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Wiring with the under-deck wave shield...

When i installed my depth sounder, i got an odd sound through the stereo if the depth sounder was on and the boat was out of the water. No sound if it is in the water.

If all else fails, go to radio shack and get a filter capacitor for car stereos.
 
Geoffrey & Brenda said:
When i installed my depth sounder, i got an odd sound through the stereo if the depth sounder was on and the boat was out of the water. No sound if it is in the water.

If all else fails, go to radio shack and get a filter capacitor for car stereos.
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I disconnected the stereo power from the starter battery circuit and moved it to the house battery. Problem solved. It was a ground loop problem caused by different connected components on mixed power supplies sharing a common ground.
 
I removed the entire under deck shield when I installed my jet-ski lift, it was simple as drilling out the rivets, then re-riveting. also there is plenty of room along the rub-rail and you only have to remove one (per side) piece of the shield.

Hope this helps,

Wid

((I'm a hosedragger in Camas WA) good to see someone local on the forum.)
 
Jim_R said:
Alternator noise is more of a variable whine where the pitch usually increases in sync with the RPMs. I suspect you are right in calling the issue a ground loop hum, as the two batteries are effectively isolated when no charging source is present, but turning the key to ACC creates the ground loop by bringing the two power sources together. When the engine is running the yadina combines them and no ground loop. I would suggest moving the helm wiring connections to your 'House' battery, and only running the outboard connections to your starting battery. You could temporarily disconnect the helm wiring from the starter battery and jumper it to your house battery to test my theory.

*edit - did you ground your House battery directly to the Starting battery?
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The hum came from interference from the power steering motor, which is active with the ignition on ACC even when the motor is not running. I did not ground directly back to the battery; I used the frame as a common ground.

All the power to the head unit and amps are now tied to the house battery directly. When it cools of I am going to move over the fishfinder as well.

It's all in and it sounds amazing.
 
This is an old thread, but i'm going to do the same thing, 

I have the dual battery upgrade.  Do you suggest I still put another battery in the Helm (3 batteries on boat total), or would I simply be able to just run 8ga Power and Ground up through the helm from the second battery which is under the seat starboard (directly behind the helm) and house battery on port side..  Connect directly to the Amp(s) from there.

Thanks,
 
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Just run the wires.
 
Another question.  I have the Dual Battery option with the switch to run 1 / 2, or 1+2.  Should I run directly from that switch, or directly from the house battery and bypass the Blue Sea switch altogether?
 
From the house battery.
 
Thanks again everyone for these great posts.  I am preparing to do my 2nd battery install this Friday and the tips and suggestions here have been invaluable.  Still can't decide if I want to add the 2nd battery right beside the 1st in the privacy chase on the port side, or install it in the helm as others have done.  If I leave it in the chaise, it is much easier to get to and fewer wires to run to the helm...pretty sure I will just add it in the chaise.

As others have done, I was able to easily use an electricians fish tape and pull a couple of pull strings across which I will attach to the split-loom with wiring already inside.  I pulled two strings so I could use the first once to pull across the loom and have a second in place I ever need to pull across again.

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How are you supporting the span between the 2 grommets (rear battery and helm).  I couldn't see anything to attach it to...  Just let the split loom rest on the under deck shield, or pull it tight and secure it on both ends?

After much research here is my plan;

From the battery switcher, i'm running 12" of 4awg marine wire to this

Blue Sea Systems 285-Series Surface Mount 100A Circuit Breaker

So we have a breaker on both sides of the run, this seemed best since it's marine grade and can be easily turned (off) to cut power for maintenance etc...

From the circuit breaker above I have 15' of 4# marine battery cable and 4# marine ground cable (ground is terminated on ground post of battery per ground loop issue earlier in thread) I'm really hoping the 15' is sufficient because I have the ends already terminated with heavy wall lugs and shrink wrapped for a true plug and play install when it all comes in (already shipped).

The mystery is what do I do with the wire between the aft battery housing grommet and the helm grommet?

Once that's figured out, i'm fished up through the helm grommet, i'm running the 4# red and 4# black marine wire to this guy;

Blue Sea Systems SafetyHub 150 Fuse Blockhttp://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0053BTSEK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER 

I chose this safety hub after days of research between dedicated ground block and power distribution options mainly for car and marine audio, but this was used by Bennington in the distribution panel option, has the ground distribution block built in, a lot of fusing options for upgrades later, and it's blue sea systems marine grade so I need not to worry about future issues.

 

Now I will have my "Distribution Panel" in the helm I plan on adding LED controllers for exterior and interior lighting.

 

To install THIS AMP from the distribution panel i'm just going to run another couple feet of 4# Power and Ground right from my new panel.

To get the power to the existing speakers [SIZE=13.333333969116211px]I plan to splice the Sony harness (NOT BENNINGTON'S) 4 speaker runs with the Male end of [/SIZE]THESE PLUGS[SIZE=13.333333969116211px] and then female end to the 4x channels out of the Amp for plug and play /[/SIZE][SIZE=13.333333969116211px] future proofing / trouble shooting and non permanent connection should I decide to change / upgrade amps later.[/SIZE]

 

All the parts and cables above are ordered and should be here this week, the problem is I'll be installing this in the water, luckily i'm only 2' deep on the sand bar so its not too bad. 

 

Will this amp make a diff to these Kicker Speakers?  the Sony only puts out 12watts RMS, and the Kicker speaks can handle 65 watts and I know they are a good quality speaker so I figure that Punch amp will give me the headroom to turn it up and not distort anything and should dramatically improve the sound quality.  I'm eyeing a Wet Sounds Sub for an easy install in the helm hooked up to the SUB Outputs on the head unit.  Probably Cut the Kickers off at 120hz and let the sub do the heavy lifting.

 

Anyone suggest any changes before I'm outside of my return window?  
 
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Kells,

Yes, I was just going to snug the split-loom up and secure it on both ends...I mean we could install some conduit, I guess but I don't think it is necessary.

I am going to install my setup almost exactly like you are..going to install the Safety Hub 150 and run dedicated positive and negative from the privacy chaise(house battery).  Blue Seas Circuit wizard figured that 6 AWG would carry 120A,  20 ft with 3% voltage loss so I was going to put 80A breaker on battery side and 80A fuse block under helm(save a few $$).

Looking at the Circuit Wizard again and thinking about the total wire length, 20ft may be too conservative.  It is approx 6 ft from helm to the point on the deck where the loom crosses over, approx 9 ft across and at least 1 ft up into the chaise and helm...that would be me at 17 feet but by the time you throw in the switch and ACR and distribution panel I am sure I will be over 20 ft...I am thinking I may go with 4 AWG now just to be safe.

One more question about the house panel...my house panel is fed directly from the battery right now with 8 AWG...I think I am just going to move it to the house battery and leave it since it already has a breaker on both ends..if that is the case I can probably scale back to 6 AWG because that will lower my amp load on my new wire by approx 20-25 amps.
 
I have a straight shot since Battery 1 and combiner are near the rear deck starboard side.  I measured it at 10 ft.  I have an additional foot of wire already made from battery to breaker so I should have enough slack to wire outside of the helm (I HOPE!).

I came up with 8 awg for my use, but I figured I would shell out the extra buck to have more than adequate power to the distribution block.

Are you replacing the speakers?
 
Hey guys...I know this is an old topic but I am hoping others will read these like I did...a tremendous help for  my dual battery/amp install.

I too got hum in my speakers when the livewell pump was on or the  engine was running.  The solution?  I grounded the head unit chassis to the same ground bus bar(Blue Seas Safety 150) that the amps were grounded to.

Just so you know...it did matter where I moved my helm wiring ground and power cables to...either house or starter battery still gave me the hum...the only thing connected to my starter battery are the leads to the outboard...everything else is connected to my house battery.
 
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