Purchased a bunch for goodies for my Shabah 222
 

Just purchased an Aerial Assault wakeboard tower with knee/wake and wake/wake racks along with an aerial rear view mirror. The tower is backordered, but I should receive it middle to end of May. I plan to install it myself, along with a friend and my father-in-law. We will also be reinforcing the fiberglass to try and avoid any stress cracking.

Along with that I went ahead and bought a new Sony DSX-MS60 receiver and a pair of Polk DB651 6.5" speakers. The boat still has the factory cassette radio and speakers and one of the speakers is blown. This should get us by for the next month until we put the tower on and complete the full stereo system with wake tower speakers, sub, and amplifiers.

I'll use this thread to detail the installation and ask questions if any come up.

Is there anything I should know about replacing the head unit? Will the wiring be fairly obvious and easy to understand?

I've installed headunit's in cars where I use a wiring harness but I assume this will be different.

Thanks!

Re: Purchased a bunch for goodies for my Shabah 222
 

The HU wiring will be easy. The Mariah speaker wires are labeled.
Sounds like this is going to be a cool thread.

Re: Purchased a bunch for goodies for my Shabah 222
 

I actually bought those exact products last year and used them for the summer. I was very happy with both products, but installing the head unit did have one unexpected surprise:

After finishing the install, the entire stereo would shut down randomly between 5 and 10 minutes after use. I did a few quick internet searches and narrowed it down to a few options. The leading solution was not enough power. So, I ran a new 12 gauge power wire (with fuse) and ground wire to the system and it solved to problem.

My best guess is that the build-in amp within the DSX-MS60 head unit had a larger power requirement than my former head unit and it caused the internal protection to turn off the system.

So, if you run into a problem similar to the above, just run a new larger power wire.

If you have any questions as you get started, please let me know.

Have a great day,

Kris

Re: Purchased a bunch for goodies for my Shabah 222
 

That's good to know! Have you added anything else to the system besides the 2 Polk speakers and head unit since then?

Took the boat out yesterday and let me tell you, the new head unit and speakers can't come soon enough. Listening to static fm radio through one 17 watt speaker is pretty lousy.

Here's another question for everyone. Right now, the system turns on in accessory just fine but when I crank over the engine it won't turn on until I start going faster, like above 2000 rpm. I assume something to do with the voltage not being high enough. If I recall, the voltage gauge showed less than 12volts at idle and around 13-14 cruising. Shouldn't voltage be 13-14 regardless of speed as long as the alternator is functioning properly?

The boat has a dual battery setup, installed by the previous owner. I'm thinking this could have something to do with it. I always use the switch in the number one position. I think the 1 battery is a starting battery and the 2 is a deep cycle but I would have to look again to confirm. I also do not know if the alternator is factory or not.

Finally the factory battery charger on the boat, does it charge both batteries or only one?

Re: Purchased a bunch for goodies for my Shabah 222
 

I did add two 6x9 wakeboard speakers to the tower. They are nice to get the sound out of the boat without cranking the volume. The existing in-boat speakers were four decent Boston acoustic speakers, and I did not change those out. They are on the list of things to do, but more from a looks standpoint than a sound standpoint (two of the grills were lost by the PO).

As for the troubleshooting, I would tend to think your problems are related to how your two battery system is set up. Although I would like to add a two battery system, I have not done so yet and have not dug into the best practice design of said systems. So, I can't help you much there. However, I would definitely agree that the voltage should be at 13-14 regardless of speed, and your stereo should be on at all times.

I imagine someone who has installed a two battery system will have a few better ideas what you could check and also how you can verify if your alternator is working.

Have a good one,

Kris

Re: Purchased a bunch for goodies for my Shabah 222
 

Alternators have something called a tick over speed. They do not produce power until the alternator reaches this RPM. Also, they cannot produce full power at low RPM. If you have a heavy current draw then the voltage would sag at low RPM.
Does your dual battery system have an isolator? Some isolators are essentially a set of diodes and they have about a 1V drop when conducting.

Re: Purchased a bunch for goodies for my Shabah 222
 

I'm not sure what you mean by isolators. What do I look for to see about this?

Re: Purchased a bunch for goodies for my Shabah 222
 

Installed the Polk speakers the other day and the system already sounds (and looks) 10x better. I receive my Sony headunit today and will most likely install sometime next week. I will take pictures when I get the headunit in.

Speaker install was a breeze. Take the four screws out undo the positive and negative wires and reconnect to the new speakers and screw the new speakers back in using the adapter plate and grills.

Re: Purchased a bunch for goodies for my Shabah 222
 

You are headed in the right direction but you will eventually need to get the power issue resolved. I installed a 3 battery system in my boat with new charger and smart isolator.

Take a look at the positive cables of both batteries and see if they tie in together somewhere. This would mean that they are part of the same circuit and that would not be desirable. My guess is if you dont have an isolator installed, they may tied in together as they would need to be charged by the altenator and your 120vac onboard battery charger that you plug in at night.

As for the stereo, you may want to run a clean power line as newer head units are power hungry. Last year I totally upgraded the factory system with new head unit, replaced factory speakers, added 2 subwoofers and added 2 amplifiers. I had to run a new power line directly from my accessory battery and used the starting switch accessory line as a trigger to a solenoid for the stereo so i would not accidentally leave it on when not in use.

Good luck!!!

Re: Purchased a bunch for goodies for my Shabah 222
 

*edit - just read something else and now it appears as though the isolator is seperate from the switch that I have installed. I will check the setup on monday and report back.

Ok. I checked and I'm pretty sure I understand what you mean by isolator now. If you are talking about the red switch that has "1", "2", and "1 & 2" then I do have that installed.

Since I do think I have what your referring to as an isolator, how do I know which battery I want to start hooking the stereo system to (stereo power wire and amp power wires)?
With regards to the larger power wire, what gauge did you have to use?
Did you have to cut a hole to get the wire to go through the engine compartment, or can you run it through an existing hole?
What color wire is the starting switch accessory wire and where did you have to pull that from, or is that wire already going to the factory radio?

Thanks!

Re: Purchased a bunch for goodies for my Shabah 222
 

Brewfixer - I started looking more into isolators and had a question about how they should be wired up. Here are two different sources that give two different ways to wire it in. Which is correct?

http://www.boatfix.com/how/Battery4.jpg

http://www.thejump.net/fishingarticl...integrator.jpg

Re: Purchased a bunch for goodies for my Shabah 222
 

The switch is different than the battery isolator. The isolator prevents over charging of the batteries in a multi battery system. Attached is a simple isolator diagram
Attachment 3689
. The particular one in my boat is from Mastervolt (BI 1202-S | Mastervolt Marine).
Attachment 3690

As for the power wire, a 12ga wire should work fine and you should be able to snake it down the starboard side from the engine compartment to the console without drilling any holes. You may need to remove a cupholder, speaker, etc... to help see behind the panels. I just used an electrical fish tape. In my previous post i mentioned solenoid but i meant relay. I also attached a simple relay diagram. You can pick these up fairly cheap at Radio Shack.
I can not remember the wire color for the accessory wire but I just used a meter and found the wire that was hot (12 vdc) only when the ignition switch is in the accessory position.



Attachment 3691

Re: Purchased a bunch for goodies for my Shabah 222
 

Your links broke up.

Re: Purchased a bunch for goodies for my Shabah 222
 

I took out the image tag so they should now work by clicking on them.

Re: Purchased a bunch for goodies for my Shabah 222
 

Yup you got it. Essentially the same as the drawing i loaded. the key is that if one of the batteries is fully charged and the other isnt, the isolator would direct the charge to the battery that needs it thus preventing over charging and short battery life.

Re: Purchased a bunch for goodies for my Shabah 222
 

Gotcha.

And this could also be contributing to the issue of the radio not turning on until the engine reaches a certain RPM?

Re: Purchased a bunch for goodies for my Shabah 222
 

Good possibility... Do you know how the batteries are being charged currently? Did they run the altenator wire to both batteries directly or through the switch? You may want to have your batteries tested to see if one is on it's last leg.

When I purchased my boat i had 2 batteries but it was one circuit and one of the batteries would not hold a good charge. I often would have dead batteries if i cranked the tunes for an extended period of time even while running. So I purchased a new battery and converted the other 2 into house(accessory) batteries.

Re: Purchased a bunch for goodies for my Shabah 222
 

Do I need to install the relay if my headunit already has a wire dedicated to the accessory switch wire?

I'm thinking that I just need to supply the clean power from the battery to the headunit and then the headunit will use the accessory wire to act as a relay within the headunit. Correct?

I re-read the headunit instructions and it states "when no boat circuits are rated high enough, connect the unit directly to the battery"

Re: Purchased a bunch for goodies for my Shabah 222
 

It will drain your Acc battery when not in use. Your orange (typical) wire will go directly to your batt for memory but your red will need to be switched.
Ofcourse the instructions tell you that you can install red directly to batt but that is most common on smaller outboard engines boats where the acc position is not available on the key switch.

You can also just run a switch or if you have a spare rocker on the dash use that but that can be left on and then have the same result as if you just directly wired into the battery.

I did the relay for convnience / safety and after many beers I would definitely be pushing the boat home. With the relay I am just using it to power up the acc battery circuit and that is it. no other power is being drawn from my starting battery.

Re: Purchased a bunch for goodies for my Shabah 222
 

Went out to the boat yesterday and it turned out a much easier day than expected (for now).

The current radio was a Sony, so when I took it out, I realized the harness was exactly the same (minus the illumination wire). So I decided to try out using the wire harness already there before cutting it off and using the new one. This ended up working perfectly. I did not see any ill-effects of this. Install took maybe 25 minutes. I do not know how the power wire was run in the previous setup but I figured I'd see if I noticed any bad side effects before running one of my own.

Started the boat up and took it out for a spin and everything was running as to be expected. In fact, I believe that the problem I was having at low RPM was due to the fact that I had the battery switch in the wrong position. When cruising I would have the switch at the "1" position rather than "All". Once I ran it with "All", the low-rpm issue was gone. I did not notice any bad effects of using the power wire that was already supplied.

Thoughts about the setup - I really like the Sony DSX-MS60 receiver. The ease of use is incredible, the look is great, and I do like the ability to store my iPod/iPhone away inside the receiver (out of the way and secure). The sound is great, however, the boat does still lack a subwoofer to get the lows. Right now I have two Polk speakers installed and it can get plenty loud for passengers on the boat and while driving the boat. Swimming off the boat is fairly quiet.

It's May now so i'm hopefully only a couple weeks away from receiving my wake tower so I need to start researching what items I'm going to purchase to complete the sound system.

Re: Purchased a bunch for goodies for my Shabah 222
 

Sounds like you are running on low voltage. You need to check your alternator to see if it's charging, and have your batteries tested as well. If the alternator is charging properly, you SHOULDN'T have the RPM issues, even with a dead battery..... but DC voltage will do funny things (especially when bad grounds are involved)

Re: Purchased a bunch for goodies for my Shabah 222
 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm thinking that the problem with the low rpm radio issue was due to the fact that I only has the switch always in the "1" position. This would mean that only the "1" battery would charge by the alternator. However, now with the boat having ran in the "all" position, I would think the battery 2 would have enough juice to operate correctly in any position.

Thanks.

Re: Purchased a bunch for goodies for my Shabah 222
 

I think your battery 1 is kaput! Now that you have joined the second battery you have enough juice to power everything. the ill effect of this is that you have no spare battery to fall back on if they both die.

Since I dont know what your wiring system looks like it just sounds suspicious. I agree with DCB_MINDED, you should have your batteries and ALT checked out. If you have access to a clamp meter you can check the ALT to see what its pushing (AMPS).

Re: Purchased a bunch for goodies for my Shabah 222
 

So has the tower went on yet? I am about to install a tower on my 98' 222, so I am looking for lessons learned.