Replacing am/fm sony radio on 40' Oceanis

[Captpete12]

Well, its' been nine hours of trying to do what I thought would be a simple swap! I am replacing the Sony am/fm/cd radio with a new Kenwood Satellite ready radio. Same size, same color coded wires on the harnesses; I matched them all up but no power to the radio. I have also lost my power to bilge pump (even though the auto and manual switch lights on the panel work). I recall being told that the bilge pump circuit is on the same one as the radio - as long as the radio light is on you know the bilge pump circuit works. I even tried hooking up the old radio and it does not work either. There is no power to the main yellow (from red) wire to ground which feeds the radio and I cannot find an in-line fuse (all 12V breakers are OK). Please, someone help before I go back to drinking!!

 

[Captpete12]

Follow - up: Some more info. When I test the hot lead to ground there is no voltage. If I use a hot leg on the 12V bus and connect it to the radio and use the same ground I get a substantial voltage drop when connected; 12V when i disconnect the load - maybe a bad ground?

 

[Davidasailor26]

Sounds to me like there is something wrong with the radio that's causing it to short out, and there probably is a fuse somewhere in the circuit that you've blown. You could try testing the resistance through the radio with an ohm meter.

 

[jssailem]

There is no power to the main yellow (from red) wire to ground

Pete, Reading this I am guessing, you attached the red power wire from the radio to a red lead from the DC Panel. That you have turned the radio on, and are now reading your meter connecting the "yellow ground lead" from the radio to a known ground point (i.e. The engine, or the negative terminal of the battery). And that your meter is not showing 12 VDC.
If this is the case, then the radio may have an internal fuse. Or the red power lead from the circuit breaker may not have power (circuit breaker issue?).
Just to isolate the radio form the system, try measureing the voltage from the red power lead from the DC panel at the radio, to a known ground. If good you know there is 12 VDC to the input of the radio. Then try a continuity test on the Neg (either it is a black or a yellow wire) from the radio to a known ground. This will confirm no issue for the wire to ground. If both are good then the error is in the radio. Take it back to the supplier.
I would expect the issue is going to be between the DC panel and the wire you are using to power the radio or between the Neg lead for the radio back to the DC panel ground.

The quote above had me confused, as if you were using a yellow lead for Positive. Yellow or black is Negative. Red is positive.

 

[Captpete12]

I should not be writing posts when I am tired! Here is the issue: both my bilge pump circuit and am/fm radio circuits have no power. On the Beneteau these circuits are wired direct from the battery together. If the lights on the radio are on then you know the bilge circuit is on as well. I may have inadvertently grounded the circuit when cutting the wires for the old radio harness and blown a fuse. I need to locate that fuse. The other issue with power to the radio dropping to 4-5 volts when I pick up a hot lead from the 12V bus and connect to the radio may be the black ground in the radio circuit. I am going to try using the yellow ground bus and the hot from the 12v bus. The radio is not the issue as both the old unit and the new one have the same problem. I seem to recall if there is a bad ground it may not show up until a load is placed on the circuit ie: the radio. I guess my question at this point is where is that fuse located for the bilge circuit.

 

[Davidasailor26]

I guess my question at this point is where is that fuse located for the bilge circuit.

On the 37 the bilge pump fuse is in a compartment in the aft cabin behind the main battery switches.

 

[Captpete12]

Thank you. On my way to check it out.

 

[RoyS]

The reason the radio has power through a fuse direct from the battery is to hold the memory settings when you switch off the battery. In your boat the builder apparently decided to use the bilge pump circuit for that function. Not a bad idea, that.

 

[Stu Jackson]

My recent experience with troubleshooting an old radio & CD player an installing a new radio is that they wouldn't power up UNLESS BOTH the red power and yellow memory and black ground were connected. The instructions also said to connect the ground first. I understand your issue is twofold: 1) cutting the wires when they were bundled together may have shorted out and blown the fuse you are now trying to find (BTDT!!! I feel your pain!); 2) some weird voltage issue perhaps related to the connection to the bilge pump circuit.

In reading your description, though, I was immediately confused with your use of yellow ground, recognizing that the "new black" in DC circuits is yellow! It might help to clarify what you mean to describe the colors the way I did above. I suspect that your "yellow ground bus" could be the negative for the bilge pump circuit as well as the yellow memory wire for the radio. Is your radio power (red) run to a switch on the panel or is it also always on thus dependent on the radio itself to turn the power off to it, rather than a breaker or switch on your main panel?

When you find that fuse, if it's in a hard to locate place, move the fuse by extending the wires.

And draw a wiring diagram. I always found that helpful and am glad I did that when I installed my last unit in 2007 when doing this work last month.

Good luck.

 

[Ron20324]

I swapped out my B323 Sony to one with a front panel input- a slide-out, slide-in task. The new didn't work. Took it to West and they put it on a battery and it worked. Back at the boat, the old one would not work either. Finally found that "always-on " fuse had blown. You really should consider a fuse block for separate fuses for the radio and bilge always on.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Pete & Ron,

Maybe I'm missing something, but Pete has a 40 foot boat and doesn't have a separate switch/breaker on his main electrical panel for "Stereo" and it runs off a hidden bilge pump inline fuse?

Gee, my 30 year old Catalina has a stereo fused switch on the panel. Interestingly enough, when I bought the boat the PO only watched TV, no music!!!

Go figger...

 

[Swede0030]

I had a similar problem on my B40 with power to my VHF and discovered on the 12V bus bar in the locker behind the accessory controls (VHF, HVAC, Radio, etc) tiny 12V breakers on each wire terminal. I'm not near the boat, so can't post a pic. Below is a link to a photo of the breaker for visual reference. Reset by pushing the pin on the front of the breaker.

http://ca-en.alliedelec.com/search/productview.aspx?SKU=70128919

 

[Ron20324]

Pete & Ron, Maybe I'm missing something, but Pete has a 40 foot boat and doesn't have a separate switch/breaker on his main electrical panel for "Stereo" and it runs off a hidden bilge pump inline fuse?..

Yeah, Stu I guess you missed the "always on" for the stereo memory. ALSO the always on bilge pump supply, both near the battery. I have a "radio" breaker on the main panel.

 

[LeslieTroyer]

I have a BlueSea glass fuse block for my 24x7 -- each bilge pump, stereo, battery monitors - gets its own fuse - that way if one item goes out an pops the fuse - the second pump will still be live. I'm switching it over to AGC fuses so I don't have to carry a bunch of different fuses. This panel gets its own feed from the battery via a MBRF fuse, and is not normally accessible for guests to mess with.