No power to new Kenwood stereo reciever

[ggundersen3]

I bought a new Kenwood marine stereo receiver for my '95 Four Winns Horizon 190 as the old one was not working at all since I bought the boat last year. After making sure speakers were wired correctly, I began to connect power to the receiver, found a good ground and connected it(black wire/negative) securely and then found several available 10 amp fused circuits on the fuse box/block that are hot(live) all the time(battery) and connected the (yellow) wire(positive) securely. I have no power to the unit. There is a 3rd power wire (red) from the unit to connect to the ignition. Where do I connect that? There is no circuit on the fuse block that turns on and off with the ignition key as I tested them and they all appear hot /live all the time(running off the battery). Is this why I have no power? Why is there 2 positive wires from the unit? Yellow wire marked "battery" and red wire marked "ignition" Does that red wire have to be connected to the ignition (if so where do I connect it?)or could it be connected to another 10 amp available circuit on the fuse block that's hot all the time even when ignition key is off. Explain please. Much appreciated. Maybe i'm complicating this but tell me is it possible that the red and black wires are the "real" positive and negative wires to operate the unit and that yellow is simply connected to the battery for the units clock and station preset memory. Again clarification is much appreciated here.

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,..... My guess is, the red wire powers the unit, 'n the yellow wire preserves the memory,......

 

[poconojoe]

As stated...by @Bondo... yellow, marked battery, is meant to be hot all the time to keep your preset staions and clock memory. In my opinion, this is a bad idea on a boat. The radio will draw a small amount at all times to keep those memories. Mine drained my battery once when the boat was in my driveway due to that. I disconnected that yellow wire. I don't need the memory.

The red wire, marked ignition, gets connected to an accessory circuit. The red is what powers the unit. The yellow only holds memory.

They both get power from the same fuse.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Every stereo I ever bought has a wiring schematic and instructions

Wire the yellow and red wires both to an ignition source

 

[ggundersen3]

Every stereo I ever bought has a wiring schematic and instructions

Wire the yellow and red wires both to an ignition source

Thanks Scott. Thanks everyone! I got it connected correctly last night. Red(+) and Black(-) are the main power(I should have known that) to operate the unit. Yellow is only for station/clock memory.
Its working great now. Got to have a good sound system on the water! Thanks for your help.

 

[poconojoe]

Thanks Scott. Thanks everyone! I got it connected correctly last night. Red(+) and Black(-) are the main power(I should have known that) to operate the unit. Yellow is only for station/clock memory.
Its working great now. Got to have a good sound system on the water! Thanks for your help.

Glad you got it worked out!
Just to reiterate, if you hooked up that yellow memory wire, watch that it doesn't drain your battery when you're not using the boat. It happened to me.
I disconnected the yellow. I just don't use it.

 

[ggundersen3]

Glad you got it worked out!
Just to reiterate, if you hooked up that yellow memory wire, watch that it doesn't drain your battery when you're not using the boat. It happened to me.
I disconnected the yellow. I just don't use it.

Thanks, I'm thinking the same thing Poconojoe. Just not using the yellow wire. However, I usually disconnect the boat battery when its going to be idle/unused for any length of time.

 

[KM7]

Ayuh,..... My guess is, the red wire powers the unit, 'n the yellow wire preserves the memory,......

That's how it works on my stereo. You can google your stereo make and model and might get the wirind diagram but these are the common used for red and yellow.

 

[KM7]

Thanks, I'm thinking the same thing Poconojoe. Just not using the yellow wire. However, I usually disconnect the boat battery when its going to be idle/unused for any length of time.

The drawback is that if you use the radio you will have to reset the memory stations every time. I'm going to add a seperate manual lighted switch that will function like an accessory (ACC) function. I turn it ON to use the radio and OFF when I'm not. I WILL leave the yellow wire connected to battery all the time. The plan is to be able to have the yellow wire hot to preserve the clock and station memory. I will wire yellow around the battery selector switch. That way the selector switch will be OFF and I can still have power to the clock/memory. I'll post an update after I see how well it works.

 

[poconojoe]

The drawback is that if you use the radio you will have to reset the memory stations every time. I'm going to add a seperate manual lighted switch that will function like an accessory (ACC) function. I turn it ON to use the radio and OFF when I'm not. I WILL leave the yellow wire connected to battery all the time. The plan is to be able to have the yellow wire hot to preserve the clock and station memory. I will wire yellow around the battery selector switch. That way the selector switch will be OFF and I can still have power to the clock/memory. I'll post an update after I see how well it works.

I added a switch, but I have both the red and yellow controlled by the switch.

I don't care about clock or preset memory.

A couple years ago that yellow memory wire was draining my battery. When I disconnected it, I no longer had a battery drain problem.

I know some people have said that it is very little drain and shouldn't affect the battery, but that's not what I found.
I'm guessing it depends on how long it sits. If you don't use your boat for a while, I think it will affect it more.

 

[airshot]

If you have known draws on your battery, like the radio, then install a battery maintainer/ charger so you can just plug in your boat when not using it, battery will always be charged and ready and you will still have your settings. Actually better for your batterys health !!

 

[KM7]

I measured the current draw for the yellow wire for my stereo. It is only .7 milliamps I did some checking and that woud not drain the battery in over a year. I did connect the yellow wire directly to the battery. The yellow wire stays hot even when the battery selector switch to off. The red wire gets power but only if the ignition is on or in the ACC position. I will monitor the battery voltage and see if it goes down over days, weeks or even months,

 

[froggy1150]

So for what it's worth I tied power and memory together and didnt care about presets. Batteries are shut off unless I am in boat. I never loose presets or bluetooth settings for connecting for my phone. On my unit I think it just powers the clock?????. Didnt care, never checked

 

[KM7]

Update. No problem with leaving power to the radio 24/7 BUT only to the clock and to power the memory. That was the yellow wire. In other words yellow (clock and preset memory) are wired directly to the battey and do NOT go through the battery selector switch. This wire has power 24/7. The power to the radio does not go through the battery selector switch either but it Does go through a lighted switch on the dash. If the power to the radio is on, the red light on the switch is on. That is to remind me Turn it Off when i get off the boat. Everything works great!! The batteries do not drain even being like this for months and I don't lose all the station I have set in memory.

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