Is the boat stereo a significant drain on battery?

[Surfer Dave]

Re: Is the boat stereo a significant drain on battery?

here is what I've done, I have 1 battery for the engine and beilge and 1 battery for my stereo that has 2 amps a subwoofer and 4 speakers. I never have an issue starting the boat and have peace of mind when I'm out all day playing the stereo.

 

[Mr_Shamrock]

Re: Is the boat stereo a significant drain on battery?

I have 2 dual purpose batteries as well. Since you already have 2 installed I would hook them to a switch and put your radio on the deep cycle and save the starting battery for getting you home. I have a real decent stereo and usually am the one DJ'ing at the beach - CD player with ipod connection, 8 - 6 1/2" pioneer marine speakers, 1 - 12" subwoofer, 400 watt 4 channel amplifier connected to the subwoofer and 4 of the 6 1/2's and the other 6 1/2's are hooked to the radio. I have only drained the deep cycle once completely where the system shut off and that was a 6 hour beach party. After about 4 hours I can tell a difference in the sound quality and the volume has to be turned down. My batteries are on their 3rd season and when I replace them next season I am going with the next series higher for a little more play time. I also carry a jump box just to be overly prepared.
As already stated 20 minutes with just a radio and 2 speakers cannot affect a healthy battery/charging system.

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Is the boat stereo a significant drain on battery?

Well the other thing I would ask is how do your positive/negative wires look? My 30+ yr old cable wouldn't hardly turn the engine over with a new battery. I took the battery in twice thinking it was bad, but the tests showed 800CCA and 12.7V each time. I bought a new positive and negative cable (4ga. - 24") and that engine spun around faster than it has in a decade. I would check your cables if I were you to make sure you're not getting a lot of resistance. It was a $10 fix for me.

 

[Mr_Shamrock]

Re: Is the boat stereo a significant drain on battery?

Well the other thing I would ask is how do your positive/negative wires look? My 30+ yr old cable wouldn't hardly turn the engine over with a new battery. I took the battery in twice thinking it was bad, but the tests showed 800CCA and 12.7V each time. I bought a new positive and negative cable (4ga. - 24") and that engine spun around faster than it has in a decade. I would check your cables if I were you to make sure you're not getting a lot of resistance. It was a $10 fix for me.

Excellent point - just went through that with an old motorcycle I was repairing.

 

[iop]

Re: Is the boat stereo a significant drain on battery?

A two battery system is good, but not feasible in many boats due to space limitations in the battery compartment. It's also difficult to justify the expense for many casual lake boaters.

Grouse

He did mention runabout....

 

[Mark42]

Re: Is the boat stereo a significant drain on battery?

A two battery system is good, but not feasible in many boats due to space limitations in the battery compartment. It's also difficult to justify the expense for many casual lake boaters.

Grouse

He did mention runabout....

If I can fit two large batteries in a 16' cuddy, they should fit in a runabout.