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Ws-420 Install


calvinclark

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Crew,

Please excuse my ignorance on this but I wanna make sure I get everything right. I am installing a WS-420 on my 2010 Vride and got a couple questions.

1) Having the RF headunit and the rfx300 black box, where should the main input RCAs come from?

2) Where are you guys connecting your power, ground, and remote wires?

Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

-Calvin

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Easy one. The output that currenly comes out of the black box unit and goes to your amplifiers now will be one of your outputs to the 420. I would most likely use the "Front" output from your black box into the " Input" on the 420. The 420 will now become your master volume control and all pre-outs to the amplifiers will be fed from the 420. This will allow to set the volume level on the headunit to set level and virtually "forget it". The 420 is now your multi-zone volume control. It takes away some of the functionality of the remotes in the boat if you have them. Volume will need to be set and changed for the independant zones by the 420.

Power and ground. This is going to depend on a few prefferences, and possibly mounting location. Your remote wire can be from a few different sources.One would be the " turn on" lead from the head unit. You can get away with just running an exstension from one of your amps, or you can install a relay into the circuit to be safe. I have done both types of installation on that circuit without issues both ways, but alot of guys like to say you need a relay when using several components on the type of circuit. Fear of overloading the circuit is what is trying to be avoided. I can tell you from personal expierience I have ran as many as 6 amplifiers of a single remote lead with no issues in the past without a relay. If you have the time and know how adding the realy is not a bad idea though, it will sometimes cut down on "turn on" and "turn off" popping noises that can sometimes arise.You can also connect the orange wire to the same accesory "on" wire that goes to the black box. I can't remember if that is the white with blue tracer, or white with purple. Simple testlight check will tell ya though. Power and ground SHOULD come from the same points of suppply as your amplifiers. Sometimes this can be difficult to complete , but I would atleast make sure it is grounded to the same block as the amplifiers. This goes a long way in reducing noise.

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Easy one. The output that currenly comes out of the black box unit and goes to your amplifiers now will be one of your outputs to the 420. I would most likely use the "Front" output from your black box into the " Input" on the 420. The 420 will now become your master volume control and all pre-outs to the amplifiers will be fed from the 420. This will allow to set the volume level on the headunit to set level and virtually "forget it". The 420 is now your multi-zone volume control. It takes away some of the functionality of the remotes in the boat if you have them. Volume will need to be set and changed for the independant zones by the 420.

Power and ground. This is going to depend on a few prefferences, and possibly mounting location. Your remote wire can be from a few different sources.One would be the " turn on" lead from the head unit. You can get away with just running an exstension from one of your amps, or you can install a relay into the circuit to be safe. I have done both types of installation on that circuit without issues both ways, but alot of guys like to say you need a relay when using several components on the type of circuit. Fear of overloading the circuit is what is trying to be avoided. I can tell you from personal expierience I have ran as many as 6 amplifiers of a single remote lead with no issues in the past without a relay. If you have the time and know how adding the realy is not a bad idea though, it will sometimes cut down on "turn on" and "turn off" popping noises that can sometimes arise.You can also connect the orange wire to the same accesory "on" wire that goes to the black box. I can't remember if that is the white with blue tracer, or white with purple. Simple testlight check will tell ya though. Power and ground SHOULD come from the same points of suppply as your amplifiers. Sometimes this can be difficult to complete , but I would atleast make sure it is grounded to the same block as the amplifiers. This goes a long way in reducing noise.

I am going thru this same process right now and Baws is right on everything you should do. The remote wire that I was using on the black box is actually labeled the power antenna wire which is solid blue with a small fuse inline. I called the folks at Patrick Industries, who make the black box and they said that this is the lead to use. There are a couple of brown wires that are trigger wires, but you have to manually turn them on when the unit comes on.

Also, I am in the process of running 10 awg power and ground around the front of the boat from the amp panel to the the drivers side. Then I am going to put a terminal strip underneath the dash area so that I can wire in accessories such as an EQ, Ipod charger, HSE...etc.

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Make sure to turn off the sub output on the black box so all the frequencies are going through the front outputs to the EQ. If the sub output is enabled on the black box you won't get any low / bass going into the EQ.

I added the AudioControl EQ to my factory system and it was like a totally new system. The WS is pretty much the same. I am sure you will really Ike it.

Kris

Edited by BSUBU_Kris
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I was thinking the same thing. Strips of exposed + or - powered anything give me the heeby geebies. Even though everything may be fuse or breaker'd somewhere, still not comfy with it. Saw a boat catch on fire and burn this summer due to a grounded + line.

On a related note, I found and bought these Kicker 4ga wiring Kits on Sale at Best Buy for $55 each I think. smoking deal, usually in the 100-125$ range. would clean up most of any installs nicely.

09pkd4.jpg

Edited by nyryan2001
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Make sure to turn off the sub output on the black box so all the frequencies are going through the front outputs to the EQ. If the sub output is enabled on the black box you won't get any low / bass going into the EQ.

Not sure if I agree with this. I certainly use my sub output from my blackbox directly for my sub.....and my inboat mids on a separate amp would love to and try to be little mini subs whenever I have played around with the crossover freq on their separate amp. Not 100% sure on this, but interesting.

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Not sure if I agree with this. I certainly use my sub output from my blackbox directly for my sub.....and my inboat mids on a separate amp would love to and try to be little mini subs whenever I have played around with the crossover freq on their separate amp. Not 100% sure on this, but interesting.

You can use the sub output for the blackbox but then you won't be able to control the sub with the EQ. I disabled the sub output on the blackbox and control the sub with the EQ. This is preferable to using the black box as you have a lot more control of the sound from the sub and it is much easier to make adjustments with the EQ vs the blackbox.

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Here are a couple of considerations with using a relay for the remote turn-on lead.

Early on a manual switch, usually combined with a rotary volume control, connected the incoming 12 volts directly with the power antenna control and amplifier turn-on output. More recently a buffer was inserted in the form of a relay or transistor. A great majority of head units today use a transistor driver to send out a remote turn-on voltage similar to the multiple transistor drivers used in auto alarm brains for example. Its a very limited capacity transistor because the remote turn-on for amplifiers and processors only require milliamps each. And the traces on the internal circuit board for this function are less than paper thin so the trace can be easily severed in the event of an external miscue. A relay for its $5 expense is just a matter of risk management in avoiding a potential $100 HU repair. You just can't predict the capacity of this circuit from HU to HU brand. Its generally not needed but its a pretty good idea past a certain number of components. Our threshold is three but again the turn-on draw of an amplifier or EQ processor is tiny given that these are not workload supplies and just a trigger function. Not all electronics use the same color code for remote, constant and switched so a relay will provide insurance in case you get something reserved or accidentally arc against something. Also, once you have a relay, like a simple horn relay (30 amps short term and about 10 amps continuously) you can freely add cooling fans if needed to the circuit.

Another common use for a relay is when you want to mantain the factory key switched function but you want to combine the supplies for all audio electronics at the amplifiers and isolate the supplies from the factory circuit or harness. This is where the noise elimination comes in.

David

Earmark Marine

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