Stereo on my boat

[ClassyBoat]

I'm in the process of replacing the speakers in my boat. The ones i have in there were about 10 years old. I am also adding an amp(Sony XM604M Marine 4/3-Channel Amplifier) to the speakers. After doing a little research about powering this system i have become royally confused. Do I really need a separate battery to run this simple system. I have a Pergo(on or off) installed that allows me to shut the power completely off. If I run this system off my current battery is it always going to be dead? What about a capacitor? Do they help? If I need another battery, can it be a smaller one? I don?t think I have much room for another battery. Any other setups out there like this one where your running it off one battery?

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Stereo on my boat

Any steeo system with an amplifier means there is relatively high curent draw. In the case of this unit, that number is 33 amps at full rated output. The short answer to your question is YES -- you need a separate battery. NO - a capacitor doesn't help. YES - it will kill the starting battery in relatively short order. Since you need a second battery you also need a way to charge it. Therefore you need on on-board charger that you plug into house outlet when docked. Not knowing what engine you have, it is highly unlikely it has an alternator with enough output to keep that battery AND the starting battery charged.

 

[mark1905]

Re: Stereo on my boat

I only recently added a second battery once I doubled my system from 3 to 6 amps.. and I ran one battery for a whole season without much of a problem. For this application unless you are wanting hours and hours of playtime without starting the motor, you DO NOT need a second battery. I would just make sure to start the motor every hour or so when at the sandbar with the stereo on. Stereo amps these days are very efficient and that Sony model is a nice unit.

If you want to upgrade your charging system, I would recommend a modest alternator upgrade to a 105A unit from DB Electrical or otherwise.. and run a nice, fresh charging wire of 6AWG straight off the alternator to either the starter motor post or straight to the battery while using good quality, set screw type terminals for the cable. Don't forget to upgrade the ground wire as well. Only use marine grade power wire for everything.. no exceptions. Get yourself at least a 29 series deep cycle marine battery and use that for everything. WalMart/Johnson Control batteries work well.

You'll be fine..

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Stereo on my boat

I only recently added a second battery once I doubled my system from 3 to 6 amps.. and I ran one battery for a whole season without much of a problem. For this application unless you are wanting hours and hours of playtime without starting the motor, you DO NOT need a second battery. I would just make sure to start the motor every hour or so when at the sandbar with the stereo on. Stereo amps these days are very efficient and that Sony model is a nice unit.

If you want to upgrade your charging system, I would recommend a modest alternator upgrade to a 105A unit from DB Electrical or otherwise.. and run a nice, fresh charging wire of 6AWG straight off the alternator to either the starter motor post or straight to the battery while using good quality, set screw type terminals for the cable. Don't forget to upgrade the ground wire as well. Only use marine grade power wire for everything.. no exceptions. Get yourself at least a 29 series deep cycle marine battery and use that for everything. WalMart/Johnson Control batteries work well.

You'll be fine..

Doubled your system from 3 to 6 amps???? That is less than 1/5 the maximum load the OP is talking about. A 33 amp draw is the same as running a 30# thrust trolling motor wide open. Or another way to look at it is that a group 27 deep cycle battery has a spec of about 175 minutes with a 23 or 25 amp draw. Since 33 amps is 50% more than 23 amps the 175 minutes (less than three hours) is also reduced accordingly. Yes he will have a problem at about the 2 hour mark.

 

[NYBo]

Re: Stereo on my boat

Doubled your system from 3 to 6 amps???? That is less than 1/5 the maximum load the OP is talking about.

Um, take a look at his signature. In this case, amps isn't short for amperes, it's short for amplifiers.

 

[Slide]

Re: Stereo on my boat

I'm looking at putting this same amp in my boat, which has a crappy 18A stator. You've got 60W RMS x 4 channels = 240W continuous. 240W / 12.6V (standard battery output) = 19A continuous draw (doesn't quite line up for me, sadly). Keep in mind that is at MAX POWER which I highly doubt you will be running all the time. You ought to be fine with a single dual purpose battery; just do your due diligence, find out the battery's reserve capacity and your alternator rating.

A cap can be helpful if you have a sub and find the lights are dimming on big hits. A lot of boat electrical systems are just not designed to deal with big loads like that. A cap stores up reserve energy for those hits. If the system makes your lights dim, add a cap.

 

[mark1905]

Re: Stereo on my boat

Um, take a look at his signature. In this case, amps isn't short for amperes, it's short for amplifiers.

Correct.

I'm looking at putting this same amp in my boat, which has a crappy 18A stator.

I would highly, highly recommend the MB Quart amps over that Sony for price, performance and durability. I've just seen too many Sony marine products fail quickly. I do give it second place though.. but I would still pick the MB Quart's. MaxxSonics makes a very good product between them and HiFonics. But.. I may be a little biased..

 

[Slide]

Re: Stereo on my boat

I would highly, highly recommend the MB Quart amps over that Sony for price, performance and durability. I've just seen too many Sony marine products fail quickly. I do give it second place though.. but I would still pick the MB Quart's. MaxxSonics makes a very good product between them and HiFonics. But.. I may be a little biased..

Thanks for the tip. I've never been a huge fan of Sony stuff, that amp just happened to fit what I needed. I'll check out the MBs.

 

[delirious]

Re: Stereo on my boat

I'm looking at putting this same amp in my boat, which has a crappy 18A stator. You've got 60W RMS x 4 channels = 240W continuous. 240W / 12.6V (standard battery output) = 19A continuous draw (doesn't quite line up for me, sadly). Keep in mind that is at MAX POWER which I highly doubt you will be running all the time. You ought to be fine with a single dual purpose battery; just do your due diligence, find out the battery's reserve capacity and your alternator rating.

A cap can be helpful if you have a sub and find the lights are dimming on big hits. A lot of boat electrical systems are just not designed to deal with big loads like that. A cap stores up reserve energy for those hits. If the system makes your lights dim, add a cap.

caps are to help your AMPLIFIER ...NOT your charging system, on rare cases they will cure light dimming, but are meant strictly for maintaining constant voltage at your amplifiers. i am a professional car audio installer and nothing pisses me off more than one of my sales staff selling a cap to cure lights dimming to the beats. the "cheap" yet usually efective upgrade, is up-sizing your charging wire guage, then your altenator! yeah...a late post but other readers can benefit frm this