Need help with Stereo System

[SouthBay RB]

I got 4 Amps 8 speakers and 1 sub, all kenwood. It keeps killing my batteries.
Even when I got the boat at idle and the music turned up loud, it keeps turning off my head unit like its not getting enough juice.
I dont know what to do. Do I need more batteries or better batteries?
I bought the boat from a dealer and they said KENWOOD put it together, I dont think they did a good job.

[BOBALOO]

Why do you have so many amps compared to the amount of speakers you have? Are 3 of them 2 channel and one a 4 channel?
Anyway, at idle your alternator is not putting out enough amperage to charge the batteries faster than those 4 amps are draining them.
You also might be running the head unit off the dash wiring which when the voltage gets low will cause the head unit to momentarily shut off killing the power to the amps.
What batteries are you running? and how long do they last at your normal listening levels?
Where does the power lead to the head unit come from?
What size is the HU power wire?

[BLOWN HOWARD]

Hey Bobaloo you seem like you have some Sub experience wich would you recomend in the 12" range not completly high dollar but not some cheap shit either. THanks

[SouthBay RB]

Why do you have so many amps compared to the amount of speakers you have? Are 3 of them 2 channel and one a 4 channel?
Hey I just bought the boat that way, I dont know anything about stereo stuff.
The stereo doesnt last long at all at normal leves.
What is the HU power wire?
I will have to get back with you with all rest of the info. I guess I will have to look at the manuals or call the boat dealer and ask what they did.

[BOBALOO]

I didnt mean to sound sh*tty asking why you are running 4 amps, I just wanted to know how it is set up. If you are running some serious power to your components 2 ch amps might have been used.
HU stands for head unit.
I run
1 Hifonics 1500w amp to the 2 12" subs
1 Hifonics 4 ch amp 85w per channel or something close to 4 6 1/2 Kappas and 4 6x9 Kappas
1 Sony 45w per ch to 2 6x9 that are always on and 4 more 6x9 that I can plug in at the sandbar.
I run all this really loud to just loud for 4 to 8 hrs without killing my batteries.
I am not really sure b/c since I have been using my new charger the batteries last forever.
I use two 6 volt Trojan golf cart batteries for the stereo and starting.
I also have one huge over 100lb battery I got from work as a backup but have never used it.
Do a search on batteries and tou will get many different opinions. Just dont ast Havasu Hangin about 6v's, he seems a little touchy about them.
Oh yeah the Trojans are about 65$ each and Optimas are 135$ ea and you will need 2 of each.

[ROZ]

it's probably 2 4channels and 1 sub amp....
How many batteries do you have?
Is the headunit turning off, or are the amps shutting down... Amps off only, it's most likely voltage issue... Maybe you need new batteries..
Try hooking up your headunit directly to the stereo battery and give it a try... report back to us..

[Beer-30]

Alternator may be on it's way out, also. Not bringing bats up to full / not pushing enough to run your equipment under way. Since the boat is new to you, ya might have it tested.

[SouthBay RB]

Thanx for the Sugestions.
Just the head Unit keeps turning off for like 5 seconds then comes back on. Only does that with a really BASEY song.
If I got one more battery would I just hook it up to another battery or do i got to do some crazy rewiring?

[Beer-30]

Thanx for the Sugestions.
Just the head Unit keeps turning off for like 5 seconds then comes back on. Only does that with a really BASEY song.
If I got one more battery would I just hook it up to another battery or do i got to do some crazy rewiring?
Hey, do any of you guys think maybe someone is running speakers off of the deck amp? Maybe during high levels of hot songs, it is shutting down the HU amp? Other than a wire shorting or a faulty HU, I have never seen a deck shut down. Amps yes, decks no. Usually the deck keeps on playing regardless of if the amps are running or if they are in protect mode. Hmmm :confused:

[BOBALOO]

What I have seen is when the bass amp draws alot of power during songs with lots of boom.....
and when the batteries get low....
the voltage available to the head unit thru the small guage wire is not enough so it shuts off. This is not a car where the HU is within a couple feet of the battery. For my 3 amps I have a
# 8 power wire for the HU and crossover
2 # 2 power wires for the amps
2 # 2 ground wires for the amps
All the battery interconnects are #2 ga
I think roz hit it on the head for the easy diagnosis, temporarily run a jumper wire from the HU to the battery and see if the problem persists.
Extra batteries are easy to run depending on your avaliable space
We need to know what batteries you have. size/group like a 24 or 27 and how many. Also do you have a switch for the batteries that is one or two positions?

[ROZ]

If I got one more battery would I just hook it up to another battery or do i got to do some crazy rewiring?
Are you only running 1 battery now?

[ROZ]

# 8 power wire for the HU and crossover
2 # 2 power wires for the amps
2 # 2 ground wires for the amps
Is that all? You may want to run shorecable ga wire as power and ground next time :jawdrop: :D

[SouthBay RB]

What I have seen is when the bass amp draws alot of power during songs with lots of boom.....
and when the batteries get low....
the voltage available to the head unit thru the small guage wire is not enough so it shuts off. This is not a car where the HU is within a couple feet of the battery. For my 3 amps I have a
# 8 power wire for the HU and crossover
2 # 2 power wires for the amps
2 # 2 ground wires for the amps
All the battery interconnects are #2 ga
I think roz hit it on the head for the easy diagnosis, temporarily run a jumper wire from the HU to the battery and see if the problem persists.
Extra batteries are easy to run depending on your avaliable space
We need to know what batteries you have. size/group like a 24 or 27 and how many. Also do you have a switch for the batteries that is one or two positions?
I will have to look at the batteries when I get home tonight. I know I havent seen one of the batteries before, looks really small.
And yes I have a switch for the 2 batteries.
Man this is pissing me off

[BOBALOO]

[QUOTE=ROZ]Is that all? You may want to run shorecable ga wire as power and ground next time :jawdrop
I get #2 finely stranded wire from work. We have leftovers from equipment installs so why not use it.

[ROZ]

[QUOTE=ROZ]Is that all? You may want to run shorecable ga wire as power and ground next time :jawdrop
I get #2 finely stranded wire from work. We have leftovers from equipment installs so why not use it.
Nice... :cool:

[boater012]

hey southbay im in long beach if you want to call me you can bring the boat by my shop for a looksee and i will tel you what i think it needs. 1-310-283-0564. i am willing to look at for you no charge and give you some pointers. thats my cel number by the way.

[SouthBay RB]

OK
This is what I got
2 batteries
1 is an EFX power on demand Dry cell
By Scosche IND.
1200 Cranking Amps, 91 reserve MIN.
EDC 1200
Other battery Power Stride Deep Cycle
I have 4 Kenwood amps Excelon KAC-X621
1 sub KFC-XW1300 DVC Peak Power 2000w
8 6inch 2way kenwood speakers
and Head unit is KDC-MPV5025
OK, I hope this helps
Let me know if you guys know anything about this CRAP
THANK YOU

[Beer-30]

I am assuming the deck (head unit) is a Kenwood also, what with the KDC prefix. If so, here is what I have learned of Kenwood.
In a car, it is OK. Kenwood, to most who know stereo stuff, is know for good looks. They always have pretty lights and displays, but they seem to be fragile. They don't like bumps and vibration. Therefore, if your HU is a Kenwood, I would just start by changing that out. I am a fan of Eclipse, but it is a little pricey for boating. My truck is full of Eclipse. Don't know if I would change my Sony for an Eclipse in the boat, but almost all of the brands are holding up. Sony, Alpine are very common and seem to do the job well. They are very affordable also.
I would really suspect your Kenwood head unit is the culprit of your off/on woes.

[SouthBay RB]

I am assuming the deck (head unit) is a Kenwood also, what with the KDC prefix. If so, here is what I have learned of Kenwood.
In a car, it is OK. Kenwood, to most who know stereo stuff, is know for good looks. They always have pretty lights and displays, but they seem to be fragile. They don't like bumps and vibration. Therefore, if your HU is a Kenwood, I would just start by changing that out. I am a fan of Eclipse, but it is a little pricey for boating. My truck is full of Eclipse. Don't know if I would change my Sony for an Eclipse in the boat, but almost all of the brands are holding up. Sony, Alpine are very common and seem to do the job well. They are very affordable also.
I would really suspect your Kenwood head unit is the culprit of your off/on woes.
So are you saying the BATTERIES are fine, its just the head unit?
because it turns off when the batteries are dying, and how I know they are dying,
I can't turn the motor over.

[Beer-30]

Sorry, I didn't realize the batteries were actually going dead.
So, when the head unit does its off and on thing, the boat won't start? Batteries are done? Or does it do the off/on thing while underway?

[SouthBay RB]

Sorry, I didn't realize the batteries were actually going dead.
So, when the head unit does its off and on thing, the boat won't start? Batteries are done? Or does it do the off/on thing while underway?
It does it when its parked and if the Batteries arent charged and I go underway it will do it if I blast loud
Hope that makes sense

[Beer-30]

It does it when its parked and if the Batteries arent charged and I go underway it will do it if I blast loud
Hope that makes sense
Ok, when parked, is it only when blasted loud also? Or even if music is at low levels?

[SouthBay RB]

Ok, when parked, is it only when blasted loud also? Or even if music is at low levels?
Just loud

[Beer-30]

Just loud
Replace deck.
If nothing else, borrow a deck or something, hook it up and just set it on the floor or dash. See if same thing occurs. Sounds like a loose circuit board in the deck or a solder joint coming loose. When bumped or asked for high current, it is causing an issue. This is just a guess, but that's where I would start.

[BOBALOO]

It does it when its parked and if the Batteries arent charged and I go underway it will do it if I blast loud
Hope that makes sense
The stereo IS turning off because it is NOT getting enough voltage to keep it on. It is not getting enough voltage because the batteries are too weak. It may also have too small of a power wire to the head unit, but that sounds less likely b/c you said the batts are dead.
When you get it started by jumping it or waiting for the batteries to come up a little on their own and starting it, the alternator CANNOT charge enough to supply the dead batts and the high output of 4 amps at a high volume.
Your stock alternator probably puts out 55 or 65 amps. The draw from 4 amps at loud volume is going to be more than that and the batteries will not charge.
BTW the rating on your alternator is only at a higher rpm and at idle you are only getting 15 amps or so with a factory alt.
If you want to get some more playtime from your system you will probably need to upgrade to 2 new higher capacity batts for the stereo and 1 new one for a reserve/starting batt.
Do a search on batteries but I would get 2 6volt golf cart batteries wired together for 12 volts,and use one of your existing batteries for the backup/starting batt.
Get a Schumacher 30 or 40 amp charger from Wal Mart and keep the batteries charged or they will go weak.
Good luck. and dont replace the head unit if it works fine when the batteries are fully charged (from a charger NOT your alternator).

[ROZ]

The stereo IS turning off because it is NOT getting enough voltage to keep it on. It is not getting enough voltage because the batteries are too weak. It may also have too small of a power wire to the head unit, but that sounds less likely b/c you said the batts are dead.
When you get it started by jumping it or waiting for the batteries to come up a little on their own and starting it, the alternator CANNOT charge enough to supply the dead batts and the high output of 4 amps at a high volume.
Your stock alternator probably puts out 55 or 65 amps. The draw from 4 amps at loud volume is going to be more than that and the batteries will not charge.
BTW the rating on your alternator is only at a higher rpm and at idle you are only getting 15 amps or so with a factory alt.
Ding ding ding!!!

[Beer-30]

Ok, possible.
However, I have been in two different boats that ran the batteries down running the stereo in the channel. Both had isolated batteries, so there was always a start battery available.
That being said, both times the amps started clipping before the deck went out. The sound started getting crappy and distorted when the amps were running low.
The head unit(s) were playing fine. He didn't mention the sound started to distort just before head unit clipped off. Additionally, most late model digital decks need to be manually turned back on after power is shut off to it. If it is losing power, why is it coming back on by itself.. and off again....and on again. ????

[ROZ]

If it was a defective headunit, the boat would still start.. He mentioned that after the system goes int protect mode, the boat won't start...Most likely a voltage issue... One or both batteries probably are toast from being ccled too many times...
Electronics can be a little wierd... I've seen multiple amp systems completely shut down, a/b shut down while D keeps running the subs, and the oppsite with d and 2 ch a/b go down while a/b 4 channel continue to play.. One fan runs great while the other fan barely turns both wired with equal length 14ga wire... Sometimes alarms won't work because there's one cell in the battery that's bad or the batteries aren't fully charged eventhough everything else works....

[Beer-30]

My bad. I didn't read all of his posts. I didn't see that it wouldn't start after. Yeah, I agree that elecs can be weird. Cool, hopefully that is all his issue is.

[ROZ]

Cool, hopefully that is all his issue is.
I hope so too :D
BTW, Cool looking truck in your sig!

[Beer-30]

I hope so too :D
BTW, Cool looking truck in your sig!
Thanks! I try to keep it from looking old. It's a '98, but just got "freshened up". New lenses, brakes, shocks, all the fun stuff.

[SouthBay RB]

When the batteries start getting low the sound quality doesn't change, just the head unit turns off
and then when I jump it with a jumper, it starts up Right away

[SouthBay RB]

So do you guys think I just need to get 2 batteries for the stereo, or is there anything else I should do?