Stereo - Constant Power Wire

TimKLL

This might be more appropriate for the Electrical Discussions forum, but here goes:

Although I am overall thrilled with my new Sundeck 2200 DC OB I'm a little "put off" because of stereo stuff.

I wouldn't have guessed that the "Sirius Satellite Upgrade" meant that the radio was capable of playing Sirius - but to do so I would have to purchase the Sirius Vehicle Tuner and install it myself.

I didn't get the Thunder & Lightning package, a relative told me it was overkill.  I am happy with the sound & the output, but the Sony BT unit (MEX-M70BT) is kind of a dated unit and the wired Sony Marine Remote Commander (RM-X11M) is kind of ancient too.  The biggest deal there is that the remote has no display for what mode your system is, what radio channel, etc.  More current models have an LCD display showing all of that - this means having to open the head compartment door, squat down, and cycle through the sources/channels while watching the display on the head unit itself.  Bright sunlight makes this even more fun.  Sort of defeats the purpose of having the remote other than for volume up and down.  Small stuff overall, but still a bit of a PITA when you want to change sources or channels.

The biggie is that the stereo head unit was installed without the yellow wire going to a constant power supply.  Like a car stereo the unit calls for main power on the red wire, which can be switched, and constant power on the yellow - this keeps the clock current and all of your radio presets programmed, along with your Bluetooth pairing info for smarphones, etc.  I'm not sure if this was purposeful, or a shortcut (i.e. the opposite of half-slow).  I understand that the yellow constant wire would then have a draw on whichever battery it is connected to.  That could be bad, perhaps Hurricane does this on purpose(?).  I spent some time reading about this and the "memory" current draw is almost negligible, some say about the same as normal battery self-discharge, but I'd still like to have the features retained in the stereo. I'm going to spend some time tracing wires and probably will connect the yellow wire to a hot source to retain the memory stuff on the stereo, with a separate switch to shut that off in the off season when it is stored.  Does anybody have a suggestion as whether I should try to run a fused & switched wire directly back to the battery compartment, or would it be smarter to run the wire underneath the shell (if this is remotely possible...) and connect to an always hot source in the helm electronics panel?

I know there will probably be some replies saying that having the stereo memory stuff retained is not worth the risk of draining the battery/batteries.  I am using the boat often enough & believe that the current draw is small enough that I'm willing to take the risk.

Thanks!

HydroCanis

Well, I'm annoyed in general that vehicle stereos don't all have nonvolatile memory. I never bother to set my presets because I'm going to disconnect the batteries before long anyway. It'd cost maybe a quarter to do, and is the right way to do it. Then you'd only lose the clock when unpowered. What's more, they could easily put a capacitor inside so you wouldn't lose the clock until the power was off for a few days.

Having to use the compartment to change the station seems weird. At least now you have the wiring so if you change components presumably you won't have to deal with that.

Around 12 years ago (probably at other times too), some few people bought lifetime subscriptions. If you could buy one of those used XM or Sirius modules in working condition for a reasonable price... I found this, which seems to describe the Sirius side of lifetime subscriptions ( http://siriusbuzz.com/what-happens-with-that-sirius-lifetime-subscription.php  )

Drexx3

@TimKLL: I felt like I was reading my own post, that I never wrote. I have a 2015 Sundeck 2400 OB with the same radio, same remote, and same issues as you describe. I believe I have the solution to the radio memory for my boat and you may find a similar wiring fix for yours. I was able to obtain the wiring diagrams from Godfrey and I noticed a difference between two of them that should be the solution. 

Last weekend I unscrewed the breaker panel from the underside of my helm to see if the wiring matched either of the diagrams. Currently, both the radio memory wire (red w/yellow) and the radio main power (red w/purple) are connected to the same STEREO breaker as shown in one of the diagrams. This breaker is on post 87 of the relay which only energizes when the Master is switched on. All of the breakers are on that feed except for the horn and master breakers. 

I have identified the memory wire in the first diagram. I then noticed in a different wiring diagram that the radio memory wire is instead attached to the HORN breaker which is wired to the 12v lead from the battery along with the master breaker, and it is shown in the second diagram. 

I am going to move the memory wire next time I'm out and will report back whether that resolves the issue. What I don't know is if the 12v lead from the battery in the second diagram is affected by the battery switch. If so, the end result will be the same. And again if so, I'm going to hunt around with my tester to find a wire that hot even when the battery switch is off and feed off that. Stay tuned. 

TimKLL

Thanks Drexx3, good to know that at least the yellow memory wire is at the helm & not patched in closer to the stereo.  Hadn't thought about the horn option, will be curious to see if it is hot with the battery switch off - would think it probably is not. Easy enough to find out though, multi-meter like you're doing or even a toot-toot try with battery selector off. From other reading it looks like there is always power to the bilge pump, but don't know if that runs through the helm switch, or if that just overrides the float switch when you turn that switch on.

Looks like I need to contact Godfrey for my wiring diagrams. I can't get to the boat until next week, so I'll be curious what you come up with.

At this point I'm thinking of a couple of options:
1. The horn wire, depending on what you or I find out with that.
2. Looking at tapping into the bilge pump wire - if possible.
3. Tapping into the hot wire to the Master & jumping to one of my unused "Acc" switches, making it always hot. But I'm assuming even the feed to the Master is off when the battery selector is off.
4. Running a wire straight back to battery #2, fused & with a switch (maybe in the little access compartment in the head) that could be shut off for storage or long periods without use. I don't know how they do it but some cars have a deal where if you leave the interior lights on power is cut off to them before they can tap out the batttery. Going to look into that & talk to a friend that is pretty good with that kind of thing & see if he can offer any tips.

Sure would be nice if the stereo manufacturers made your settings & preset stuff as a non-volatile memory deal...

Drexx3

Ok so no joy on the horn breaker wire. It would be a solution as long as the battery switch is in one of the "on" positions but as soon as it was turned to off everything went dead. The marina where I keep my boat always turns the battery switch off before pulling it out of the water so the slight retiring wouldn't t be a long term solution for me. 

Interestingly there are a few wires running past the radio that I checked out. There is a small, probably 18-ga red and black wire pair that did not test positive for current with the switch off. There is also a much thicker, maybe 8-ga red (and accompanying black) wire running right by there as well that IS hot when the battery switch is in the off position. Don't know what it is going to. This wire is running along the port side and is accessible via the small hinged door in the head just below the sink. I have searched but can't find a decent way to tap off it without compromising the wire in some way. I will keep looking. Too bad there isn't a posi-tap that would work. You can see it in this photo, along the bottom of the opening, left side below the large white tube. 

M99

I have the same SD 2200 DC OB on order right now. When I placed the order I considered the radio options available, but decided to just go with the standard one that didn't seem too bad, and figured that I'd almost certainly just replace it with a much better radio that we can purchase for $300 or so on our own, and replace the factory installed one.  At least all the wiring would be in place. We can probably find radios that do include non volatile memory just for those problems, and with much better remotes as well.

cregeis1

I echo your sentiments!  I have a brand new 2015 Sundeck 2200DC which we have throughly enjoyed and are glad we upgraded from our 2004 Sundeck 187.  The radio losing Bluetooth and station memory drove me and especially my kids crazy so I had our dealer rewire it so that it has constant power.  Unfortunately, it was not cheap as he had to remove the entire dash.  It worked well for a while but recently it has been losing the Bluetooth memory again and you have to go to the head unit and re sync it.  Still not as bad as having to forget it on your iPhone and re syncing but still not right.  The remote works well but I do wish it had a display to show basic information.  Overall the standard radio sounds great and I am happy I did not go with the Thumder and Lightning system.

TimKLL

Solved the problem, was forced to make a decision because I had a little mishap and the Sony got wet and died. Debated over the plug-&-play ability of just getting the same unit, and then addressing the adjustment of the yellow constant-power wire to the horn circuit-breaker. Shopped like crazy, the only brand that seemed to have non-volatile memory was Jensen, but none of their units that I saw were Sirius XM ready (wanted it, got used to it in our vehicles).  Decided to go with Fusion, the MS-UD650 unit & their NMEA wired remote.  MUCH, MUCH pricier, I'll let the curious ones look it up themselves. Got it from Amazon. Had to make a plastic-wood plate cover for the old opening because the Fusion is standard DIN-sized, but the Sony was in a frame with a cover the protected the front with a drop-down window, so the opening was larger than standard DIN. The Sony was not protected from the back, the FUSION is totally encased and has some serious certifications for water resistance. Installation went well, used the old Sony remote's cable to drag the FUSION NMEA cable across under the deck. The remote fit in the same hole as the old Sony push-button only unit, only had to add 4 attachment screws. The new remote has EVERYTHING on the front of it, all the information and ability to change sources, channels, settings, etc. Fusion doesn't make mention in any of their marketing material, literature, etc., that they have non-volatile memory for settings, presets, etc. so I was prepared to change the yellow constant-power wire after the installation.  BONUS!, the Fusion kept all of that information after being shut down with the Stereo switch and Master Switch on the dash. All you lose with not having a constant power hook up is the ability to have the unit come out of a standby mode instead of a "full boot" mode. The full boot mode takes 5 seconds or so to start up. Perfect trade-off, I keep my presets, settings, etc. without risking the draining of the battery - I can live with the 5-second full-boot up instead of the wake from standby. SECOND BONUS!, right after installing the unit I checked on the Apple iTunes store and the FUSION-LINK app that was announced a couple of months ago - controls some units through WiFi and some (mine) through Bluetooth - was updated on July 16th.  I sat up in the bow this afternoon, while my son drove, and irritated my wife by cycling through sources, channels, etc. with my iPhone. Definitely a much pricier solution, but I'm delighted with the results.

HydroCanis

Sounds very nice. Glad to hear some models have nonvolatile memory. It's always good to have devices with the potential to irritate family members.