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key off turns off radio?


buckhorn

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I am coming from a Ski Nautique, and find it interesting that killing the engine (such as when picking up a skier) kills the stereo. On my Nautique the stereo stays on when the key is turned off, but there is also a master kill switch on the dash, which I use when I want to make sure nothing is draining the battery. You guys all leave the stereo hooked up this way, or do you hot wire it?

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Buckhorn,

Wiring the head-unit's turn-on circuit to the ACC terminal of the key switch has been a growing method among many boat builders for the past 8-10 years. Most owners do exactly like Rob pointed to. Relocate that turn-on wire from the key switch to a rocker.

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Mine is wired to an AUX switch rather than the ignition. So it's not effected by the key on or off. But I have to make sure it's off when I button up the boat..... along with all the other things.

Edited by Bill_AirJunky
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That was easy! Moved the white and blue wire from ignition switch to acc switch. All is good. Took 10 minutes. Thanks for all the help!

  • Like 1
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If you make this change from the ignition switch over to the ACC switch, will the stereo still keep track of time?

Mine does not. But it's really not an issue. The display is tough to read in the sunlight. And there is usually a countless number of cell phones on board at any given time.

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If you make this change from the ignition switch over to the ACC switch, will the stereo still keep track of time?

The MEM is a different circuit, its coupled with constant B+ yellow wire. The circuit discussed here is simply a turn-on trigger. If the head-unit is not retaining memory, its likely that yellow MEM/B+ is wired to the boat side of the switch, not the BATT side.

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The MEM is a different circuit, its coupled with constant B+ yellow wire. The circuit discussed here is simply a turn-on trigger. If the head-unit is not retaining memory, its likely that yellow MEM/B+ is wired to the boat side of the switch, not the BATT side.

And if you use a Perko battery switch?

I suppose you could bypass the boat's wiring harness & go directly to a battery (or to the battery side of the Perko) with that one MEM/B+ wire.

Edited by Bill_AirJunky
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And if you use a Perko battery switch?

I suppose you could bypass the boat's wiring harness & go directly to a battery (or to the battery side of the Perko) with that one MEM/B+ wire.

I was referring to the battery switch, regardless of brand, not the key switch. Sorry if that was not clear. If you want to have the memory retained and the head-unit does not have battery backup, then the yellow B+ needs to be on the battery side of the battery switch. If having the MEM retained is not a big deal and someone wants to disconnect all loads from the battery(s), then terminate the B+ to the boat side of the battery switch.

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And if you use a Perko battery switch?

I suppose you could bypass the boat's wiring harness & go directly to a battery (or to the battery side of the Perko) with that one MEM/B+ wire.

That's what you do. I leave mine on the Perko since I never turn it off anyway unless I'm working on something.
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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks. I have the push button and want to do the same thing with a toggle switch to turn radio on without turning everything on. But I haven't found anyone yet that knows which wire for sure without tracing it out.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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  • 1 year later...

Completed a search and this thread was the best I could find.  I'd like to wire my head unit power to a rocker switch instead of the ignition.  I would have thought that it would be as simple as tracing the red 12 volt alternating power back to the ignition and moving it to the switch that is already hot and ground.  But a friend told me my rudimentary understanding was wrong.  I currently only have a single amp that turns on when the head unit is powered using the blue/white striped and an exile bluetooth unit butted into the red 12 volt.  

Can someone explain how to go about safely making the change from ignition control on/off to rocker switch.  Thanks.

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I believe the issue he pointed to was current draw and that the switch is not designed to carry that much of a load.  He said if I really wanted to I would have to be sure I was using a 10 amp toggle switch.  To be honest, its been a long time since I understood amps, volts and the like.

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The red wire on a modern HU is just a trigger wire itself.  Most of the current is carried through the yellow (constant) wire.

But even assuming you were pulling all of your HU's power through the switch, your friend is still probably wrong.  I don't know what dash switches your boat has, but the carling contura rocker switches that have graced boats for years are rated for 20A and most modern headunits don't use more than a 10A fuse.  

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1 minute ago, shawndoggy said:

The red wire on a modern HU is just a trigger wire itself.  Most of the current is carried through the yellow (constant) wire.

But even assuming you were pulling all of your HU's power through the switch, your friend is still probably wrong.  I don't know what dash switches your boat has, but the carling contura rocker switches that have graced boats for years are rated for 20A and most modern headunits don't use more than a 10A fuse.  

I was looking at those switches online at bakes and assumed Malibu would use them.  If I have my exile bluetooth butted into the red wire am I overworking that wire.  Should the bluetooth be butted into the yellow.  And, which wire do I want connected to the switch, yellow or red?  Thanks for the help. 

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6 hours ago, wtstapel said:

I believe the issue he pointed to was current draw and that the switch is not designed to carry that much of a load.  He said if I really wanted to I would have to be sure I was using a 10 amp toggle switch.  To be honest, its been a long time since I understood amps, volts and the like.

The head-unit's red turn on circuit likely requires less than an amp current draw. A typical marine Carling switch can handle 30A. Dont see an issue. 

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Awesome thanks.  Traced the red wire all the way back the ignition, changed the connection and threw it on the switch.  Really easy and now much more convenient with the BT.  Thank you both for the help.

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