Power for entertainment radio/CD player

[smokey73]

1994 Hunter 40.5

When I got the boat last year the entertainment radio/CD player was not there but the harness and a cutout near the navstation was already in place. I've finally gotten around to installing a new radio With the new radio I needed to wire a new harness. In doing so I find that the power wire is hooked live to the supply side of the bilge pump switch. I assume this was to provide always live power to the radio so the time, etc was displayed when the radio was off and it retained its memory. (PO was a iivaboard)

Where do you get the power for your radio? Do you use a separate breaker or tie into an existing one? I'm not real comfortable with anything coming off the power side of the bilge pump unless its the norm? Thanks in advance.

Dan

 

[dparilla]

I have mine wired to it's own breaker, the constant power wire I ran to the positive (and fused) terminal of my house bank. I have also seen several installations with both leads run to the same breaker. The owners did not care about the memory function and chose to be able to quickly kill all power to the unit.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Dan's right. There are a couple of different ways to skin the cat.

http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,5807.0.html

Good luck.

 

[Bill Roosa]

You have two power wires on radios. the always hot that retains the memory, clock etc and the normal switched power.
I have my always hot coming off the supply side of the bilge pump switch (which runs to the house bank directly) and the switched power coming off the "radios" CB. There should also be a fuse between the CB and radio. The CB protects the wires and the fuse protects the radio

 

[smokey73]

Thats what I was thinking I'd do

You have two power wires on radios. the always hot that retains the memory, clock etc and the normal switched power.
I have my always hot coming off the supply side of the bilge pump switch (which runs to the house bank directly) and the switched power coming off the "radios" CB. There should also be a fuse between the CB and radio. The CB protects the wires and the fuse protects the radio

Bill, that's what I was thinking I'd do barring some overwhelming info from others. I can't imagine a new radio putting that much draw on the battery for the clock/memory.

thanks.

Dan