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Battery and Stereo info


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Well, in order to not hijack the other topic, I'll go from here.

I currently have an Interstate Marine/RV Cranking 24M-XHD 800 CCA 1000MCA. After adding an amp and sub to my sound system, I cannot run the amp without the motor running. It seems to kick in and out like it is not getting enough power from the battery unless the motor is running. battery was installed March 2002. Other than trying to run the stereo with the motor off, the battery has never had issues starting the boat and I even use it for powering my lift motor. It's never failed me.

800 Cold Carnking Amps (how powerful it is at 0 F) 1000 Marine Canking Amps (how powerful it is at 32 F)

Pull the battery and bring it in to an automotive shop and they can tell you how it's doing. As for the stereo, could be a lot of things like bad amp, bad battery, need for a capacitor. Try starting a new thread if your battery tests OK.

Interesting. I've never ran it in cold weather so I can't answer your first two questions. I bring it indoors during the winter while boat is stored away. I put it on a charger a couple times over the winter and it takes maybe a few minutes and it shows fully charged. Other than taking it to Napa to have it tested, it seems fine.

Need a little more info. Like what you have for a stereo set up and such. If you do not have much for a stereo then a 24m-xhd from interstate would be just fine IMO. The perko switch and cable are not difficult to install if both batteries can fit in the same location.

That is awesome to get that great of life out of the battery. It really says something for interstate :rockon:. I would definently replace the battery it sounds like it doesn't have the capacity that it used to have. The same battery or a deep cycle group 27 would be what would go with unless you run the stereo a lot with out the motor running. IMO.

I was surprised by the install date as well.

My stereo setup is this:

JVC Head(factory installed)

4 standard Infinity 6 inch factory installed speakers.(not running through amp)

Added:

MTX RT2200 280w amp.(used) -probably a junky amp, but it's all I could buy at the time(wife is really being anal about me spending money on the boat)

15inch Pioneer sub.(used)

I'm no stereo expert but with the help of my cousin(who knows a little), I wired it up and all appears to work fine unless I crank it up, then it kicks in and out. If I turn the motor on, I can crank the darn thing as high as I want and it never kicks out.

If anyone thinks I should pony up for a newer amp, chime in with some recommendations. I am on a limited budget dictated by the wife. Yes I still have not found my man card. :(

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Well, in order to not hijack the other topic, I'll go from here.

I currently have an Interstate Marine/RV Cranking 24M-XHD 800 CCA 1000MCA. After adding an amp and sub to my sound system, I cannot run the amp without the motor running. It seems to kick in and out like it is not getting enough power from the battery unless the motor is running. battery was installed March 2002. Other than trying to run the stereo with the motor off, the battery has never had issues starting the boat and I even use it for powering my lift motor. It's never failed me.

Interesting. I've never ran it in cold weather so I can't answer your first two questions. I bring it indoors during the winter while boat is stored away. I put it on a charger a couple times over the winter and it takes maybe a few minutes and it shows fully charged. Other than taking it to Napa to have it tested, it seems fine.

I was surprised by the install date as well.

My stereo setup is this:

JVC Head(factory installed)

4 standard Infinity 6 inch factory installed speakers.(not running through amp)

Added:

MTX RT2200 280w amp.(used) -probably a junky amp, but it's all I could buy at the time(wife is really being anal about me spending money on the boat)

15inch Pioneer sub.(used)

I'm no stereo expert but with the help of my cousin(who knows a little), I wired it up and all appears to work fine unless I crank it up, then it kicks in and out. If I turn the motor on, I can crank the darn thing as high as I want and it never kicks out.

If anyone thinks I should pony up for a newer amp, chime in with some recommendations. I am on a limited budget dictated by the wife. Yes I still have not found my man card. :(

Mike I would replace your battery for good measure no matter what, I'd go with a group 27 minimum or group 29 battery. You have a cranking battery right now and if you plan on running the stereo with the boat off you should get a Marine Deep Cycle/Starting battery. Your amp cutting out might not be the battery though, sounds like something isn't wired right. Could be low impedance on the amp and sending it into protection mode. Is there a red light coming on when it's cutting out. Check that out and if that's the case it's either low voltage from your battery or low impedance from a wiring error. Easy enough to check both while you're at it.

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http://www.interstatebatteries.com/cs_estore/content/product_info/marine_f.asp

Which one is recommended?

According to the chart I have a Crankcin/Starting one. They only go up to 27. Which is totally greek to me anyway.

How about the Interstate Deep Cycle/Cranking - 12 Volt 29M SRM-29? or the 27. Not a huge difference but the price may be.

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You can do some easy tests to determine what is causing your problem. Using a digital multi meter with a min/max sampling ability will let you know if your battery is the cause of your drop outs. If voltage at the battery stays above 12.5 volts (stereo and amp on) with the engine off, I would eliminate the battery as your problem and consider larger wire with good connections to supply your equipment. You would need a meter with sampling ability because most voltage drops (due to the stereo's load) would happen to fast for the meter display to show them, but sampling would save those drops to reveiw after your test is done.

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The 27 run around 95 to 100. I am a interstate dealer but I normally do not stock the 29 but, I am guessing, it would be around 110-115. The deep cycle would definately be the way to go if you are not going to run two batteries.

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You can do some easy tests to determine what is causing your problem. Using a digital multi meter with a min/max sampling ability will let you know if your battery is the cause of your drop outs. If voltage at the battery stays above 12.5 volts (stereo and amp on) with the engine off, I would eliminate the battery as your problem and consider larger wire with good connections to supply your equipment. You would need a meter with sampling ability because most voltage drops (due to the stereo's load) would happen to fast for the meter display to show them, but sampling would save those drops to reveiw after your test is done.

I bought/used really good wiring (larger) when I added the amp etc.

I'll test with the multimet3r just to be certain.

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I bought/used really good wiring (larger) when I added the amp etc.

I'll test with the multimet3r just to be certain.

Mike you say your amp is 280 watts, if it's at least 8 awg power/ground you're fine. I'd look at the condition of the battery and how your sub is wired to the amp. Could be that the impedence of you sub is to low for your amplifier. Can you describe what sub it is and which model amplifier you have?

Edit: I saw the specs on your amp. What model is the sub?

Edited by 06vlx
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Mike you say your amp is 280 watts, if it's at least 8 awg power/ground you're fine. I'd look at the condition of the battery and how your sub is wired to the amp. Could be that the impedence of you sub is to low for your amplifier. Can you describe what sub it is and which model amplifier you have?

Edit: I saw the specs on your amp. What model is the sub?

It's all wired per the manual.

It's a 12" Pioneer, but I have no idea the exact model. I'll have to get the boat out to find out. The guy I bought it from said it worked great when he had it in his car. :unsure:

Edit: I think I found it

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Products/CarAudioVideo/Subwoofers/Champion/TS-W303C

Edited by areamike
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It's all wired per the manual.

It's a 12" Pioneer, but I have no idea the exact model. I'll have to get the boat out to find out. The guy I bought it from said it worked great when he had it in his car. :unsure:

Here's what might be happening. Your amp is a 2 channel amp, when bridged it has a minimum impedence of 4 ohms. If your sub is a dual 4 ohm sub wired parallel showing 2 ohms and you have your amp bridged to the sub it's seeing an ohm load to low to operate without going into protection mode.

If you don't have the stereo turned up very high you could probably get away with this until you turn the volume up and that amp really starts to put out some power, then it would cut out.

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Here's what might be happening. Your amp is a 2 channel amp, when bridged it has a minimum impedence of 4 ohms. If your sub is a dual 4 ohm sub wired parallel showing 2 ohms and you have your amp bridged to the sub it's seeing an ohm load to low to operate without going into protection mode.

If you don't have the stereo turned up very high you could probably get away with this until you turn the volume up and that amp really starts to put out some power, then it would cut out.

Did you see my edit above? I'm pretty sure this is the Subwoofer I have

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Products/CarAudioVideo/Subwoofers/Champion/TS-W253C?tab=B

I think I have the Sub wired in bridge mode on the amp. Here's a page from the AMPS manual. I believe I have the pos/neg wires coming from the sub and going to place on the manual that says 10 - Bridged.

POsitive from sub is going to L+. Negative from Sub is going to R-

http://www.tomsremote.com/mystuff/pics/rt2200manual.jpg

Edited by areamike
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I was also running an MTX amp and I was having similar problems. I got a bigger deep cycle marine battery. I increased the size and shortened the distance of the power and ground wire, and nothing was working. It ended up being the amp. I tested an old amp that had much less power and that was the entire problem. Now my biggest problem is not blowing up my dash gauges because it hits so hard!!!!

Before you go tearing everything apart, you should just unhook the wires to your amp and try a different amp. It should only take a few minutes.

I would place some $ on that being your problem...

Edited by nbeihl
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I was also running an MTX amp and I was having similar problems. I got a bigger deep cycle marine battery. I increased the size and shortened the distance of the power and ground wire, and nothing was working. It ended up being the amp. I tested an old amp that had much less power and that was the entire problem. Now my biggest problem is not blowing up my dash gauges because it hits so hard!!!!

Before you go tearing everything apart, you should just unhook the wires to your amp and try a different amp. It should only take a few minutes.

I would place some $ on that being your problem...

So, even though everything runs fine if the motor is running, the amp could still be flaky?

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So, even though everything runs fine if the motor is running, the amp could still be flaky?

It is possible, yes. It may run fine at ~14volts with the motor on, but not at ~12.5 volts with the motor off.

One more option to consider, though. How are the wires connected at the battery? What I mean is if the amp wire is on top of the alternator (motor) wire, it may only have good connection to that wire and not to the battery itself, so when the motor is running it works fine because the power is coming from the alternator. This would probably lead to other issues though, like poor charging of the battery. Check/clean connections first, use sand paper and dielectric grease and see if the problem persists.

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It is possible, yes. It may run fine at ~14volts with the motor on, but not at ~12.5 volts with the motor off.

One more option to consider, though. How are the wires connected at the battery? What I mean is if the amp wire is on top of the alternator (motor) wire, it may only have good connection to that wire and not to the battery itself, so when the motor is running it works fine because the power is coming from the alternator. This would probably lead to other issues though, like poor charging of the battery. Check/clean connections first, use sand paper and dielectric grease and see if the problem persists.

The big fat red wire is going to the Positive stud post with wingnut on the battery(nothing else there). Black is going to ground. All connections were cleaned last summer during install. Looks like I have another project cut out for me. Also, I don't have a "spare" amp to try.

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My MTX amp would power on and appear to work correctly both when the boat was on just the battery and when it was running. When it was just on the battery it would cut out if I turned the stereo above about 1/3. When the boat was running, I could turn it up about 2/3 of the way before it would cut out. (This was all with the amp's gain turned down)

It would be worth a shot to try a different amp. You could barrow a buddies, or pick up a cheep used one on craigslist for trouble shooting purposes. Who knows, the cheep one may sound better than the 'good' one. That is what happened to me.

There is definitely around a 2 volt increase when the boat is running (Alternator) vs when the boat is off (Battery).

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Here's a few I found locally. tell me what you guys think. Lafayette is only about 20-30 minute drive. Indy is about 1.5 hours.

http://tippecanoe.craigslist.org/ele/1627013358.html

http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/ele/1590611426.html

http://tippecanoe.craigslist.org/ele/1610316667.html

Junk?

I wonder if this is legit. Reviews of the AMP are pretty good.

http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/ele/1590829090.html

Edited by areamike
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Here's a few I found locally. tell me what you guys think. Lafayette is only about 20-30 minute drive. Indy is about 1.5 hours.

http://tippecanoe.craigslist.org/ele/1627013358.html

http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/ele/1590611426.html

http://tippecanoe.craigslist.org/ele/1610316667.html

Junk?

I wonder if this is legit. Reviews of the AMP are pretty good.

http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/ele/1590829090.html

The first amp isn't enough power for your setup. The next two are garbage, and the third there is no way that's legit. If you showed up to get that thing you would probably be abducted.

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The first amp isn't enough power for your setup. The next two are garbage, and the third there is no way that's legit. If you showed up to get that thing you would probably be abducted.

Well bummer. I don't know crap about stereos and amps. I'm sure that's painfully obvious.

What would you advise is the power level I need in an amp? Are you saying "not enough power" cause of the sub I have?

Also, I don't know if I mentioned it, but I am not running any of the 4 boat speakers through my amp right now. Should I be?

Here's another

http://tippecanoe.craigslist.org/ele/1611596306.html

I just hate to fork out more than a 100 bucks if I don't have to. I figure it will be cheaper to find out if the amp is my problem rather than replacing my "what appears to be working" battery.

Edited by areamike
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for the price, this is a pretty decent amp: http://cgi.ebay.com/US-Acoustics-USB-4085-amplifier_W0QQitemZ180466933979QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCar_Amplifiers?hash=item2a04aae0db

And at least you've got a little warranty.

This one's cheap and new and a decent deal if the specs can be believed: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Crunch-P500.2-250-Watt-2-Channel-Car-Power-Amplifier/13282449

And this is prolly the smokin-est deal going right now for a good sub amp: http://www.amazon.com/Eclipse-XA1200-Class-Subwoofer-Amplifier/dp/B001E02BAC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1267731200&sr=8-2

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Also, I don't know if I mentioned it, but I am not running any of the 4 boat speakers through my amp right now. Should I be?

Only if you want the speakers to sound good. :) :)

That us acoustics amp I linked to could do four speakers from the two front channels at 2ohm and bridge the rear channels for the sub. That'd be plenty for a modest system.

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After the Perfect Pass debacle, the Wife is gonna kill me if I put out more cash on the boat. I'm gonna have to keep this one well below the radar. I could probably justify a battery, but stereo equipment for a stereo she will say sounds fine to her is another thing.

http://tippecanoe.craigslist.org/ele/1611596306.html

Edited by areamike
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After the Perfect Pass debacle, the Wife is gonna kill me if I put out more cash on the boat. I'm gonna have to keep this one well below the radar. I could probably justify a battery, but stereo equipment for a stereo she will say sounds fine to her is another thing.

http://tippecanoe.craigslist.org/ele/1611596306.html

I'd buy that brand new eclipse amp before I bought this kicker. Kicker is a decent amp... but not brand new and costs more.

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