Just purchased a "marine" JBL am/fm/cd-player with lousy instructions.
The unit must be an auto radio since there were 12 wire wiring
harnesses and instructions appropriate for auto installation. I have
finally figured out which wires were appropriate to use (there were two
blacks and two reds in two different wring plugs). However, when the
radio is powered, the faceplate lights up but no numbers, stations,
band info, etc. appear or does the unit do anything else but light up.

Have I done anything wrong here? Also there is a yellow "+" wire that
is said to go to the ignition and it seems to help the unit retain its
memory. Will the unit run without this being powered?

Thanks for your help.

Stan

You are right that's nothing but a car radio. They all are, otherwise
they'd be SEALED UP so they wouldn't get wet. It's got a white face,
instead of the car black face. Woo woo...(c;

There are two + wires. One of them must go to 12VDC continuously to hold
the memories. This means you must hook it to 12V that you do NOT shut down
when you turn off all the DC breakers and leave the boat. Otherwise you'll
have to reprogram the radio every time you do. Not good. The other wire,
probably marked "ignition" is the switched wire for turning the radio on
and off with the car ignition switch, so the radio shuts off when you stop
the car and get out. Not an issue in a boat. When I wire them in, I
connect both + wires together and connect them to a continuous 12V
connection so you can run the radio at any time, no matter what the
breakers panel and "ignition" switches are set to. You'll know when it's
on because you can hear it...(c;

There are 4 channels (8 wires for speakers) with a fader. They'll be
marked Left-front, Right-front, left-rear, right-rear, etc. Be sure to
connect all the speaker wires you choose to use so that the wire that has
the band on it always goes to the same tab on the speakers so the speakers
pull together, not out of phase, which sounds terrible. It really doesn't
make any difference which way they are connected, as long as they are all
connected the same way. The banded wire is usually ground, but don't use
the boat wires for the ground as there will be a whine or hum from ground
loops if you do. Each speaker must be run with two of its OWN wires so no
stray currents get on the speakers. Car installations can be heard to
whine when some idiot connects one side of all the speakers to the car
chassis, instead of running separate wires to each speaker. The alternator
pulses them nicely making the whine.

You'll also find a + wire for illumination in that bundle. This may be why
you don't see the display. This wire is hooked to the panel illumination
bus so the display dims when you turn the headlights on to keep the display
from blinding the cockpit of the car. Hook it to the + 12V with the others
is fine. If the display doesn't light up, unplug the removeable front
panel and rub a pencil eraser over the contacts in the radio and on the
display to clean them off. Take a paper towel to wipe off the pencil
eraser leavings then plug it back in being sure to seat it properly all the
way. If it still doesn't light, you're in luck! Take the defective radio
back to Waste Marine (or whatever ripoff artists you got it from) and get a
refund. Go to Circuit City or Best Buy and buy the same or even better
radio for less than half price.....(c;

Little Waste Marine waterproof speakers sound just awful. But, if you buy
better PATIO AND POOL SPEAKERS from the discount house, put them into the
cockpit instead, you'll actually have speakers that sound like hi-fi, not
those cheap speakers at McDonald's in the ceiling.... If you think you'll
pitchpole the boat, buy the pool speakers you can actually play UNDERWATER!

There used to be some rectangular speakers called Poly Planar that used
flat styrofoam panels, instead of paper or plastic cones. Two of them were
screwed down to Geoffrey's old boat many years ago on each side of the open
cockpit of his Endeavour 35 sloop. The new owner is still using them and
they sound just great! They are around 14 x 8" with white plastic grilles.
Styrofoam is very resilient with the grilles taking the UV from the sun
directly on them. They even float!...(c;





"stan" wrote in

oups.com:

Just purchased a "marine" JBL am/fm/cd-player with lousy instructions.
The unit must be an auto radio since there were 12 wire wiring
harnesses and instructions appropriate for auto installation. I have
finally figured out which wires were appropriate to use (there were two
blacks and two reds in two different wring plugs). However, when the
radio is powered, the faceplate lights up but no numbers, stations,
band info, etc. appear or does the unit do anything else but light up.

Have I done anything wrong here? Also there is a yellow "+" wire that
is said to go to the ignition and it seems to help the unit retain its
memory. Will the unit run without this being powered?

Thanks for your help.

Stan

Larry, thanks for the extended reply...it all does make sense now and I
should have figured it out but on a hot day with the boat bobbing
around and patience wearing thin, I gave up in disgust. I'll try again
tonight with a 12V. dc power source and see if it all works.

I sprang for some Bose outdoor speakers which were expensive ($200) but
look and sound very good. Thanks again. Stan

Larry W4CSC wrote:
You are right that's nothing but a car radio. They all are, otherwise
they'd be SEALED UP so they wouldn't get wet. It's got a white face,
instead of the car black face. Woo woo...(c;

There are two + wires. One of them must go to 12VDC continuously to hold
the memories. This means you must hook it to 12V that you do NOT shut down
when you turn off all the DC breakers and leave the boat. Otherwise you'll
have to reprogram the radio every time you do. Not good. The other wire,
probably marked "ignition" is the switched wire for turning the radio on
and off with the car ignition switch, so the radio shuts off when you stop
the car and get out. Not an issue in a boat. When I wire them in, I
connect both + wires together and connect them to a continuous 12V
connection so you can run the radio at any time, no matter what the
breakers panel and "ignition" switches are set to. You'll know when it's
on because you can hear it...(c;

There are 4 channels (8 wires for speakers) with a fader. They'll be
marked Left-front, Right-front, left-rear, right-rear, etc. Be sure to
connect all the speaker wires you choose to use so that the wire that has
the band on it always goes to the same tab on the speakers so the speakers
pull together, not out of phase, which sounds terrible. It really doesn't
make any difference which way they are connected, as long as they are all
connected the same way. The banded wire is usually ground, but don't use
the boat wires for the ground as there will be a whine or hum from ground
loops if you do. Each speaker must be run with two of its OWN wires so no
stray currents get on the speakers. Car installations can be heard to
whine when some idiot connects one side of all the speakers to the car
chassis, instead of running separate wires to each speaker. The alternator
pulses them nicely making the whine.

You'll also find a + wire for illumination in that bundle. This may be why
you don't see the display. This wire is hooked to the panel illumination
bus so the display dims when you turn the headlights on to keep the display
from blinding the cockpit of the car. Hook it to the + 12V with the others
is fine. If the display doesn't light up, unplug the removeable front
panel and rub a pencil eraser over the contacts in the radio and on the
display to clean them off. Take a paper towel to wipe off the pencil
eraser leavings then plug it back in being sure to seat it properly all the
way. If it still doesn't light, you're in luck! Take the defective radio
back to Waste Marine (or whatever ripoff artists you got it from) and get a
refund. Go to Circuit City or Best Buy and buy the same or even better
radio for less than half price.....(c;

Little Waste Marine waterproof speakers sound just awful. But, if you buy
better PATIO AND POOL SPEAKERS from the discount house, put them into the
cockpit instead, you'll actually have speakers that sound like hi-fi, not
those cheap speakers at McDonald's in the ceiling.... If you think you'll
pitchpole the boat, buy the pool speakers you can actually play UNDERWATER!

There used to be some rectangular speakers called Poly Planar that used
flat styrofoam panels, instead of paper or plastic cones. Two of them were
screwed down to Geoffrey's old boat many years ago on each side of the open
cockpit of his Endeavour 35 sloop. The new owner is still using them and
they sound just great! They are around 14 x 8" with white plastic grilles.
Styrofoam is very resilient with the grilles taking the UV from the sun
directly on them. They even float!...(c;





"stan" wrote in

oups.com:

Just purchased a "marine" JBL am/fm/cd-player with lousy instructions.
The unit must be an auto radio since there were 12 wire wiring
harnesses and instructions appropriate for auto installation. I have
finally figured out which wires were appropriate to use (there were two
blacks and two reds in two different wring plugs). However, when the
radio is powered, the faceplate lights up but no numbers, stations,
band info, etc. appear or does the unit do anything else but light up.

Have I done anything wrong here? Also there is a yellow "+" wire that
is said to go to the ignition and it seems to help the unit retain its
memory. Will the unit run without this being powered?

Thanks for your help.

Stan

Rusty...haven't gotten to the speaker issue until the power issue is
resolved. But I have Bose outdoor speakers used inside the boat, good
sound, just the right size for my bookshelf and will run seperate wires
with no common ground. Thanks for the reply.