Stereo Replacement Wiring Questions

[rossbar86]

Hello,
I have a 2001 Larson Bowrider. I bought the boat about 4 years ago and the stereo has been nun-functional since I got the boat...Clarion XMD2 stereo.

I am attempting to replace the stereo and speakers with Kenwood KMR-M332BT and 4 6.5 inch speakers (KFC-1653MRW).

I have some wiring questions and concerns I am hoping more experienced people here can help me with.

1) The installation location is in the glove box and from what I can tell, the existing red and yellow wires run along together ( contained in an orange ) in the picture. I am guessing these run directly to the battery (I can see the orange runs along the side of the boat) as opposed to one going to the ignition switch. I was just going to attach yellow to yellow, red to red and expect that my battery switch will prevent unnecessary draw when the boat is not in use. Does this sound like a suitable approach? I realize I can confirm there is no power to the stereo with a voltmeter or non-contact voltage tester.

2) My other questions and concerns are around wire gauge. It appears that some of the wires in the wire harness that came with the Kenwood are smaller than the existing wires.

In "context.jpeg" you can wee the wire harness from the stereo that I am replacing. In yellow.jpeg, you can see the size difference between the smaller yellow wire (unmarked) from the new harness (Kenwood) and the larger wire from the Clarion (labeled 14 AWG). Is this a problem? I think it would only be a problem if the issue was reversed (wires from stereo harness being higher gauge/thinner than the wires coming off the battery).

3) As mentioned above, the wires on the new harness are unmarked...what is the best way to determine wire gauge size? Would it just be whatever the slot on my wire strippers are labeled that I would use to strip the wire? Other things I read online are talking about measure based on only the wire strands without the insulation...I'm trying to find the gauge to use to determine which butt connector size to use.

Maybe I am overthinking this but just don't want to blow my stereo or potentially create a fire hazard.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Chris1956]

A lot of stereos have a wire hooked directly to the battery to keep the radio stations and other items saved in memory. It takes a small amount of power drawn continuously from the battery to do this. Since boats sit for weeks, I hook them these to the switch, and reset the radio stations and other items whenever I use the stereo, rather than drain the battery.

Speaker wire gauge should be matched to the stereo. A strip gauge is fine to match 'em up. Speaker wires can obviously be thicker than the stereo wires.

 

[rossbar86]

A lot of stereos have a wire hooked directly to the battery to keep the radio stations and other items saved in memory. It takes a small amount of power drawn continuously from the battery to do this. Since boats sit for weeks, I hook them these to the switch, and reset the radio stations and other items whenever I use the stereo, rather than drain the battery.

Speaker wire gauge should be matched to the stereo. A strip gauge is fine to match 'em up. Speaker wires can obviously be thicker than the stereo wires.

Hey, thanks for your response. As far as the wires, can the existing power wires coming from the battery (red, black, and yellow) be larger than the ones I hook them to in the new stereo's wire harness? I'm not trying t re-run all the existing wire if I don't have to

 

[dingbat]

1) The installation location is in the glove box and from what I can tell, the existing red and yellow wires run along together ( contained in an orange ) in the picture. I am guessing these run directly to the battery (I can see the orange runs along the side of the boat) as opposed to one going to the ignition switch. I was just going to attach yellow to yellow, red to red and expect that my battery switch will prevent unnecessary draw when the boat is not in use. Does this sound like a suitable approach?

Always confirm, never assume.
According to the manual, yellow is
Memory (battery), red is main power (ignition) and the black wire is ground.

More than likely the orange wire is a primary positive feed. Would want to tie ignition (red) into orange if you want the radio on w/o the ignition on

2) My other questions and concerns are around wire gauge. It appears that some of the wires in the wire harness that came with the Kenwood are smaller than the existing wires.

In "context.jpeg" you can wee the wire harness from the stereo that I am replacing. In yellow.jpeg, you can see the size difference between the smaller yellow wire (unmarked) from the new harness (Kenwood) and the larger wire from the Clarion (labeled 14 AWG). Is this a problem? I think it would only be a problem if the issue was reversed (wires from stereo harness being higher gauge/thinner than the wires coming off the battery).

You are correct in your assumption

3) As mentioned above, the wires on the new harness are unmarked...what is the best way to determine wire gauge size? Would it just be whatever the slot on my wire strippers are labeled that I would use to strip the wire? Other things I read online are talking about measure based on only the wire strands without the insulation...I'm trying to find the gauge to use to determine which butt connector size to use.

Maybe I am overthinking this but just don't want to blow my stereo or potentially create a fire hazard.

Way over thinking this.
Typically 16 awg…strip the use a “blue” butt connector

 

[Chris1956]

The wires from power and ground TO the stereo can be thicker than the ones on the stereo, but not the other way around.

 

[04fxdwgi25]

Clarion wiring diagram:

https://www.clarion.com/si/sl/pdf/CMD8_inst_EN.pdf

Yellow is memory backup (minuscule power draw)
Red is power
Black is ground