Stereo cuts out after a short time with engine off

[deangraham]

Hi I have just bought a 96 hunter 29.5, we had our maiden voyage at the weekend, we are totally besotted with the boat, just a question regarding the wiring.

The stereo works fine only when the engine is running, after the engine is stopped the stereo cuts out intermittently for a few seconds then switches off completely.

I upgraded the stereo to one that would play dvd's though a tv (kenwood KDV-U4349)

The house batterys are fairly new and there are two of them.

Unfortunately I didn't use the old one so I'm not sure if this is normal the wiring setup or the new stereo unit

The stereo is on the same switch board control as the vhf, behind it there is another small battery - could it be run off that? - maybe I should bypass this?
Any ideas?

Dean

 

[Jackdaw]

Dean,

I am assuming that the PO did not want to run the old radios keep-alive +12v wire (typically orange) directly to the house battery,`so he added a small battery for that purpose. Its strange but I've seen stranger. Track down what is connected to that battery.

 

[deangraham]

Ok, thanks I'll track down that and see if that helps.

 

[deangraham]

The main orange wire out of the wall is going to a vsr voltage sensitive relay, main black one out of the wall to this extra battery, out of the vsr there is an orange wire going to the battery and a black one going to the battery.

Interestingly the vhf and stereo seem to run off the same red wire, which both run of behind the battery possibly back into the wall.

The stereo manual says it has a maximum current of 10a, is that excessive?

 

[deangraham]

I just ran it without the engine until the stereo stopped working (about 1/2 an hour) then put a multi meter onto the battery that seems to drive it, its flashing between 9 and 10 volts, maybe that is enough to drive the vhf but not the stereo.
when I turn off the switch board switch that drives the two of them the voltage goes back up to 12.08v

I'm not sure what of this if any is relevant.

 

[Jackdaw]

Wow. the VSR I'm assuming is there to charge this mystery battery, Unless I'm missing something it seems like a like a lot of extra complication for little benefit. But some people are really adverse to running anything to the batteries with the switches are off. Can you draw up a wiring diagram of what you see? Maybe some pictures? MS will probably jump in here too at some time.... ;^)

 

[deangraham]

its a bit hard with all of those wires disappearing off behind the mystery battery, at this stage I think I will either replace the battery (it says purchase date 2003 on it) or get a sparky to bypass it.

 

[captainpat]

I would concur, the prime suspect is the 8 year old battery. Have it tested to be sure, but I would opt to replace it anyway.

 

[deangraham]

All done, it was just that battery, it turns out that it was a survery requirement for a boat in charter (which it used to be) to have the vhf run off another battery.

I had an electrician come down and rewire so that battery is not needed and check out some other things at the same time.

Thanks everyone for the help.