Wet Sounds MC1

[msavasta]

I have a 2011 23 LSV and replaced factory Rockford Fosgate stereo system with the Wet Sounds MC1.  Within a week of installation, the display began freezing.  The music would continue to play but I was not able to control the volume, change the song, etc.  I called Wet Sounds and discussed it with them and they have only heard of the issue a few times and are not sure what causes it, but they sent me a new system (black box & display) in exchange for the one freezing.  I have installed the new one and it does the same thing.

Has anyone ever heard of the issue or a way to fix the problem?

Edited July 7, 2022 by msavasta

[MLA]

Are you making use of the main screen to BB extension cable, if so, did you leave the original on in place and basically do a plug n play of the screen and BB? I have experienced this and it ended up being the extension cable. The original screen and BB have been running without issue on my grill for 2 years now as the BB is close enough to not need the extension cable. 

[msavasta]

1 hour ago, MLA said:

Are you making use of the main screen to BB extension cable, if so, did you leave the original on in place and basically do a plug n play of the screen and BB? I have experienced this and it ended up being the extension cable. The original screen and BB have been running without issue on my grill for 2 years now as the BB is close enough to not need the extension cable. 

I am using the cable that came with the unit, 8 feet long (I think).  I have tried two different cables and experienced the same issue.

My BB is mounted under the glove box  with the batteries and amps.  The display is mounted on the dash with the steering wheel.  This requires me to use the 8 feet long cable.

Edited July 7, 2022 by msavasta

[Texan32]

So it sounds like you have eliminated the controller and cable.  Double check that you have good ground connection.  Pin 2 (red) is your "ignition" 12v and pin 5 (yellow) is your constant 12v.  Be sure you have good voltage on both of those lines.  Disconnecting everything possible from the BB would help eliminate the possibility of a power draw or voltage back feed that could cause an issue.  You literally only want power, ground and the controller connected.  If you get that far and it still does it, the only thing left is the BB itself.  

[msavasta]

I will check the voltage and double check the wiring today.  Another thing that I forgot to mention in my initial post…

When the stereo freezes, it cannot even be turned off.  I will turn the boat off and switch the batteries to off, but it will continue to play.  The only way that I can turn the radio off is by pulling the fuse between the connector plug and the BB. During the initial wiring of the new connector plug to replace the factory one, there were only four wires (blue, yellow, black, and blue/white).  Since there was no red, I called Wet Sounds to verify that the remaining blue/white wire was for the ignition.  They said yes.  Can anyone verify that, because according to the Rockford Fosgate print it should be red. 
 

see page 3.

https://assets.sonicelectronix.com/manuals/rockfordfosgate/rfx6000sx_manual.PDF

 

Edited July 7, 2022 by msavasta

[msavasta]

I verified that there is 12V on the yellow wire, but the red wire only indicates there is 11.2V.  It doesn’t matter if the boat is on or off.  I also verified that the blue/white wire does read voltage when the ignition switch it turned on.  The ground wire reads 2.3 ohms. 
 

I did notice there is another splice in the blue/white ignition wire that has a wire going to a box labeled Rockford Fosgate Medallion.

 

I traced the blue/white wire back under the steering wheel and found that it is spliced into a purple wire.  I checked the voltage there and it is 11.5V, even with the boat running.

Edited July 7, 2022 by msavasta

[shawndoggy]

When you installed the MC1, I'm assuming you re-used the factory wiring harness that was powering up the RF black box?  Have you considered just re-wiring the harness to your new MC1 black box from scratch?  Yellow to 12v constant, Red to 12v switched (ignition or a rocker switch or even just the battery switch if you want the stereo to always have power when the boat is powered up), and then rewire the blue wire from the new black box harness to your amps.  It sounds like the factory harness might be doing some wonky stuff that you don't want/need.

[MLA]

4 hours ago, msavasta said:

When the stereo freezes, it cannot even be turned off.  I will turn the boat off and switch the batteries to off, but it will continue to play.  The only way that I can turn the radio off is by pulling the fuse between the connector plug and the BB.

Unrelated to the freezing issue, but once the issue is resolved, I would dig in to see if the BB's constant B+ is actually wired directly to battery voltage. While we refer to it as constant B+, it most ideal to wired wired to boat side of the main battery switch, so it gets disconnected when the switch is off. 

12V even, even with the engine off, is a little low for my liking. If this is battery voltage, then there may be a deeper issue. 

Although the red is just a IGN turn-on, 11.2 is WAY low. I would abandon the factory harness and put in my own B+ and B-. Then, I would spend a little time to see if I could resolve the switched IGN for the red. This could be faster then running a new one around the bow. Its low voltage could be due to poor splices over the years or a dirty ignition switch. 

Edited July 7, 2022 by MLA

[msavasta]

Assuming that the factory harness is the connector plug coming directly out of the conduit, then yes it is still hooked up.  The yellow B+ and black B- are hooked into one of the amps.  However, I will try connecting them to the factory positive and negative rocker switches.  Then, I will try to connect to the red ignition wire to the boat side of the battery switch.

I think that I am understanding that correctly.

[shawndoggy]

13 minutes ago, msavasta said:

Assuming that the factory harness is the connector plug coming directly out of the conduit, then yes it is still hooked up.  The yellow B+ and black B- are hooked into one of the amps.  However, I will try connecting them to the factory positive and negative rocker switches.  Then, I will try to connect to the red ignition wire to the boat side of the battery switch.

I think that I am understanding that correctly.

For proof of concept, I would hook both red and yellow (appropriately fused of course) to one of your amps' B+ inputs, and the black to one of the amps' B- inputs.  This assumes that the power to the amps cuts off when you turn off the boat battery switch (i.e. the amps' power trunk line originates at the common post on your battery switch).  I'd run new amp turn on leads to your amps from the WS black box's blue wire.

Edited July 7, 2022 by shawndoggy

[msavasta]

55 minutes ago, shawndoggy said:

For proof of concept, I would hook both red and yellow (appropriately fused of course) to one of your amps' B+ inputs, and the black to one of the amps' B- inputs.  This assumes that the power to the amps cuts off when you turn off the boat battery switch (i.e. the amps' power trunk line originates at the common post on your battery switch).  I'd run new amp turn on leads to your amps from the WS black box's blue wire.

I have connected both, the red and yellow to one of the amp’s B+ inputs and the black to the B-, which the yellow and black were already connected to this location.  I am currently testing this and will advise of the results.  
 

I will bring blue wire tomorrow to install new amp wires to the BB.

 

I greatly appreciate everyone's assistance and I hope this works.

[MLA]

16 hours ago, msavasta said:

have connected both, the red and yellow to one of the amp’s B+ inputs and the black to the B-, which the yellow and black were already connected to this location.

To an amp is a great place to draw from. Did you use new wire or were you able to determine if the wiring was absent of any splices that could be the cause of the low voltage. Also need to make sure the source of the low voltage is not the amp's B+ and B+ source.  

[msavasta]

After wiring the red wire to  B+ amp terminal yesterday, everything seemed to work as it should.  However, I was able to get out there briefly today before the rain and it froze within about 15 minutes.  Once it froze, as usual I had to pull the fuse on the yellow wire.  It would not shut off even when I turned the Perko switch off because the main positive wire feeding the amps is connected directly to my house battery.  I assume this is factory wiring and is normal that the stereo system is connected this way, but that means it can draw constant power.

Has anyone ever connected the main positive wire feeding their amps, or the red ignition wire for the stereo to a Perko switch?  That would allow for everything to be powered off when the Perko switch was in the off position.

Edited July 8, 2022 by msavasta

[MLA]

Did you verify the amps' voltage/ground supply was proper battery voltage? The rewire is only as good as the voltage at the amps' point of voltage. 

The red switched IGN needs to be some sort of switched source and NOT the main battery switch. IMO, the audio's main/constant B+ is best to run through the main battery switch. 

[msavasta]

15 minutes ago, MLA said:

Did you verify the amps' voltage/ground supply was proper battery voltage? The rewire is only as good as the voltage at the amps' point of voltage. 

The red switched IGN needs to be some sort of switched source and NOT the main battery switch. IMO, the audio's main/constant B+ is best to run through the main battery switch. 

The voltage and grounds were good, I did verify.

Ok, that’s what I was asking about (audio main B+).  If wired through the main battery switch, it would at least allow me to remove power from the stereo without having to remove the fuse.  I will do that tomorrow, weather permitting, and continue to remove (isolate) the stereo system wiring from the factory harness.

I am honestly extremely frustrated with this.  It makes absolutely no sense as to why it freezes.

[mnm99]

Hi guys. I just signed up to reply to this topic. I know it's a older thread, but I too just bought a MC1 and had the freezing problem. It ended up being a bent pin connector at the black box unit. It's really hard to see it was bent. It was causing me to power up then went to a connect bluetooth screen then just froze everything. I caused the problem by not taking my time and lining up the arrows on the extension cable. The unit worked when I did a mock install before I secured everything so that's how I know I did it.  I ended up getting a new unit and this one just doesn't even power up, but that's another story.  What was the OP fix? I know it started happening a week or so after the install, Nothing was touched after that?

Edited April 15, 2023 by mnm99

[wakesetta12]

With mc1 is it much easier to install since it also has a black box? Was looking at upgrading stereo but wanting one that isn't a nightmare to install...

[Speedster]

I have same issue with my MC1.  Replaced with new head unit and BB.  Same issue.  System will lock up and must power down system at the battery disconnect switch.  I do not see it being a connection.  Any updates on what has been found on other users