I recently put a new sound system with amp in my boat. It works well at 3/4 of power when the boat is running. If I turn it up louder it cuts in and out. If the boat is off I can only run the volume at 1/2 the power. Do I need a bigger alternator. If so where do I order one?
What are you running for batteries? If the motor is off, then the alternator doesn't come into play. You might also check your grounds. I went through the same thing. Turned out to be a weak ground so I ended up just running a wire all the way back to the battery.
sounds to me like it could be something else, too small of cables ( + and - ) or bad battery, unless you put a couple super huge cometition amp, or numerous high powered basic amps, you should not have that problem.
Had the same problem several months ago with a new stereo, and did what Jordanpaul stated, and it worked fine there out.
Sounds like you're running into a low voltage problem. If you are willing to list how extensive your system is(including powr/ground wiring and battery), we might be help solve your problem.
[This message has been edited by ROZ (edited May 31, 2002).]
From what you describe, you have 1, maybe 2 problems. The first (I'd put money on this) I've seen numerous times and is common. You probably used an automotive radio and reversed the memory lead (unswitched) and the main power lead (switched). The radio is pulling power through the memory circuit and can't supply enough power for the pre-amp at higher volume. Check the schematic carefully.
Damn....
The 2nd is the ground circuit. Make sure you are using at least a 14ga ground wire from the radio chassis (as well as the black wire in the radio harness) to a good ground. As was mentioned earlier, you can run it to the battery or even the engine. The easy way to test the ground is hook up a second (redundant) ground from the radio chassis to the neg cable at the battery.
Good luck,
BBT
On both my boats, when I wired the stereo, I put the switched and unswitched leads together. That way the key can be off, which also leaves the MSD box off, the fuel pump off... etc. Just my .02.
Jordy
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote