Total amps and the stereo

[ChesBayBoatMan]

Greetings gang,

First of all let me tell you that you have all helped me out a great deal when it comes to marine electronics. I have been reading and soaking up as much information as I can. You have all been great teachers and I am hoping you can continue to help me out.

I am starting with a clean electrical slate and have, from reading your posts, gotten most of the details worked out, but I am unclear on one last thing. When calculating "total amps" do I need to include each piece of the stereo individually, or does the stereo unit itself account for each speaker.

Example: The stereo carries a 10 amp rating. Each speaker carries a 5 amp rating and there are 4 speakers. (these numbers may be off, but they are more for example purposes at this point) Do I need to fuse the stereo for 10 amps, or for 30 amps?

Thanks for all the advice you have given and any advice you are willing to give.

 

[slia67]

Re: Total amps and the stereo

Fuse for your stereo (or your stereo plus amps). Most stereo manuals will give you your fuse specs in the installation manual.

If you are considering upgrading to stereo plus amps in the future it is much easier to run the appropriate gauge wire in the beginning as opposed to having to tear everything apart and run larger gauge wire later when it is time to add additional components.

Good luck.

 

[Greg Mrozinski]

Re: Total amps and the stereo

Ches,

Your owner?s manual for the radio should give you the maximum amperage draw. That would include the speakers as part of the overall system. For the radio 5-10 amps should be fine. If you add other components like an amp then you will need to increase your switch/fuse panel capacity. If you want to run everything on one switch through your switch panel then you will need to add up all the separate amp draws (radio+amp+XM receiver+etc.) and make sure the switch and the respective fuse/breaker can handle it all. If not then you will have to split them up amongst several switchs/fuses/breakers that are the appropriate size for each.

 

[RickJ6956]

Re: Total amps and the stereo

Each speaker carries a 5 amp rating and there are 4 speakers.

Unless the speakers connect directly to DC power (most don't) you don't have to worry about them. Speakers are rated in watts of power handling capacity, but that power comes from the receiver or amp and is accounted for in that device's fuse rating.

 

[ChesBayBoatMan]

Re: Total amps and the stereo

Thanks for the info gang. True to form you answerd my questions.

Thanks again,

Ches.