Installing Aftermarket cd player in 1850 Capri

[dleague]

Well I bought my 1990 Capri 1850 BR (I/O 117 HP) last year and it had the original am-fm tape deck in it. This thing sucked and wouldnt hardly get any reception. This year I bought a JVC cd player to install. I went to wire it up last night and clipped out the wiring harness on the boat and left the wires (1 black, 1 heavy red, 2 sets of speaker wires). The cd player came with a wiring harness. Well I hooked black to black which is fine. I thought I would be able to hook red to red and be fine. Well the CD harness has a orange (illumination), yellow (battery) as well. Shouldnt I be able to get all of these hooked up to the red? I tried this and no luck. I tried all sorts of combinations and couldnt get it to turn on. So now Im stumped as to hook it up. I have read that I can run the yellow back to the battery itself (with a ring attach to the battery) and use an inline fuse on the wire and install a switch??? Does this sound right>? I just want to be able to get some tunes and need help installing this CD player. Love this website and hopefully I can get this figured out with peoples help.

 

[rbh]

Re: Installing Aftermarket cd player in 1850 Capri

You had the main battery switch turned on??

 

[dleague]

Re: Installing Aftermarket cd player in 1850 Capri

I dont have a switch for the battery. Running a single battery. But the radio that was in it before worked and had power. I tried seeing if I turned the key on and tried connections that way and still wouldnt come on. I callled JVC and they informed me that I needed to get the wiring harness for my car (i didnt tell them I was installing this in a boat) because they said the radio has to have all 3 switches hooked up. the 3 switches being the yellow, black and red. They said I couldnt run the red and yellow together (first time I have ever heard that I couldnt do this).

 

[spoilsofwar]

Re: Installing Aftermarket cd player in 1850 Capri

How do you know the radio is not DOA? Did you bench test it? Is there a fuse mounted at the back of the receiver housing, and if so, have you checked it yet?

Head unit wiring (not including antenna or speaker wire) should be at minimum Ground, 12v constant, and 12v switched. There can be additional wires such as illumination, power antenna, cell mute, remote amp turn on, etc. These have their purposes obviously but have nothing to do with the unit turning on.

Ground is ground, self explanitory
12v constant (sometimes known as battery) is so the headunit memory doesn't clear every time you turn the car (boat) off
12v switched (sometimes called ignition or accesory) is to turn the unit on/off

 

[dsiekman]

Re: Installing Aftermarket cd player in 1850 Capri

I dont have a switch for the battery. Running a single battery. But the radio that was in it before worked and had power. I tried seeing if I turned the key on and tried connections that way and still wouldnt come on. I callled JVC and they informed me that I needed to get the wiring harness for my car (i didnt tell them I was installing this in a boat) because they said the radio has to have all 3 switches hooked up. the 3 switches being the yellow, black and red. They said I couldnt run the red and yellow together (first time I have ever heard that I couldnt do this).

It has been awhile since I've installed a car stereo, but If I remember correctly, the red wire goes straight to the battery (usually fairly heavy gauge and the other positive went to the ignition and tells the radio when to power up. The constant red connection just stores your station presets, clock, etc. and doesnt' draw much amperage. There is also typically an antenna lead that would tell the power antenna when to go up.

One brief thought (may be too late) depending on where the radio goes on the boat, how well it is protected, how the boat is stored, and the environment you will be using it in, you might want to reconsider using an automotive stereo instead of a marine stereo.

 

[dsiekman]

Re: Installing Aftermarket cd player in 1850 Capri

Sorry, didn't type fast enough.

 

[dleague]

Re: Installing Aftermarket cd player in 1850 Capri

I have not bench tested the radio. It was brand new though in the box and bought it brand new. Im guessing I will have to check the fuse on the back of the radio though to make sure that it is still good. So I hook black to black on wiring. Should I hook red to the red that is there already from the previous radio? And then run yellow (battery) back to the battery with a inline fuse? Im not too worried about the power antenna and all the other accesories. More just interested in getting sound and getting it on. And I agree with you Dsiekman about the radio. I dont do any salt water boating though and the place where the radio is stored has a flip down cover to protect the face of it. It would be hard to get water from behind where it mounts but it is possible. Hoping to get a year or 2 out of this radio. Just wish I could figure this wiring out. There is a fuse block under the dash where the steering wheel is located. Can I tie my yellow into that? It has some open slots. All the wires on the fuse block run to the gauges in the dash. There is a Accy switch on the dash that currently doesnt do anything and I was wondering if maybe I could run the yellow to this and get juice. That way I could use this as a kill switch for the battery so it doesnt drain it when Im not using the radio.

 

[spoilsofwar]

Re: Installing Aftermarket cd player in 1850 Capri

Yellow is almost always 12v Constant (battery). Yes, you wire this directly to battery with an inline fuse. You can go through the fuse panel under your helm if you choose and it is not completely switched power, and in that case do not use an inline fuse, but make sure you use an empty circuit (do not piggyback off an already used circuit, such as nav lights, etc) and use a proper sized fuse.

Black goes to ground.

Red is 12v switched (accessory, ignition). Since this is a boat, you have choices with this one... You can wire it to a toggle type switch, and then run that directly to the battery (w/ a fuse) so that you can switch it off to prevent any possible drain. Or you can wire it to the ignition.. You can wire it to anything that has power when the boat key is in and turned basically.

In theory, you could wire the yellow and red wires together and to the battery. This would keep the radio on regardless of key position... The only way to turn it on or off would be via the power button on the radio face itself. I wouldn't do this, but it should work. I have never seen a radio that demanded 12v constant and 12v switched to be seperate... that just doesnt make electrical sense.

 

[dsiekman]

Re: Installing Aftermarket cd player in 1850 Capri

The fuse is a good place to start. All of that testing may have blown it. If it were me, I would be tempted to run whatever color is your battery wire straight to the battery with an inline fuse on new heavy guage wire rather than rely on whats there now. If it was part of a harness it is probably pretty thin. I would also run a new ground to be sure it is good. Sometimes all of the manuevering you have to do to get a head unit out can loosen something in the harness. You might get away with hitting the fuse block that powers the guages. I would check your power and ground at the harness with a multimeter before you do anything else.

 

[dsiekman]

Re: Installing Aftermarket cd player in 1850 Capri

Too slow again!!!

 

[spoilsofwar]

Re: Installing Aftermarket cd player in 1850 Capri

The fuse is a good place to start. All of that testing may have blown it. If it were me, I would be tempted to run whatever color is your battery wire straight to the battery with an inline fuse on new heavy guage wire rather than rely on whats there now. If it was part of a harness it is probably pretty thin. I would also run a new ground to be sure it is good. Sometimes all of the manuevering you have to do to get a head unit out can loosen something in the harness. You might get away with hitting the fuse block that powers the guages. I would check your power and ground at the harness with a multimeter before you do anything else.

I agree with all of this. If it bench tests ok and your onboard fuse (if it exists) is good, run new 12v constant and ground wires, especially if this is a smaller boat and its really easy to do it.

 

[Knot Waiting]

Re: Installing Aftermarket cd player in 1850 Capri

Use a test light or a multi-meter to check for constant and switched power in the boats wiring. Then hook the wires accordingly. Use heat shrink butt connectors on the joint to prevent corrosion. If you aren't getting constant or switched power from any wires in the boat then run a new one from the battery and the ignition.

On the radio:
Red - Constant
Yellow - Switched

On the boat:
???
New ABYC standards use Yellow ground

 

[dleague]

Re: Installing Aftermarket cd player in 1850 Capri

OK sounds good. The boat is only 18 ft so not a ton of wiring. So guess Im going to check the ground and power first to see if they are good. Then check the fuse on the back of the headset to make sure it didnt pop. Then if everything is inline with those parts I will either 1) run the yellow to the battery directly with an inline fuse. Any idea of what size fuse I should use or get? or 2) Run the yellow to the fuse block. If I do this then will it keep memory on presets? Or will they get killed off when I turn the key off? or 3) run the yellow and red together to the battery directly and use the power button on the radio to turn off power. any reason why you dont like that idea SOW? Besides the fact that if I forgot to turn it off then it would drain.

 

[spoilsofwar]

Re: Installing Aftermarket cd player in 1850 Capri

any reason why you dont like that idea SOW? Besides the fact that if I forgot to turn it off then it would drain.

I dont like it because its just one more step... You can't just turn the key and walk away. Its "workable", just not the right way to do it.

For your other question, the yellow wire MUST get constant 12v power or you will lose memory each time the headunit switches off. Only wire it through the fuseblock if the fuseblock itself gets 12v constant power and not 12v switched power. Chances are, the fuseblock does get constant power, especially if things like nav lights are wired though it, but its something to be aware of.

Your diagnostic steps, to clarify are this: 1. Bench test by wiring directly to 12v power source. 2. If it doesnt work this way, swap onboard fuse out for new one. 3. If it still doesnt work, it is toast. 4. If it works on bench power, run new battery and ground wires and test.

 

[spoilsofwar]

Re: Installing Aftermarket cd player in 1850 Capri

On the radio:
Red - Constant
Yellow - Switched

This is incorrect. Car stereos use yellow for constant (battery) and red for switched (commonly labled ACC).

View attachment 144746

 

[mark1905]

Re: Installing Aftermarket cd player in 1850 Capri

This is incorrect. Car stereos use yellow for constant (battery) and red for switched (commonly labled ACC).

View attachment 144746

This statement is correct.

Red is switched, yellow is constant, black is ground. If you want the stereo to be able to stay on even when the boat is off, then sum the red and yellow wires together and hook to a constant 12V+ source. If you want it to turn off with the ignition, then hook the yellow to a constant source and red to a switched source.

The orange/white wire is not required for use. All this does is dim the lights on the deck when 12V+ is applied. Typically this is hooked up to your NAV light switch. You don't have to connect it to anything though.

The blue/white wire is a 12V+ trigger wire that powers on when the deck is on. You hook this up to an external stereo amplifier to trigger it if you're using it. Again.. does not need to be connected to anything to turn the deck on.

The white/blue wire is also a trigger wire but only when the radio is on.. this is for a power antenna.. which you don't have. Again.. does not need to be connected.

If you hooked up the orange/white wire to 12V+, there is a chance that you popped the fuse in the deck. There should be a blade type fuse in the back of it. Check that. If all fuses are good and the deck does not power on when you have 12V+ applied to the red and yellow wires and the black hooked up to a good ground, then the deck is DOA.

This is not rocket science