xStreamPros
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- Joined
- Nov 8, 2014
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I am looking to set up a large stereo system and came across a post that is now closed. I had some questions relating to that post. The post can be found here: http://forums.iboats.com/forum/boat...-boat-large-stereo-multiple-battery-setup-how
Text from the post is as follows:
Re: Pontoon Boat - Large Stereo - Multiple Battery Setup? How
Ok.. never mind the nay saying old timers here. Do what you want and have fun with it! I run 4 amps with 14 - 6x9s and 6 - 4" speakers in my boat and wouldn't trade it for the world. I'm respectful of others and know when I can and can't turn it up. I go way the hell back in open country, lakes and swamps with no one around for miles. There's nothing like full stadium sound at WOT. Nothing.
Anyway.. your main problem here is that you can't upgrade your charging system like we can with an I/O motor. I run a 200A marine alternator and it pushes everything like a dream. The solution that the previous owner was using sounds like the best one, honestly. You can get plenty of stereo play out of 2 batteries and 3 amps. I was actually only running 1 battery to my previously 3 amps before and even with a decent amount of volume behind it would last a couple hours if not more. Make sure you have the biggest, baddest marine battery you can get. Walmart has decently cheap, huge, marine deep cycle batteries for around $85. One battery for starting and two batteries for stereo sounds like a decent enough solution.
This is what I would do. For the sake of argument, we'll call the starting battery #1 and the other stereo batteries #2 and #3.
- Get 6 of these multi-tap battery lugs: http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-8-AWG-Gaug...item460107728b
- Daisy chain the grounds of all the batteries together with 4AWG marine cable. Ground from engine and all boat grounds to ground of battery #1, then cable to ground of battery #2, then cable from battery #2 to battery #3. Ground cable from #3 to a power distribution block like this: http://www.amazon.com/Raptor-GDB1-Ga...9353027&sr=1-2
- Do the exact same thing with the positive connections.. boat and starter motor positive to #1, except between battery #1 and battery #2, you put an isolating solenoid as is discussed here: http://www.mastercraft.com/teamtalk/...ead.php?t=3557. Power distribution block off of #3 and all. Instead of the B/W unit that they reference there, I use the Stinger model. Same thing basically.. just I couldn't find the BW locally. Get some screw type ring terminals for that 4AWG wire to connect at the solenoid like this: http://www.amazon.com/P3-Platinum-Po...9358765&sr=1-3
- Hook the energizing wire of the solenoid to your ignition switched power.. so that it's only "on" when the boat is running. This means that when the boat is off, that the starting battery is NOT being drained by your stereo.. but as soon as you turn the boat on, you are charging and running off of all 3 batteries.
- Use 8AWG marine cable to hook all amps up from the power distribution blocks. I can't stress this enough - ONLY USE MARINE GRADE POWER WIRE!! The shorter you can make these wires, the better.
- Hook the power and ignition turn on to the stereo head unit directly to the power block so that you can turn the stereo on without the key being on. Just don't forget to turn it off!
There you go! You don't have to mess with any battery switches, your starting battery is protected and you can run your stereo without fear of not being able to get home.
Now, the other side of this is the stereo setup itself. Your big problem there is that a boat is about the worst place ever for subwoofers.. you will barely hear them compared to how much power they are eating up. The open air acoustics suck all the bass out. You are way better off with a ton of 6x9s. Trust me. I've installed many systems both on my boat and on others, and the best overall speaker size for the water seems to be 6x9s. You still get lower tones with plenty of treble. Set your amps to "high pass" and dial in the crossover frequency to around 250hz or so.. that way you aren't trying to put too much bass through them and distort.
Have fun!
EDIT: I don't know enough about your exact amps or your run length of wires. If your run lengths are longer than 5' or so, you may need to step up to 4 AWG for your amp cables and 1 AWG for the main wire to the power blocks. This would mean that you would need beefier power blocks and battery terminals as well. If you'd like to see what kind of equipment I run in my setup:
- I run a direct 1 AWG cable from the + and - of my main battery to these power blocks: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...00_i00_details
- I use these battery terminals and run 1 AWG cable to each block, one cable to the secondary battery, and one cable to the ground of the engine and the starter motor. Alternator is hooked directly via 4 AWG to my screw terminal on the battery: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...00_i00_details
- Secondary battery is isolated via this: http://www.amazon.com/Stinger-200-Ba...9396475&sr=1-1
- I have my isolater switch hooked up to my stereo/amp turn on wire instead of my ignition, so as long as the stereo is on both batteries are activated.
- My amps are at the end of about 12' of power wire, hence the need for the 4 AWG. If they were only a few feet from the blocks, I could have gotten away with 8 AWG. Remember that as distance increases, so does resistance hence the need for thicker wire as it gets longer. When in doubt with a stereo amp, overdo it. Seriously. You'll choke the amp for power, it will send out a distorted signal, and you WILL blow your speakers. I went through a phase of literally blowing up the capacitors in the tweeters before I realized that it was all from choking the amps of power due to too small a gauge of wire being used. Thank god for no questions asked refund/returns via Amazon. I won't tell you how many I went through.. :facepalm:
- I run these amps: http://www.amazon.com/MB-Quart-NAU46...9396598&sr=1-1 and these speakers: http://www.amazon.com/Infinity-Refer...9396614&sr=1-2 and these for the swim deck: http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-4-I...9396630&sr=1-3
- I can't say enough about the equipment listed.. those amps and speakers are incredible and super efficient. I have a few friends with pontoon boats running just one of those amps and 4 of those speakers off their stock system with absolutely no problems or special hookups. They barely drain the battery for how much sound they're putting out. Hands down the best marine amp that you guy buy right now.
"..but honey.. that's why we belong on a boat: The gators don't judge."
What I want to know is the layout to isolate the starting battery from the rest. Also I noticed it said "I use these battery terminals and run 1 AWG cable to each block, one cable to the secondary battery, and one cable to the ground of the engine and the starter motor." But the terminal has only 3. Can you help me on this?...
Text from the post is as follows:
Re: Pontoon Boat - Large Stereo - Multiple Battery Setup? How
Ok.. never mind the nay saying old timers here. Do what you want and have fun with it! I run 4 amps with 14 - 6x9s and 6 - 4" speakers in my boat and wouldn't trade it for the world. I'm respectful of others and know when I can and can't turn it up. I go way the hell back in open country, lakes and swamps with no one around for miles. There's nothing like full stadium sound at WOT. Nothing.
Anyway.. your main problem here is that you can't upgrade your charging system like we can with an I/O motor. I run a 200A marine alternator and it pushes everything like a dream. The solution that the previous owner was using sounds like the best one, honestly. You can get plenty of stereo play out of 2 batteries and 3 amps. I was actually only running 1 battery to my previously 3 amps before and even with a decent amount of volume behind it would last a couple hours if not more. Make sure you have the biggest, baddest marine battery you can get. Walmart has decently cheap, huge, marine deep cycle batteries for around $85. One battery for starting and two batteries for stereo sounds like a decent enough solution.
This is what I would do. For the sake of argument, we'll call the starting battery #1 and the other stereo batteries #2 and #3.
- Get 6 of these multi-tap battery lugs: http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-8-AWG-Gaug...item460107728b
- Daisy chain the grounds of all the batteries together with 4AWG marine cable. Ground from engine and all boat grounds to ground of battery #1, then cable to ground of battery #2, then cable from battery #2 to battery #3. Ground cable from #3 to a power distribution block like this: http://www.amazon.com/Raptor-GDB1-Ga...9353027&sr=1-2
- Do the exact same thing with the positive connections.. boat and starter motor positive to #1, except between battery #1 and battery #2, you put an isolating solenoid as is discussed here: http://www.mastercraft.com/teamtalk/...ead.php?t=3557. Power distribution block off of #3 and all. Instead of the B/W unit that they reference there, I use the Stinger model. Same thing basically.. just I couldn't find the BW locally. Get some screw type ring terminals for that 4AWG wire to connect at the solenoid like this: http://www.amazon.com/P3-Platinum-Po...9358765&sr=1-3
- Hook the energizing wire of the solenoid to your ignition switched power.. so that it's only "on" when the boat is running. This means that when the boat is off, that the starting battery is NOT being drained by your stereo.. but as soon as you turn the boat on, you are charging and running off of all 3 batteries.
- Use 8AWG marine cable to hook all amps up from the power distribution blocks. I can't stress this enough - ONLY USE MARINE GRADE POWER WIRE!! The shorter you can make these wires, the better.
- Hook the power and ignition turn on to the stereo head unit directly to the power block so that you can turn the stereo on without the key being on. Just don't forget to turn it off!
There you go! You don't have to mess with any battery switches, your starting battery is protected and you can run your stereo without fear of not being able to get home.
Now, the other side of this is the stereo setup itself. Your big problem there is that a boat is about the worst place ever for subwoofers.. you will barely hear them compared to how much power they are eating up. The open air acoustics suck all the bass out. You are way better off with a ton of 6x9s. Trust me. I've installed many systems both on my boat and on others, and the best overall speaker size for the water seems to be 6x9s. You still get lower tones with plenty of treble. Set your amps to "high pass" and dial in the crossover frequency to around 250hz or so.. that way you aren't trying to put too much bass through them and distort.
Have fun!
EDIT: I don't know enough about your exact amps or your run length of wires. If your run lengths are longer than 5' or so, you may need to step up to 4 AWG for your amp cables and 1 AWG for the main wire to the power blocks. This would mean that you would need beefier power blocks and battery terminals as well. If you'd like to see what kind of equipment I run in my setup:
- I run a direct 1 AWG cable from the + and - of my main battery to these power blocks: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...00_i00_details
- I use these battery terminals and run 1 AWG cable to each block, one cable to the secondary battery, and one cable to the ground of the engine and the starter motor. Alternator is hooked directly via 4 AWG to my screw terminal on the battery: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...00_i00_details
- Secondary battery is isolated via this: http://www.amazon.com/Stinger-200-Ba...9396475&sr=1-1
- I have my isolater switch hooked up to my stereo/amp turn on wire instead of my ignition, so as long as the stereo is on both batteries are activated.
- My amps are at the end of about 12' of power wire, hence the need for the 4 AWG. If they were only a few feet from the blocks, I could have gotten away with 8 AWG. Remember that as distance increases, so does resistance hence the need for thicker wire as it gets longer. When in doubt with a stereo amp, overdo it. Seriously. You'll choke the amp for power, it will send out a distorted signal, and you WILL blow your speakers. I went through a phase of literally blowing up the capacitors in the tweeters before I realized that it was all from choking the amps of power due to too small a gauge of wire being used. Thank god for no questions asked refund/returns via Amazon. I won't tell you how many I went through.. :facepalm:
- I run these amps: http://www.amazon.com/MB-Quart-NAU46...9396598&sr=1-1 and these speakers: http://www.amazon.com/Infinity-Refer...9396614&sr=1-2 and these for the swim deck: http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-4-I...9396630&sr=1-3
- I can't say enough about the equipment listed.. those amps and speakers are incredible and super efficient. I have a few friends with pontoon boats running just one of those amps and 4 of those speakers off their stock system with absolutely no problems or special hookups. They barely drain the battery for how much sound they're putting out. Hands down the best marine amp that you guy buy right now.
"..but honey.. that's why we belong on a boat: The gators don't judge."
What I want to know is the layout to isolate the starting battery from the rest. Also I noticed it said "I use these battery terminals and run 1 AWG cable to each block, one cable to the secondary battery, and one cable to the ground of the engine and the starter motor." But the terminal has only 3. Can you help me on this?...