At a loss - new head unit not coming on?

[mbrown1782]

OK - now I'm really at a loss and could use this groups expert help! I changed my boats Clarion XMD3 head unit since I had power at the head unit but it wasn't coming on (assumed the radio went bad - was working fine one day and nothing the next). Swapped with a PYLE marine head unit since it had the AUX port that I needed. Why I'm at a loss = after cutting and splicing everything back into the new harness, I have power at the head unit (yellow and red wires) in fact, the USB input backlight on the head unit comes on but the radio still won't turn on? Why? What to you guys think is the issue?

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[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

Id try testing it out on a 12v source/ battery with a charger on the work bench to see if the issue consist to rule out the bad seed of the HU in general. If it works?? It could be the wiring in the boat, such as a simple ground wiring issue

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

Make sure that your supply/battery is charged up correctly as well. Low amperage in a battery will give you an issue as well with boat electronics. Make sure you are 12-14v rather that @ a 24v source. At a 24v source you may need a different HU for Marine only HU that can handle 24 and or 12-14 v

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

But.. it does sound like your battery bank is very low and may need charging back up to proper voltage. I run into that on my test bech from time to time when I do not pay attention to the charging of the battery bank

 

[mbrown1782]

Weird! The battery shows fully charged and all the other accessories and starter switch seem to be working just fine

 

[Firewalker]

Boats do have fuse panels I know many of ours did as I grew up boating on the Kankakee river in Illinois for 25 years or so. Might want to check and see if a fuse is burned out. Also sometimes on the boat radio harnesses down the line there is a fuse or fusible link. Most likely the Clarion was perfectly fine and you have another issue somewhere with either a bad fuse, a broken wire or bad ground. I did systems in boats when we had them and wiring them could be a real pita sometimes. Or like on our Mariah we had instead of fuses we had a huge individual breaker system from factory. Sometimes those can pop and need to be reset.

 

[mbrown1782]

Never been on the Kankaklee but, any boating is good boating! I checked all the fuses (5 in total) and they all looked good. Plus, if I'm getting power at the wiring harness, wouldn't that signify that all the fuse are good? How do I check if the ground is OK?

 

[Firewalker]

I also was a service & parts manager on the Gulf Coast of Florida at Osprey Marina before they sold it many years ago. Been lucky enough to be all over the Gulf, Atlantic, Mississippi River, Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, Bay of Green Bay and a few other rivers as well.

Look for breaks in the wires, look for anything suspect with the way water gets into boats anything can happen. I used to double insulate everything when we would install anything regardless of the wire or accessory being put in. If you are not getting the display to light up then something is broken down the line or a bad ground. I would clean all the grounds you find, maybe even run a new ground wire for the heck of it back to the engine block if it is an i/o setup. Best to start simple and work your way back from the radio and harness.

I finally got to the point when doing radios since they rarely came with a real harness from the factory I would buy one for a GM or Ford radio wire that into the boat replacing w/e stupid harness or setup they had and then buy the matching aftermarket radio harness that plugged right in. Made things 1000 times easier. Usually though I had to run a separate ground in order to get the radios up and running since marine radios never had the features we needed. Plus I would really bracket the hell out of them any way I could so the CD player wouldn't skip, heck we even had a 10 disc changer setup in ours at one point with Infinite Baffle 10" subs, 4 6.5" and then tweeters up on both sides of the cockpit along with a passive EQ installed.

 

[mbrown1782]

NICE - I have been boating in the Gulf, ICW, Ohio River and mainly on Lake Cumberland in KY! My father has his Captains license - i hope to one of these days! Right now, I just want my dang radio to work!

 

[Firewalker]

I grew up on the river so boating was part of our lives. From the time I was born I was out on the river. We had a 3 or 4 speed boats up till 1988 then dad bought a 20 ft pontoon boat but realized when I got in high school that it was time for a speed boat again. At 12 I had gone through both power squadron and coast guard training passing both with 100s. Did it again at 16 and same results. At 12 he put me on the boating insurance so it was just me and him who was at the helm. At 15 we had that Mariah 18' 6" speed boat w/ a 4.3 V6 with a speed prop that did 63mph as it was a semi-v bottom hull. Once I turned 15 I took the boat out all the time with just my friends. They used it from Mon-Thurs and then Fri-Sun night the boat was mine. Plus we had jet skis, added a pontoon boat again. So between my house & the neighbors we had 10-14 jet skis every weekend, 4-5 speed boats ranging from 18' 6" to 23' and the fastest between all of us did 86mph 350 with twin turbos on it was freaking crazy to ride in. Plus the neighbor had a full basement with a shower, also had a hot tub and full bar with kitchen so guess where we were when not on the river,lol. Living on the Kankakee if you didn't raise your house of the ground you got water in it. 1985 we had 4.5 feet of water in our house. After that Dad hired a company and raised the house 10.5 feet off the ground with steel beams criss-crossing the house in several directions with the foundation being 18" thick concrete with 1.5" thick rebar throughout the whole setup with the top being on cinder blocks. Same with the neighbors house but he finished his basement. It really was the best time of my life during those years. IF I ever win the lottery I will buy our old house back,lol. Neighbor is still there so when I go down he lets me take his boat out so I still get out every couple years on the old river.

As I said just start simple and work your way back from the head unit checking everything you can even the smallest looking break can cause it, you will figure it out.

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

Id run a 12ga wire from the negative battery post to the HU. Use any wire you have(16ga, 14ga ect) that will be long enough to reach to test on the fly. If works, then route a min of 14ga ground wire back to the HU. Im betting on a bad ground to be honest/weak ground. But I have ran into low voltage the same as stated earlier.Try RESET as well on the HU, a toothpick works just fine

 

[mbrown1782]

NICE memories Coolhand20th - boating is great for that! Hoping to get a houseboat (to go with our run-about next year that our kids and grandkids!).

Audiobaun - can i just run a new ground to any screw attached to the boat or do i have to run it back to the negative terminal?

 

[mbrown1782]

Ran a wire directly to negative post on battery and then to ground - NOTHING? Here is the power I'm getting on the red wire...

 

[mbrown1782]

And the yellow wire. Any ideas?

 

[mbrown1782]

At wiring harness...