Stereo Radio not working

Ron20324 · May 14, 2012

Do you have the "always on" lead hooked up? It does more than just preserve the channel memory. A Sony?

kpgraci · May 14, 2012

Do you own a multimeter? If not, get one - it doesn't have to be a very expensive one either. Radioshack if nothing else (just don't get it wet).

Test the fuse for continuity, test the power supply for proper voltage and polarity. If all good, pull out the radio and and test it with a known good power supply (car battery).

If it used to work it is most likely a bad connection, so there will not be any power at the radio - trace the wires back until you find power or just run new wires.

There is always the possibility the radio just died, but bad wires (power) are the most likely cause.

CABixler · May 14, 2012

cymeyer said:
I do have a multimeter and will try that.
The radio works (took it to West marine and they plugged it in).
Was just hard for me to believe that the wiring could go bad...
I will have to figure out which is are the two leads for power and ground (looks like black is ground and yellow is power)...

Does it work if the engine is running?? I replaced my radio with a new unit that has ipod hookup and bluetooth for my phone. worked great and then shut off in the harbor.

Turned out it was voltage sensing and if the voltage dropped below maybe 11.5 it shut down to save the starting ability. Heck the voltage and see if its closer to 12 volts.?

If the engine is running its over 12 volts and you have other problems....

Ron20324 · May 14, 2012

CHECK THE ALWAYS-ON power feed. Your wiring schmatic should have it labeled at the radio end and the battery end. I played havoc with my 2nd radio, plus the OEM one. I took the new one to West and he put it across the store battery to at least kick out my CD. It didn't work. I had the schematic and was wondering about the always-on, but the salesman figured it was not his problem and I left. Went back to the boat with both radios. I stiill wondered about that always-on supply. Turned out I had removed a 12-volt house battery that the A-A lead was wired to. Turned on that battery's on/off switch which connected the pos buss back to the missing battery wiring. Radio worked. I moved the lead to the pos buss and all is well again. Egg on my face, and I went back to the salesman and told him what I found: The always-on lead is needed to make the radio work!!! Look at your battery switches and there should be a fuse coming off a pos post. It just like your TV is always on and drawing power.

ALSO, there is a reset button behind the face plate.

centerline · May 14, 2012

cymeyer said:
I do have a multimeter and will try that.
The radio works (took it to West marine and they plugged it in).
Was just hard for me to believe that the wiring could go bad...
I will have to figure out which is are the two leads for power and ground (looks like black is ground and yellow is power)...

black is ground...
red is key switched power......
yellow is always on (batt +)...

these three wires will make the unit work if it is capable of working, which you said it is.
dont overlook the ground wire. you can have power to both the red and yellow wire, but if you have a faulty ground wire, you wont complete the circuit...

Ron20324 · May 15, 2012

cymeyer said:
...when I replaced the breaker, notihing was atttached to one side of the breaker (I am assuming it was the ground since a copper strip was attached to all breakers on that side.I suspect it is not grounded. quote]

Ground does NOT go on a breaker. The copper strip is probably the +buss that feeds each breaker./// It's not what should be done, but you CAN attach the red and yellow wires to the pos feed, but when the breaker goes off, you'll lose your stations stored in memory.

kpgraci · May 15, 2012

cymeyer said:
Thanks.
When I replaced the breaker, notihing was atttached to one side of the breaker (I am assuming it was the ground since a copper strip was attached to all breakers on that side.

Not to put to fine a point on this but...It seems you may be a little over your head on this electrical stuff, its one thing to wire a radio wrong, you don't want to wire the breakers wrong or you may start a fire...

Find a friendly and willing dock mate to put some extra eyes on this, better safe than sorry.

Getting a book on boat electrical as a bedside reader may be a good idea too.

Ron20324 · May 15, 2012

cymeyer said:
Ken...I don't need more people telling me how stupid I am. I need people telling me how I can fix this. I willl find someone who is willing to help me.
Chris

Chris, I am trying to help you, but Ken is not out of line. Point is, you say you will find someone who is willing to help you, and that is what Ken was suggesting. We're just trying to give you the advice BEFORE anything is done dangerously wrong. That's what these forums are for, and that's what we're trying to do- believe it or not.

kpgraci · May 15, 2012

Sorry you took my advice as an insult, it was not intended that way. We can't all be good at everything - I certainly don't hold that against you. My point was that sometimes it's better to be there, some problems are difficult to diagnose long distance.

You already tested the radio and proved it good, so...

...if the radio was getting power it would work - so it must not be getting power - the challenge is to find out why.

Could be the power is there but it's connected to the radio incorrectly - as others had mentioned the hot, always on, and the ground all need to be hooked up properly - a multimeter will tell you that.

However - if it were working in the past then we can assume that the connections are wired correctly - in that case they must be faulty - again a multimeter will tell you that.

Faulty could mean no voltage or low voltage, or I suppose even too much voltage.

The darn thing has no choice but to work if the wires are hooked up correctly and are supplying the pwr/ground they are supposed to. That is, unless the laws of physics cease to exist on your boat. $1 to My Cousin Vinny.

Ron20324 · May 16, 2012

I took out my OEM Sony to put in one with an input jack. I was just now putting my wiring diagram back in the box the new radio came in, I saw the new wiring harness still there, and it reminded me of something... The new Sony just slipped into the old one's slot- no wiring required, just put the OEM harness plug on the new radio. However, both radios have the same quirk- something loose in in the OEM harness plug that goes in the back of the radio. One of the power feed wires is sloppy so that if I just lower the breaker panel for rear access, the stereo cuts off and on. It does stay on with the panel up and radio in use. I could not find the faulty pin, but I WILL replace the OEM with the new harness/plug- when I've got all the other projects done!

CABixler · May 19, 2012

cymeyer said:
Checked the voltage and it was about 7 V. Must be enough to run the UHF radio, but not the stereo.
Odd that it has worked fine for 10 years and now stopped.
More checking...

That is good info. As I posted early the newer radios will shut off at lower voltage. My radio at about 11 volts. Theory is so your car/boat will still start.

UHF is used for critical communication and will run to a much lower level.

What is still a mystery is why if your engine is on and all three switches are switched to on, it would not work.

Simple quick check is to go right to the batteries. Disconnect one side to remove any load and check right at the post of the battery. I suspect your house battery has a bad cell.

CABixler · May 19, 2012

cymeyer said:
Craig,
Thanks for the advice on the phone.
It works fine now!
It is wonderful when someone with knowledge takes a couple minutes to share what they know and I am very grateful for what you have done to help me.

Chris

i'm glad it worked out. There are times owning a boat you wonder...."WHY do I do this??..." Then you fix it, have a great sail, and then know why.

Regards,
Craig