Boat Radio/Stereo Help

[Dmoore1993]

Hello,
Hoping that someone can help me out. I am trying to install a new radio/stereo in my 1995 Sea Ray 175 fish and ski. I bought a Dual stereo from Bass Pro and it came with a wiring harness (image attached). I am replacing the old radio (wiring diagram attached). From the images you can see that there isnt a yellow (memory) wire that goes to the old radio. The new radio has a yellow wire for (memory). The old radio could be powered on with the keys out of the boat so i am assuming that the red wire from the boat is a consistant poower source. Anyone have any ideas on how to hook the new radio up while using the exsisting wires?

I also attached the wiring from the boat manual and it says it should have a yellow wire but there isnt one anywhere.

Will i lose my pre-sets and bluetooth connection without having the yellow wire?

I'm at a loss on how to hook this radio up :/

 

[Dmoore1993]

Hello,
Hoping that someone can help me out. I am trying to install a new radio/stereo in my 1995 Sea Ray 175 fish and ski. I bought a Dual stereo from Bass Pro and it came with a wiring harness (image attached). I am replacing the old radio (wiring diagram attached). From the images you can see that there isnt a yellow (memory) wire that goes to the old radio. The new radio has a yellow wire for (memory). The old radio could be powered on with the keys out of the boat so i am assuming that the red wire from the boat is a consistant poower source. Anyone have any ideas on how to hook the new radio up while using the exsisting wires?

I also attached the wiring from the boat manual and it says it should have a yellow wire but there isnt one anywhere.

Will i lose my pre-sets and bluetooth connection without having the yellow wire?

I'm at a loss on how to hook this radio up :/

 

[Grub54891]

All you need to keep the radio memory is to hook the yellow wire from the radio to a constant power source. Keep in mind it will kill the battery unless you use the boat alot. I choose to leave it unhooked. It's not that hard to find a radio station you want.

 

[Dmoore1993]

All you need to keep the radio memory is to hook the yellow wire from the radio to a constant power source. Keep in mind it will kill the battery unless you use the boat alot. I choose to leave it unhooked. It's not that hard to find a radio station you want.

Grub54891, thank you for the reply! The radio has a power button on it. If i were to connect the yellow (memory) wire to the boats (red) constant power wire and use the power button to trun the radio off after every use will it still drain the battery? Also i have an onboad battery charger. When having the radio hooked up to the constant power, will that mess up the batteries? Like back feed them?

 

[mike_i]

As long as the yellow wire is connected to a constant hot 12 volts yes it will drain the battery. There's no "back feed".

 

[Grub54891]

What Mike said. As with any car on the road these day's, the battery will die if letting sit to long. between radio memory and other computer memory junk it will drain it down. If you are plugged into shore power when not in use it will be fine. Jest be sure it's a marine rated smart charger.

 

[Chris1956]

You can connect the red and yellow wires together and turn power off at the accessory switch to save the battery. The stereo will loose all radio station data, but a lot of stereos have an automatic radio station finding function.

 

[Dmoore1993]

As long as the yellow wire is connected to a constant hot 12 volts yes it will drain the battery. There's no "back feed".

Mike- Thank you for the info!

 

[Dmoore1993]

What Mike said. As with any car on the road these day's, the battery will die if letting sit to long. between radio memory and other computer memory junk it will drain it down. If you are plugged into shore power when not in use it will be fine. Jest be sure it's a marine rated smart charger.

Grub54891- thank you! Im not sure what a smart charger is but i use a pro sport 20 plus (image attached) to maintain the batteries for the trolling motor. Will this be okay to use with the radio hooked up to constant power?

 

[Dmoore1993]

You can connect the red and yellow wires together and turn power off at the accessory switch to save the battery. The stereo will loose all radio station data, but a lot of stereos have an automatic radio station finding function.

Chris - thank you! Im not too worried about the pre sets but i am hoping i dont have to repair my phone via bluetooth each time i take the boat out. Will it need consistant power for that?

 

[Commander_47]

This is such a great question. I have the same issue. I put in a nice marine radio years ago, and it works great.

I keep the boat on a nice charger all the time, but it still makes me nervous to have a drain, no matter how small.

Are there any radios out there with a small memory battery? Like a watch battery to keep the stations? I'm curious about this.

 

[GA_Boater]

This is such a great question. I have the same issue. I put in a nice marine radio years ago, and it works great.

I keep the boat on a nice charger all the time, but it still makes me nervous to have a drain, no matter how small.

Are there any radios out there with a small memory battery? Like a watch battery to keep the stations? I'm curious about this.

My radio doesn't lose settings, even when the battery is out for winter trickle charging. Look for a radio that uses non-volatile memory for storing settings.

I believe the yellow wire is mainly for the clock.

 

[Captain Caveman]

He already has the radio GA.

What I did was to put a separate toggle switch on my console next to the radio. It provides constant the power for memory. When I am using my boat for a weekend trip, I flip on the radio power and leave it on. When I trailer home and let it sit for a few weeks, I turn off the radio toggle switch. I do have to reprogram the handlful of stations but it's not the hard and the radio has never run down my original starting battery. It's now in its 12th year of starting my 90hp motor, running my lights, stereo, pumps, Lowrance graph, etc.

 

[GA_Boater]

He already has the radio GA.

Who did I quote?

 

[Dmoore1993]

Thank you all! Very helpful info.

So i am wondering if it would be best to run a yellow (memory) wire directly from the battery to the radio. Then install the "kill" switch between the red wires. That way it wont draw as much power and ill still have the presets.

 

[Captain Caveman]

Who did I quote?

I missed that..... My apologies

 

[mike_i]

Also, if you have lead acid batteries you'll want to keep an eye on the electrolyte level to be sure you're not boiling the batteries dry if you have the charger on full time.

 

[emilime75]

It works the same as a car stereo. The yellow wire on the radio is supposed to be connected to a constant 12v, while the red wire is switched, typically with ignition on from the key, or a dedicated switch somewhere on the boat. If you only have a constant 12v wire, you can tie both the red and yellow wires from the radio to your constant 12v, this will work fine except that if you forget to turn the radio off and leave the boat, it will drain the battery - which is how your current radio seems to work. This will also keep your station presets, clock and BT settings intact, unless your battery goes dead, is disconnected or the wire is disconnected for whatever reason.

Ideally, if you truly do only have a constant 12v available, and no switched 12v, I'd run one from the ignition switch or install a dedicated switch in the helm for it. There could be times when you have the radio on, but the volume turned down and you simply forget to turn the radio off.

The yellow wire that the boat manual talks about is something different, and on your new radio should be blue. This is a 12v output from the radio, not an input to the radio, and is used just as the manual suggests - if you had a powered antenna, it would power it, or as in most case when people also install amplifiers, that wire is the "remote" turn on for them, meaning when you turn your radio on, it outputs 12v on that wire to the remote input on the amplifier and the amplifier turns on/turns off when the radio is turned off and that 12v output goes away.

 

[briangcc]

Thank you all! Very helpful info.

So i am wondering if it would be best to run a yellow (memory) wire directly from the battery to the radio. Then install the "kill" switch between the red wires. That way it wont draw as much power and ill still have the presets.

Huh??

Hear me out on this....ignoring your memory circuit for a moment, when the radio is powered on, current (voltage) is flowing on the red & black wires. When the radio is turned off, that current stops. This is provided you don't have an internal short in the radio itself.

When off, the radio gets current from black and yellow wires to keep the memory circuit "charged" if you will. So you will see a small amount of current here.

So what exactly are you accomplishing by installing an inline kill switch on the red power feed? Just the ability to turn the head unit on.

Don't want a draw on the battery? Gotta disconnect the memory circuit - yellow wire. Which, depending on the head unit, may wipe out the presets.


**And yes, let the boat sit with the radio memory circuit active for a couple of weeks, that battery may or may not start your boat if its not on a charger/maintainer.

 

[dingbat]

So i am wondering if it would be best to run a yellow (memory) wire directly from the battery to the radio. Then install the "kill" switch between the red wires. That way it wont draw as much power and ill still have the presets.

Scratching my head.......What do you need a "kill switch for?
Do you not have a battery Off/1/2/Both switch?

There should be nothing connected directly to the battery. That's just asking for problems.

Main power to the boat should come off the "accessories" connection on the back of the battery switch.

Turn the switch "on" when you get on the boat, turn it "off" when you leave. Problem solved