Connecting CB radio and Stereo

My friends and I are restoring a 69 Glastron with a 85HP Evinrude 2-Stroke outboard engine. It's currently running off a BMW 745 battery. I just came with the boat. We are wondering how to connect a CB radio and Stereo to a battery. Is this going to drain the battery quickly if running the radio and the VHF radio on? To get to the point how is the wiring done. We currently have a bile pump connected to a switch panel along with the lights that are needed to run at night. Beside that nothing else is connected to the battery except the starter to the boat. Do we wire the VHF radio directly to the boats battery along with the radio or is there a specific way of wiring to not kill the battery? I looked at the wiring diarghams I can't seems to figure it out. I am very new to boating and it's wiring system. Any help will do. I am also new to the forums.

Re: Connecting CB radio and Stereo

Welcome to the forums.

if it is a standard radio and stereo, they will run for a while without killing your battery. Just remember to run your motors, and/or (preferably and) use a land based charger to give the battery the best connection.

Your standard stereo and UHF radio will only take a few amps each, giving you many hours of playtime. If you have a Stereo, an Amp or two, and a half dozen speakers kicking out the sound, you can get a few minutes to an hour or so before you loose your battery power.


Wiring is really simple. Find a black wire, run it to the dash area, connect this to your - battery connection. Get a Red wire, with a fuse, and run the wire to the dash area and to your + battery connection.

Now connect the two grounds from the uhf and stereo to the black wire. Connect the two Positivies to the Red line... these lines should already have fuses connected.

A couple of notes...

1. Most stereo's do not turn off when you push the power button, so either add a switch between the battery and the stereo, or disconnect the wires every night you are not running.

2. If you want to do more, get yourself a simple Fuse box and run dedicated wires.

3. DO NOT use the metal part of your aluminum boat to return the current back to the battery, like you do on a car (i.e. find a bolt)... Though I believe a glastron is a fiberglass boat, so this is irrelevant to you

4. If the switch panel already has a valid Positive and Negative connection, you may be able to use those.

Have fun

Re: Connecting CB radio and Stereo

There is no special way to wire any electrical accessory so the battery won't run down. Those devices draw current regardless how they are wired. Station memory on a standard car radio draws a small amount of current all the time so if you want to retain that feature, the station memory line cannot be switched and must be powered all the time. If that's not important, it can be paired with the +12 volt power line so the station memory will remain active only when power is on. Otherwise, you connect +12 volt and ground wires wherever you find convenient points. If your boat has a fuse panel, +12 volts gets connected there. If not, I strongly advise you add one unless you want to maintain its original condition which I doubt since you are adding items that were not part of the boat originally.

Re: Connecting CB radio and Stereo

Thanks guys! I'll be back to ask you more questions when I get a chance to start wiring the boat. The fuse panel is basically a panel with fuses and switches cause that is what we have installed.