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Installing Exile Surf 9’s w/LED’s on 2018 23 LSV


IXFE

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  • 2 weeks later...

Trying to do my own install on my 04 VLX. Thanks a million for this write up. Two questions:

  1. I’m installing 3 amps. 1 for tower speakers, 1 for cabin speakers, and 1 for sub. Can the 250 Amp fuse be looked at as a standard or is there a calculation needed based on the amps/wattage I am running?
  2. I’m running RCAs to the amps from aftermarket head unit. For the remote wire, does this need to be split a few times somehow so it can connect to the 3 different amps? 
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5 hours ago, dkscism said:

Trying to do my own install on my 04 VLX. Thanks a million for this write up. Two questions:

  1. I’m installing 3 amps. 1 for tower speakers, 1 for cabin speakers, and 1 for sub. Can the 250 Amp fuse be looked at as a standard or is there a calculation needed based on the amps/wattage I am running?
  2. I’m running RCAs to the amps from aftermarket head unit. For the remote wire, does this need to be split a few times somehow so it can connect to the 3 different amps? 

I built my own systems from scratch in my four boats prior to this one. I’ve used that same 250A fuse for all of them (up to four amps). 

For the remote wire I simply daisy chain it from one amp to the next. It’s fun to watch them turn on in a rapid sequence as the signal moves from one to the next. 

  • Like 2
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12 hours ago, dkscism said:

Can the 250 Amp fuse be looked at as a standard or is there a calculation needed based on the amps/wattage I am running?

Done safely and correctly, all circuit protections are a calculation based on potential load, cable gauge and length. 

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  • 3 weeks later...
1 hour ago, dkscism said:

Another question, I’m adding new power and ground distribution blocks. Does this also need to be fused like the stock one you modified @IXFE?

thanks

Power block needs a fuse inside the block for every amp you’re connecting to that block. 

Power block also needs a big fuse + holder for the power trunk feeding that block (the power trunk goes back to the battery switch). 

The ground block doesn’t need any fuses. 

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  • 1 month later...
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  • 4 weeks later...

Great thread and helped me install my Surf 9's in my 2010, now that I am looking at upgrading to a 2018, I will probably have to reference this thread again.

Does the 2018's need a zone controller (like a ZLD) or is there zone control already in with the software?  I did not notice one being installed.

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14 hours ago, jwl019 said:

Does the 2018's need a zone controller (like a ZLD) or is there zone control already in with the software?  I did not notice one being installed.

No, you can control zones through the smaller screen as long as you get a dongle that connects the amp to the black box. 

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8 hours ago, Pnwrider said:

No, you can control zones through the smaller screen as long as you get a dongle that connects the amp to the black box.

Is it something you get from the dealer or what do I need to look for to find one?

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1 hour ago, jwl019 said:

Is it something you get from the dealer or what do I need to look for to find one?

 

14 minutes ago, NWBU said:

Yup, that’s what I used. For the record it will work with any amp that takes rca (not just exile).

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1 hour ago, Pnwrider said:

 

Yup, that’s what I used. For the record it will work with any amp that takes rca (not just exile).

Require one for each stock amp or does just one do it?

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7 minutes ago, jwl019 said:

Require one for each stock amp or does just one do it?

Nothing is required for OEM installed amps, as they are already connected to the media center with a signal cable. If the Murphy black box has zone control, it will be there and function. 

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On 10/13/2018 at 12:24 PM, jwl019 said:

Require one for each stock amp or does just one do it?

Here’s a more complete answer, @jwl019

It’s not about how many amps you have. Depends on how you order your boat. Those proprietary connectors correspond to ZONES, not amps.  Think about it this way...

The boat has TWO of those custom plugs that terminate in the amp compartment. One is for the cabin/sub zone. The other is for the tower zone.

Scenario 1 (adding aftermarket tower speakers to an otherwise stock system). If you order your boat with the factory LSV sound pack + factory subwoofer those two zones will already be handled by Malibu (ie one of those connectors plugs directly into the factory 5 channel amp which powers cabin speakers + sub).  So in this case you would only be adding the tower zone requiring the tower specific adapter linked here. Even if you power your tower with TWO amps as I did, you still need just the ONE single adapter. Then use RCA splitters to send the signal from that ONE adapter to your TWO tower amps. 

Scenario 2 (stereo delete boat). If you order your boat with NO stereo whatsoever, you will be adding amps for all three zones so you will need the same tower adapter plus this one here for the cabin and sub zones. Note that it’s a completely different connector and has two sets of RCA’s coming out of it (one for cabin and one for sub). Again, if you’re using more than one amp per zone just use RCA splitters to get the signal to both amps. 

I hope this helps. 

Edited by IXFE
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  • 1 year later...
On 9/4/2018 at 7:51 AM, IXFE said:

Finally got a decent pic of all the LED’s... really happy with how this turned out. I wired the tower speaker LED’s to the rear tower light button on the 7” screen. 

Just to review what I did:

* Exile Surf9’s with custom LED rings

* Replaced all factory interior white LED with blue 

* Replaced the one light above cup holders with a strip 

* Added blue LED behind the subwoofer grill

Soecial thanks to @Ronnie for your help with my first LED project. 

D01681C2-D304-4913-8BBD-26A2761AA57C.jpeg

B84615F8-CFA5-4B1C-891D-FDFEE673A295.png

This post is amazing and I'm sure many have used the info for various reasons.  My question is more specific to the LED wiring.

1.  I assume the LED wiring also went into the death chamber for connection.  Where is the wired connection for the "Rear Tower light Button"?  Were are those wires or where do you find them?  Do they come from the Black Box as well?

2.  If I were to use the Wet Sounds music controller (or any controller for RGB)  would that also get wired in the death chamber and pick up the sound from the black box with an Aux Cable?

Any help is much appreciated.  I got RGB LED Lights for Christmas and I am looking to start the install.

Edited by Squag Mon
Didn't finish post--it's been awhile...
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19 hours ago, Squag Mon said:

This post is amazing and I'm sure many have used the info for various reasons.  My question is more specific to the LED wiring.

1.  I assume the LED wiring also went into the death chamber for connection.  Where is the wired connection for the "Rear Tower light Button"?  Were are those wires or where do you find them?  Do they come from the Black Box as well?

2.  If I were to use the Wet Sounds music controller (or any controller for RGB)  would that also get wired in the death chamber and pick up the sound from the black box with an Aux Cable?

Any help is much appreciated.  I got RGB LED Lights for Christmas and I am looking to start the install.

Thanks for the nice words. I have a lot of fun with these projects, and I’ve learned a ton from folks on this forum. 

As for your questions...

1) Even though my lights were RGB and I used RGB capable wires, I only hooked up the blue lights you see in those pics. My wires do not route to the “death chamber” at all. It goes to the helm. RGB wiring typically has FOUR wires sheathed together (Red, Green, Blue, and Black). Typically the Black wire is the positive (+) while the colored wires are the negative (-). But sometimes the lights coming from China get this backwards so always check with a 9v battery.  You’re gonna want the (+) wire run to the circuit breaker just right of the drivers seat (pic 1). Then the (-) wire goes to a plug under the dash (pic 2). This allows you to turn on and off the tower speakers rings using the tower speakers soft button on the 7” screen. 
 

2) Since I have never installed RGB I will defer to those who have. I do know this... there’s two paths you can go down. You can either use a secondary RGB controller (like the Wetsounds you referenced) or you can go full retard and tie into the RGB interface on the 7” screen (which is a much more involved project that requires tapping into the factory CAN bus). @Ronnie did the latter last year and swore he’d never do it again. Lol. 
 

D357A43E-E3FF-4046-B58F-354146BDB6E4.thumb.jpeg.530d461a6ea8cde320398a4518f87343.jpeg

D4AA82BA-C226-4E03-87E0-4F9C5789D41A.thumb.jpeg.8bde7c2f968e2f26e15abcca724a860c.jpeg

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18 hours ago, IXFE said:

Thanks for the nice words. I have a lot of fun with these projects, and I’ve learned a ton from folks on this forum. 

As for your questions...

1) Even though my lights were RGB and I used RGB capable wires, I only hooked up the blue lights you see in those pics. My wires do not route to the “death chamber” at all. It goes to the helm. RGB wiring typically has FOUR wires sheathed together (Red, Green, Blue, and Black). Typically the Black wire is the positive (+) while the colored wires are the negative (-). But sometimes the lights coming from China get this backwards so always check with a 9v battery.  You’re gonna want the (+) wire run to the circuit breaker just right of the drivers seat (pic 1). Then the (-) wire goes to a plug under the dash (pic 2). This allows you to turn on and off the tower speakers rings using the tower speakers soft button on the 7” screen. 
 

2) Since I have never installed RGB I will defer to those who have. I do know this... there’s two paths you can go down. You can either use a secondary RGB controller (like the Wetsounds you referenced) or you can go full retard and tie into the RGB interface on the 7” screen (which is a much more involved project that requires tapping into the factory CAN bus). @Ronnie did the latter last year and swore he’d never do it again. Lol. 
 

D357A43E-E3FF-4046-B58F-354146BDB6E4.thumb.jpeg.530d461a6ea8cde320398a4518f87343.jpeg

D4AA82BA-C226-4E03-87E0-4F9C5789D41A.thumb.jpeg.8bde7c2f968e2f26e15abcca724a860c.jpeg

Thanks for the info.  I did find the same Tower plug underneath my helm and may use it to power  my LEDs.  It would be nice however to be able to use the built-in controller on the 7" display.  I thought there would be some sort of plug containing RGB wires to do so. I guess it doesn't matter that much since my controller has a remote but still if the boat has it...

Some final questions:

1.  Isn't this tower plug/wires already protected by a fuse and therefore just use the (+) and (-) wires for power to my controller?

2.  Secondly in order to use my Wetsounds controller for sound I will need to connect an AUX cable.  Will I need to get that cable from the Black Box over to the helm or is there a connection point under the helm I can connect to perhaps by a splitter?

thanks again!

Edited by Squag Mon
grammmatical error
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  • 2 weeks later...

I did RGB installs on my 16 and 19.  Both times I used an XKGlow controller.  It couldn’t get any easier!  The controller mounts near your battery and then I ran a switch leg up to the dash.  Once installed the controller pairs with your phone and the XKGLOW app.  The app is easy to use, has two zones and plenty of options.  

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