Stereo wiring question...

[OliverM5]

When installing a few amps and head unit, should I power the head unit off the main power cable for the amps (coming from the battery) or off of the boat's power supply behind the dash?

[Boozer]

When installing a few amps and head unit, should I power the head unit off the main power cable for the amps (coming from the battery) or off of the boat's power supply behind the dash?
Power it off the dash. Theres no reason to power it off the amp power wire. Decks don't draw a whole lot of power.

[OliverM5]

For the best connection and lowest possibility of noise, all stereo components should be powered and grounded together.
Sounds good....I had the post where my bass was drawing too much power from the battery when the motor was off....I spoke to a rep at the amp company (profile) and he said that my two big amps will not run well off of a single 12v battery for too long (they draw too much power)....is this right? I should have about 600-900 watts rms running........

[OliverM5]

You should have a battery for every 500 watts RMS.
You should also make sure that your POWER and GROUND are both 4 gauge.
So if I put my perko switch on "both" that should connect the two batteries together and should power my system ok, right?

[Boozer]

Sounds good....I had the post where my bass was drawing too much power from the battery when the motor was off....I spoke to a rep at the amp company (profile) and he said that my two big amps will not run well off of a single 12v battery for too long (they draw too much power)....is this right? I should have about 600-900 watts rms running........
I think you should be fine running one battery for that power as long as the boats running while your doing it. If you plan to bang the noise while parked I'd recommend adding a second battery.

[OliverM5]

You should have a battery for every 500 watts RMS.
You should also make sure that your POWER and GROUND are both 4 gauge.
Does the head unit and cd changer pull a lot of amperage from the 4 gauge wire I have going to the amps?

[Boozer]

If you really want to do it "right", I would recommend two batts in parallel on the "2" for your stereo and one normal deep cycle starting batt on the "1" for starting. There's nothing worse than draining your batts while parked or forgetting to switch the Perko to 2 and having it accidentally drain your starting battery.
Why waste all that time and effort? Just splice into the 12V auxillary wire and run everything off of it. Pop 6 batteries under the hatch and run them all in series. 18g wire should suffice for the power. :supp:
If you cant find the 12v just get an electrical tester and find a fuse thats running constant. Tap into that puppy and bam you got power.
I didnt spend 6 years installing stereos at the flea market for nothing.
:messedup:

[Boozer]

You are as qualified as half the guys that came looking for a job. :p
Those are the guys you hired right??

[Riverkid]

Why waste all that time and effort? Just splice into the 12V auxillary wire and run everything off of it. Pop 6 batteries under the hatch and run them all in series. 18g wire should suffice for the power. :supp:
If you cant find the 12v just get an electrical tester and find a fuse thats running constant. Tap into that puppy and bam you got power.
I didnt spend 6 years installing stereos at the flea market for nothing.
:messedup:
Doncha' mean parallel? Haven't seen too many 72 volt systems lately :)

[Boozer]

Doncha' mean parallel? Haven't seen too many 72 volt systems lately :)
Why have 12 volts when you can have 72 volts? More is better.

[Riverkid]

I like the way you think...

[Daytona19]

I recently hooked up my own system, head unit, 1200 watt amp 4 channel , two subs,two mids,two highs and two tweeters on top of that. I originally connected to the panel behind the dash but after a few problems I ran direct to the battery (two of them) for my system. I too had a perko switch and select the number two postion when running the system and when starting I go to the single battery for starting and is the number one postion on my perko. I through the battery charger on from time to time but have never ran out of power yet. I am going to ad a capicator real soon so when the subs thump they dont take so much from the system just to save the batteries a little more. When connect to the panel every time I turned on my nav lights or docking lights the stereo would "blink" and loose power for a second, probably a ground issue. But after direct hook up that all stopped.

[rivercrazy]

IMHO you would be better off ditching the cap idea and investing that money into another battery.