, mp3 enabled, for the boat. Then installed a weather station . All fine. Then added wireless temperature sensors for the boiler and fridge. Intermittent crackling and hum. Installed the radio in the car. Purrfect. Installed an older non-USB non-MP3 radio in the boat, fine!
Lesson to all this, the more features, the more trouble...
 
Re: Fitted a car radio to boat - won\'t work. Why?

Vyv,
Agree battery drain is not an issue, I was surprised by all the comments about it - after all I regularly leave my car for weeks at a time when abroad and don't have a flat battery when I return and the boats batteries are many times larger capacity.
Barry
 
Re: Fitted a car radio to boat - won\'t work. Why?

[ QUOTE ]
Vyv,
Agree battery drain is not an issue, I was surprised by all the comments about it - after all I regularly leave my car for weeks at a time when abroad and don't have a flat battery when I return and the boats batteries are many times larger capacity.
Barry

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed. I've had no problems re discharge and don't understand these comments either. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

Frogmogman
My next boat.
2 3
Replies
40
Views
1K
fredrussell
F

Share this page

Top