Why does antenna get hot on marine radio

[ryandr]

Just wondering if anyone can help me i purchased a marine radio (am/fm) and put it in and turned it on and it worked fine but a min. Later the cable for my antenna started smoking and melting, the antenna is new or was new, i left the power antenna wire hang because it dosent have a power antenna? I dont know if anyone could help that would be great

 

[NYBo]

Re: Why does antenna get hot on marine radio

Welcome to iboats!

It sounds like the radio (or some other device) is getting its connection to the negative battery feed through the antenna grounding jacket. How do you have it wired?

 

[ryandr]

Re: Why does antenna get hot on marine radio

hey, thanks for the reply, the radio is actually mounted in a ice fishing house, i run my 12v lights and the radio off the same battery and found that when only the radio is hooked up alone it dosent get hot, but when i hook the lights and radio up together it gets hot, i just dont know where to start, i have wired radios before and never had a problem

 

[NYBo]

Re: Why does antenna get hot on marine radio

Are the lights hooked directly to the battery?

 

[ryandr]

Re: Why does antenna get hot on marine radio

everything is wired with large alligator clips so i can take the battery out easily to recharge

 

[NYBo]

Re: Why does antenna get hot on marine radio

And the only attachment to the antenna is where it's plugged into the radio? It's not mounted to anything metal that is then attached to the battery somehow??

 

[ryandr]

Re: Why does antenna get hot on marine radio

the antenna wire goes through the wall and the antenna is mounted on a piece of angle iron which is screwed to the aluminum siding

 

[ryandr]

Re: Why does antenna get hot on marine radio

and the only thing it is connected to is the radio

 

[ryandr]

Re: Why does antenna get hot on marine radio

i will have to check it out maybe i could have hit one of the light wires in the wall with one of the screws for the antenna, i thought i used short enough screws but i could be wrong, could that be my problem?

 

[NYBo]

Re: Why does antenna get hot on marine radio

The lights must be completing their circuit through the antenna somehow, so that's the place to start looking.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Why does antenna get hot on marine radio

alligator clips do not make good connections. wire in a 2-prong battery connector. also, it sounds like there is a grounding issue and the radio is being grounded thru the antenna.

 

[ryandr]

Re: Why does antenna get hot on marine radio

Ok, so i drilled a hole and i did not hit any light wires, there are no wires anywhere near it. I dont know any suggestions

 

[NYBo]

Re: Why does antenna get hot on marine radio

Check the negative leads from the battery terminal to the radio and lights. At least one of them doesn't seem to be doing its job, and the antenna ground cable is in the loop. You don't have the shack attached to the negative side, do you? If so disconnect it! Exactly where is the antenna cable heating up?

 

[ryandr]

Re: Why does antenna get hot on marine radio

the antenna melted the coating off it right down to the wire inside the shack and out, i will check my connections tomm. i dont have anything grounded to the shack, it sounds dumb but is there a certain way to put my antenna on? it has a metal washer and a rubber washer? what do you mean by having the shack attached to the negative side? thanks for all your help

 

[NYBo]

Re: Why does antenna get hot on marine radio

What I meant was, is the negative side of the battery connected to the shack's aluminum siding in any way (besides the base of the antenna)?

 

[ryandr]

Re: Why does antenna get hot on marine radio

no its not

 

[NYBo]

Re: Why does antenna get hot on marine radio

Okay, I'm running out of ideas. Can you post pictures of everything?

 

[fucawi]

Re: Why does antenna get hot on marine radio

Run a cable from the case of the radio to the battery negative ...your antenna braid should not be the current carrying neg supply for your radio.

 

[Fed]

Re: Why does antenna get hot on marine radio

What I meant was, is the negative side of the battery connected to the shack's aluminum siding in any way (besides the base of the antenna)?

no its not

If the shack was a bit 'hot' then I'd expect you would get current flow through the antenna braid and back to the battery negative via the radio.

 

[ryandr]

Re: Why does antenna get hot on marine radio

i picked up a new antenna today,put it i and havent had any problems, the only thing i did was there was a piece of metal strap with holes in it used to secure the radio that went on to a bolt on the back of the radio and then i screwed it to the inside of the cabinet the radio was mounted in, i looked it up and it said it was to secure the radio better and to properly ground it, i took it off and it seems to work fine could that be the problem or not?