From: "Larry W4CSC"
Subject: Boat Stereos
Date: Monday, May 30, 2005 4:49 PM

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;

Be sure to fuse the wire(s) that go directly to the battery. My policy is to
only run the memory lead through a small fuse to the battery. The ignition
lead and the panel lights go through the normal switches and breakers so a
stereo left on all winter does not drain the battery.
Doug K7ABX

Doug and Larry:

I have a few more questions. On the JBL unit I purchased, there are two
wiring harnesses which both end in 12 pin square plugs obvioulsy suited
for auto use. The owners manual states what to do with the wires on one
of the plug groups (black, red, yellow, speakers, ant. etc.) The second
group has a 12 pin plug at the end but only 4 wires going into it.
There are NO instructions as to what do do with that set of wires.

1. Should I do anything with these wires or simply leave them alone.

2. I hooked the two "+" wires together and connected them to a Radio
Shack 12 power supply and the negative wires to the "-" pin on that
power supply. I get a light on the face panel to light up but nothing
else happens. No buttons work, the faceplate screen gives no numbers or
indication that the unit is working. I was very careful with the wires
but does this indicate the unit is defective? Stan

Doug wrote:
From: "Larry W4CSC"
Subject: Boat Stereos
Date: Monday, May 30, 2005 4:49 PM

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;

Be sure to fuse the wire(s) that go directly to the battery. My policy is to
only run the memory lead through a small fuse to the battery. The ignition
lead and the panel lights go through the normal switches and breakers so a
stereo left on all winter does not drain the battery.
Doug K7ABX

"stan" wrote in
ups.com:

Doug and Larry:

I have a few more questions. On the JBL unit I purchased, there are
two wiring harnesses which both end in 12 pin square plugs obvioulsy
suited for auto use. The owners manual states what to do with the
wires on one of the plug groups (black, red, yellow, speakers, ant.
etc.) The second group has a 12 pin plug at the end but only 4 wires
going into it. There are NO instructions as to what do do with that
set of wires.

1. Should I do anything with these wires or simply leave them alone.

Probably control and audio wires for external power amp for the big boy
toys. Just leave them open.


2. I hooked the two "+" wires together and connected them to a Radio
Shack 12 power supply and the negative wires to the "-" pin on that
power supply. I get a light on the face panel to light up but nothing
else happens. No buttons work, the faceplate screen gives no numbers
or indication that the unit is working. I was very careful with the
wires but does this indicate the unit is defective? Stan

Let's hook it to a real battery. I don't have any idea what power your
radio crap power supply can provide, but this unit may be drawing more amps
than the power supply can provide. The power supply may hum from this
load, screwing the DC to the computer circuits. Let's plug it into a real
battery....before we return it for a new unit that we WON'T plug into this
"power supply"....(c;