Kicker LED speaker rings

VitiminJ

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Hello - I'm looking to add Kicker LED rings to our speakers. We bought the boat off the dealers floor so we did not build the boat, therefore LEDs were not included. I'm curious how the LED rings are wired. Do they connect to the speaker wire terminals or is a separate power source needed? I searched but couldn't find anything about these rings.

Here is a link if anyone is interested.

 
In your link for the LED ring, there is another link lower middle about wiring diagrams. Also links for manuals and such towards the bottom of the order page. I didn’t dig through any of it, but by change did you look through them. IF no one in this forum knows for sure, perhaps you can skim through those documents and find your answer. Kind of seems like it would be wired to the speaker wire terminals between the minimal power they would need as LED’s, and then also the need to keep installation and wiring basic and contained with speaker location. But you know what they say about ASSumptions...and I am certainly making one here. Good luck!
 
Viking - Thanks for the response., I did sort through the wiring diagrams but everything I could find is about the speakers themselves. Even the speakers that include the LEDs aren't clear. They list the black 12v wire going back to the power source. I'm just not just if the speaker wire is a 12v power source. I reached out to Kicker for support but i haven;t heard back. I'll update the forum if I do.

Thanks
 
Welcome! Frankly, I'd just replace those speakers with one's that have the LED already built-in.
 
We thought about that too but I have a hard time replacing somethings that brand new and I believe the ones that have the built in LED are synced to the music/beat and that seems annoying to me. I just want the light. We're going for a complimenting color and not a night club. lol. Besides that we've dropped a pretty penny on add ons as it is. Tow bar, cost to powder coat it back to match the black out railing, tubes, rope, lilly pad. Of course life jackets, etc. It's been an investment. An investment we're willing to make but...

The boat only has the half black out. I really want a black ladder, not sure if we'll powder coat ours or buy the black ladder from Bennington. We'll see.
 
I should be able to help, I looked at the rings and decided on the LED speakers. I just completed the wiring on my Bennington with the KMLC remote added. I could not find the wiring diagram for the rings but based on the picture it is 4 wires, Red/Green/Blue/Black. This is the same as the built-in LED speakers. If you want a solid color ALL the time then you need to choose the correct wire/color and splice which is mentioned in this manual:

(I am assuming wiring is the same - since you have the 4 wire for the LED rings)


This should be even more clear for wiring:


I would recommend placing your LED rings on a switch also - by combining/splicing wires you can choose the correct color you want with minimal additional wiring. If you add the remote for multi-color its a job!!!

Hope this helps.
 
jbrid - Thanks. So it appears I can connect the black wire to the + terminal on the speaker (or sliced with the locking terminal) and the red wire to the - terminal. No additional wiring is needed? We're just looking for the additional of color, the controller and the extra effects are appealing but I don't want a major project. We dock out boat so I have to do everything on the water! Deck and above it easy. Below deck poses it's challenges.

Thanks again.
 
Vitimin, that is correct Black is + and if you use Red to - (ground) then your speakers will be Red. You can create other colors as stated, keep in mind the LEDs will be on when there is power to the speakers.

Hope that helps.
 
What are the general sizes on these speakers? Haven't taken delivery yet but I was planning on replacing the factory speakers with LED's. What did you end up going with Jbird?
 
I replaced mine with Kicker LEDs in the original holes on the boat (4 total) size 6.5" - https://www.crutchfield.com/p_206KM654L/Kicker-45KM654L.html

I think 8's would fit but that would require drilling a larger cutout.
So, is it your understanding that you can just swap these speakers (no additional wiring) and get the LED’s to work? Seems too easy to me. I see the one’s from Crutchfield come with an optional remote to adjust colors which would be fine.
 
I asked the dealer and they said the LED speakers would require a 12 volt power supply, not simply the 2 speaker wires. I would like a simple speaker swap, but seems that would have been wishful thinking. I am hiring a local car audio guy to come by and look. I am going with some type of marine grade sub as well. Maybe the Bazooka tube.
 
i am going to say you are going to have to run 12v power to the LED rings. The signal coming from the amp/radio/source will not power the 12v appliance.
 
The LED rings will require a separate power source. We switched out the stock 6.5" speakers and went with JL audio 7.7" speakers. I had to cut a larger hole but the fit nicely and after installing the amplifier and 10" JL sub the sound on the boat is great.
 
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