22 VLX Stereo install (newbie)

[Fman]

This is my first stereo install, so please bare with me on the crazy questions, I am sure there will be plenty!

My VLX has not arrived yet but I am starting to do some stereo prepping. I chose to go with a complete Exile system this time around, I wanted to thank Brian at Exile for putting together a very nice system for my boat.

My system will consist of the following

Exile ZLD eq, 12" XI subwoofer, 4 XM9 Tower speakers, 4-6" and 4-8" Exile inboat speakers, 2 XM 30.9 amps for tower speakers and one Javelin for subwoofer and inbox speakers.

I did complete my amp rack today, covered with some black outdoor carpet from Home Depot and mounted up the amps. I do have a few questions already...

* Can I mount up the distribution blocks and power wires before I install the rack in the boat? Was not planning on mounting amps, just the power and ground wires for both distribution blocks, then leave wires just hanging free coming out the circle access holes.

* The inline fuse, do most mount that on the amp rack or just put it somewhere in the hot wire coming from Perko to Distribution block? Does it matter or personal preference? I was leaning towards mounting it on the amp rack.

* I don't know how low or high Malibu puts the blocks from factory to screw in the amp rack. I don't want to mount the distribution blocks and have them right over the mounting blocks, would like them in between the upper and lower blocks. Anyone have any idea on how many inches the lower blocks and upper blocks measure? I was thinking the dist. blocks right below the Javelin amp should be about right???

Thanks for any info.....

Cut round holes and used hanger bolts with spacers (thanks Shawndoggy and IXFE for the tips)

[IXFE]

First of all, the black carpet looks really good. I think the contrast against the gray factory carpet behind it will look super cool / 3 dimensional.

I mounted the distribution blocks to the amp rack before I put it in the boat. I even ran the 0 and 4 gauge wires to to the block, then down through holes just big enough so they'd disappear behind the rack. From their I let the 0 gauge hang loose since they would eventually just go to the battery. Then I fished the 4 gauge up through the big holes under the amps and just lef them hanging their, waiting for the amps. Leave plenty of slack; you're going to want it to ease hooking those power lines to the amps before you mount them on the hangers. Too little cable would really suck. Brian's kit gives you plenty, and you can always stuff the excess in back behind the amp and rack once you have it all in place (more on this below)

See pics below. I hope this helps.

This first pic is the stage you are at now (rack not in boat yet). See how I've already mounted the blocks and connected the 0 and 4 gauge wires? Notice how they immediately follow through a small hole and disappear behind the rack.

The second pick is how it went into the boat. I know you don't have your boat yet, but I figured this would help you visualize what you are aiming for. Notice how the 4 gauge wires re-emerge through the holes behind the amps with more than enough slack to connect to my amps. This was HUGE because when I finally did connect my amps, I had enough slack to make all the connections while resting the amps on a small piece of plywood (i.e. make-shift table) set on top of the batteries. It was nice to have the room and light to be able to hook everything up, then slowly hang the connected amps on the hanger bolts as I fed the excess wires back into the big holes behind in the rack. Make sense? By doing it this way, I minimized the amount of time I had to spend in the dungeon and I didn't have to make those wire connections with so little room to work around the amps.

Notice also that my RCA's are routed to the correct holes on the amp rack, just waiting for the amps. I took this pick before I fished the speaker wire through, that's why you don't see them.

You can also see my 0 gauge wires peaking out the left side. After I took this picture I pushed them down to the bottom and routed them around the black fiberglass wall on the left and directly into the battery area (just below the camera's vantage point). My fuse was mounted down to the fiberglass floor just between the two batteries, completely out of sight. I seem to recall that Brian told me the closer to the batteries, the better for that fuse. I see no reason to mount it on the amp rack.

You can also see in this picture where my mounting screws are (stainless washers). I used four. Of course, the VLX may slightly different, so you'll have to wait and see. Mounting the rack w/out the weight of the amps was hard enough. I can't imagine doing it with three amps on their.

Edited January 9, 2015 by IXFE

[IXFE]

Here's a few more pics of what it looked like as it went in the boat. The single XM30.2 looks so lonely on that rack!

Edited January 9, 2015 by IXFE

[Levi900RR]

Loving all these threads. I can't wait to build my system in the spring.

[Fman]

Here's a few more pics of what it looked like as it went in the boat. The single XM30.2 looks so lonely on that rack!

Dave, you answered all my questions - thank you! having the longer power wires make so much sense, I probably would not have thought about this.... great idea.

I have a few others, there are two very small wires connected in with both 0 AWG wires, one hot and one gruound... what are those to? I am going to mount up my distribution blocks in the same area you did, looks like a good place to avoid any interference with the mounting blocks. Also, how many screws did you use to mount the amp rack to the boat itself? I bought 2" stainless screws, the plywood is 3/4", plus a washer, so I figured this would be about the right length? the last thing I want to do is have a screw too long, that could be really bad....I am wondering if I should go with 1 1/2" instead.

Edited January 9, 2015 by Fman

[IXFE]

The two small wires (I think those are 16 or 18 gauge) are the power going back to the ZLD. I suppose you could run them all the way to the battery terminals, but this is essentially the same thing and I think its cleaner. Just don't make the mistake of splicing the ZLD into some power source under the dash (unless you like interference).

There's a third small wire that's blue and it's the switch wire. I seem to recall that one goes from the amp to the ZLD to the power switch (rocket) I installed in the helm cubby at the right.

As for screws, if you look closely at my pics I used four stainless screws and washers to mount the rack (the factory only uses three). I started with 2" like you but they barely penetrated the mounting blocks behind the factory carpet and about half way through the season they shook loose and the entire rack slid down on the floor!! See pic below.

Luckily with all the wire slack I had hidden behind the board bone of the wires pulled out of their connections to the amp. So I went to Home Cheapo and replaced the screws with 2.5" and that worked better. Those mounting blocks are thicker than you think. Maybe one way to be sure would be to remove one of those screws from a boat at your dealer and see what they use.

Edited January 9, 2015 by IXFE

[IXFE]

Travis what are you doing for power switch?

Something like this???

[elc]

Is the small red and black wire going into the same side as 0 guage wires coming from the deck?

Here's a few more pics of what it looked like as it went in the boat. The single XM30.2 looks so lonely on that rack!

[IXFE]

Is the small red and black wire going into the same side as 0 guage wires coming from the deck?

This thread is making me wish I was building another system this year. All I get to do is replace amps and build a sub.

To your questions:

1) There was no "deck" in my system last year, only a ZLD.

2) The 0 gauge cables start at the battery terminals and go directly into those distribution blocks. Think of them as pipes bringing power to the amp rack. Coming out the other end of the distribution blocks is 4 gauge cables going to each amp (two in my case, but Fman has three). So the battery power gets split at the block and "distributed" to the amps via the 4 gauge.

Since the 0 gauge is "hot" coming directly from the battery, I chose to power the EQ from there. I just spliced the 18 gauge wire from the ZLD into the distribution block together with the 0 gauge. In this sense the 0 guage is like an extension cord to the battery. I suppose i could have run the 18 gauge into the other side of the blocks (with the 4 gauge cables). That would have put them behind another fuse, but oh well. This worked great and was super clean. I got a lot of raised eyebrows over this last year on in my thread. On the other hand I had two professional shops plus the guys at Exile look at my wiring and installation and all were HIGHLY complimentary of my work, so... I'd probably do it the same way all over again.

Travis, how are you planning to power the ZLD?

Edited January 9, 2015 by IXFE

[elc]

Cool thanks. I am working on my install and have some feedback in my speakers. I am thinking by having everything power and grounded like you have it set up will help eliminate the feedback... going to try to power and ground my input source to the distribution blocks.

This thread is making me wish I was building another system this year. All I get to do is replace amps and build a sub.

To your questions:

1) There was no "deck" in my system last year, only a ZLD.

2) The 0 gauge cables start at the battery terminals and go directly into those distribution blocks. Think of them as pipes bringing power to the amp rack. Coming out the other end of the distribution blocks is 4 gauge cables going to each amp (two in my case, but Fman has three). So the battery power gets split at the block and "distributed" to the amps via the 4 gauge.

Since the 0 gauge is "hot" coming directly from the battery, I chose to power the EQ from there. I just spliced the 18 gauge wire from the ZLD into the distribution block together with the 0 gauge. In this sense the 0 guage is like an extension cord to the battery. I suppose i could have run the 18 gauge into the other side of the blocks (with the 4 gauge cables). That would have put them behind another fuse, but oh well. This worked great and was super clean. I got a lot of raised eyebrows over this last year on in my thread. On the other hand I had two professional shops plus the guys at Exile look at my wiring and installation and all were HIGHLY complimentary of my work, so... I'd probably do it the same way all over again.

Travis, how are you planning to power the ZLD?

[Fman]

Dave,

If I am following correctly, the ZLD needs to have a common ground with amps? Do not pull power or a ground from under the drivers helm? Use the hot and ground off the 0 AWG.

While we are on the subject of the toggle switch, how did you wire that? Blue wire from amps coming into toggle. There must be another wire off the ZLD that connects to the toggle other than the blue wire coming from the Amps?

My toggle switch is exactly what you have, except mine just says Stereo, could not find one that had Exile on it. I also have a single bezel to go around the toggle switch. I may add the toggle to my Johnson pump bank of switches to have four switches in the same bezel. I have a few mounting options I am looking at, will have to scope it out once the boat arrives.

[IXFE]

I'm not entirely sure on the switch wiring. The shop who did the sub wired that in at the very end. I think the red, blue, and black wires run from the switch, thru the ZLD, and terminate to the dist blocks (red and black) and the amp. But I'm not sure. Call Brian and ask.

Here's the back side of the switch. And I had to custom order the Exile wording... kind of lame, I know.

[Fman]

Another question Dave, did you run your 0 AWG hot directly off the battery or off the perko?

[shawndoggy]

Fman with an OFF-11-2-ALL Perko switch you want to run the stereo power from the common post on the switch not from the battery.

[IXFE]

Another question Dave, did you run your 0 AWG hot directly off the battery or off the perko?

I ran it directly into the "house" battery posts. Here's how I prepared the 0 gauge for those posts (pics below). While going to the Perko switch is certainly more elegant, I don't see the big deal about going directly to the battery. Going to the switch you'll have to run more exposed cable since the switch is on the opposite side from the amp rack. The switch also looked more complicated to crack open; there are already so many thick cables stuffed in there, I worried that I wouldn't be able to fit any more. This was on one of those nights in the garage where you just sit there staring at something for 10 minutes in silence debating with yourself. Honestly, for me it just came down to fear of cracking open that switch... it looked like one of those things I wouldn't be able to put back together. Going to the switch on the 2015's will be even more challenging given the new location. Going to the battery is way easier and you can hide almost all of the cable. You'll see what I mean when you get your boat.

The one advantage I see to go going to the switch is just that... you get to control power to the to the rack with one more switch. In other words, when you put the switch on 0 the stereo will not work. If you wire to the batteries like I did turning the switch to 0 setting won't cut power to the stereo. But I figured that was okay since I had the toggle switch. How many switches does one need to control power??

Shawn, what do you see as the pros/cons of going to the switch? Bracing for my reprimand...

Edited January 10, 2015 by IXFE

[IXFE]

Dave,

If I am following correctly, the ZLD needs to have a common ground with amps? Do not pull power or a ground from under the drivers helm? Use the hot and ground off the 0 AWG.

Yes, Brian was very adamant about this... you've got to "home run" the ZLD power back to the batteries (or to the blocks as I did which is effectively the same thing). He said most people who call him with noise issues are caused by "cheating" and splicing the ZLD into some power source under the helm.

[Fman]

Dave, that was my thought going to the perko. When I installed my Johnson pumps I also went off the perko for this exact reason, being able to shut power off when perko is in off position. It was not bad on my 13, but maybe the 15 won't be as easy because of the new location.

Edited January 10, 2015 by Fman

[shawndoggy]

If you go to the battery post with a 1-2-all switch, then you can't really run one battery at a time. If you have the switch on 1, but your stereo wired to 2, then you are running the stereo totally on battery power even with the engine running. And the switch is ineffective to turn off power to the stereo. The right way is to run it to the common post on the switch.

[Cory]

Run to the switch. I added my second battery on my VLX cause I was stupid and ordered it with just one battery. I had to run into that switch to add the battery. The switch is not complicated. Even if it looks tight, you can do it.

[Cory]

When dealing with those large wires, I cut the large 0/1 wires to length (with a hacksaw I think), test fit the crimp fittings and wire insitu, used a black marker to record the rotational position of the crimp fittings on the wire, then took the wire and crimp fittings into my local McLendon's hardware store to have the fittings crimped. I don't have a crimper that can handle 0/1 gauge.

[Fman]

Little more progress yesterday, got my distribution blocks mounted up and 0AWG/4AWG hooked up. Now on to my next question, anyone know where to purchase a crimper for 0/4 AWG wires? I can see when the time comes putting those lugs on the 0 AWG is going to be near impossible without a special tool of some kind.

[MotoGPTy]

Here's what I use (along with heat shrink tube to make it look nice):

http://www.harborfreight.com/hydraulic-wire-crimping-tool-66150.html

http://www.harborfreight.com/2-piece-welding-cable-lugs-4awg-3-8-eighth-inch-stud-66821.html

[Cory]

There is a good chance one of your local hardware stores has the crimper and you can just take the wire and cable lugs in and have them do it. Ask around. McLendon's charged me $0.25 per crimp. Just be sure to test fit and mark rotational locations. It is not so easy to twist those large wires if the cable lugs are crimped in the wrong rotational location.

That's a nice clean looking install so far. Good job!

Edited January 14, 2015 by Cory

[Cory]

My advice about rotational location of the cable lugs only matters if you are crimping on both ends of the same cable. That may not be the case for you with your stereo install, as it was when I installed a second battery.

[IXFE]

Little more progress yesterday, got my distribution blocks mounted up and 0AWG/4AWG hooked up. Now on to my next question, anyone know where to purchase a crimper for 0/4 AWG wires? I can see when the time comes putting those lugs on the 0 AWG is going to be near impossible without a special tool of some kind.

I used this blue tool. You just line it all up and hit HARD with a hammer. Then shrink/heat wrap it.

Edited January 14, 2015 by IXFE