Power Run Question--Safety Concern

Great Information (I think)! Yep...it is confirmed...i have no clue what you are talking about.

.......I will be at Table Rock in mid August if you still need help then. PM me in early Aug and we can work out where to meet if you still need assistance then.

Do you have a DC-voltmeter ?

[Jeff T]

Ok if you look at the back of the head unit where the wire/plugs are, you will see a black plastic "squirrel cage" fan housing about 1"sq.

If you have the fan, you will have to use an ON/OFF switch of some kind to kill the power (not memory power) or the fan will fun all the time and kill battery.

I'm using an unused switch (dock lights) on my dash till I find one with a pic of a battery on it to replace it.

Great Information (I think)! Yep...it is confirmed...i have no clue what you are talking about.

[chpthril]

I believe it is CMD4. It is whatever comes with the 07 models. I'm so electrically inept it is pathetic (although I'm learning through working on this myself).

So, what is the process of re-running the power/ground for the HU...from square 1. I feel so ignorant....

Ok if you look at the back of the head unit where the wire/plugs are, you will see a black plastic "squirrel cage" fan housing about 1"sq.

If you have the fan, you will have to use an ON/OFF switch of some kind to kill the power (not memory power) or the fan will fun all the time and kill battery.

I'm using an unused switch (dock lights) on my dash till I find one with a pic of a battery on it to replace it.

[Jeff T]

I believe it is CMD4. It is whatever comes with the 07 models. I'm so electrically inept it is pathetic (although I'm learning through working on this myself).

So, what is the process of re-running the power/ground for the HU...from square 1. I feel so ignorant....

[chpthril]

I have not re-run the power/ground for the HU. I need to do this...but I have a stupid question. From the factory, where does the power/ground for the HU run to? I actually thought it was already ran back to the battery.

Power comes from the ACC position on the key switch.

Not 100% on the ground, but I'll bet it is on the BUSS bar under the dash.

What head unit do you have? The CMD4's have a cooling fan that runs if the power wire is run to B+

[Jeff T]

I have not re-run the power/ground for the HU. I need to do this...but I have a stupid question. From the factory, where does the power/ground for the HU run to? I actually thought it was already ran back to the battery.

[wetsounds1]

Sorry I have been out. Most use a large dist block and tie it in there. As long as you are sharing the same power and grounds for all the amps, the eq, and the radio. You should not have any loops. This issue usually happens as most use the factory ground block. And do not re do the factory radio. Best and easiest bet is to use a high quality dist block for all power and all grounds. And a solid run of large enough ga wire back to the batteries. If you do run into some noise. Then you can run some power and ground direct back to the batteries for each item, such as the eq then the radio. But if there is solid wire and as long as all the items are sharing the same power and ground source. Should be fine. Anytime you have long runs, it is a good idea to run a fuse by the battery. So if you run the eq and radio back, the ws 420 is a 3 amp, so that will be what to use.

Tim
Wet Sounds

[Jeff T]

What size fuse do I need to use for this application?

[tri_slarson]

I would suggest putting the fuse as close to the battery as possible. This way if the wire does short out on something the fuse will blow.

[Jeff T]

I have Stinger wire. I'm not sure if that is marine grade or not, but I figured it was better quality than what I could find down at the local Radio Shack or Wal-Mart.

The 420 has a fuse on the power run about 3 or 4 inches from the unit. I take it this will suffice?

[buffman]

I responded to your PM as well...

[spharis]

I would go all the way back to the battery. Reading postings on the web, many have had ground loop once installing the WS420. The solution is always to run power for ALL audio components back to the battery to establish the best possible current. If you use a shared switch or wire in the distro, expect to either have loop or invest in a ground loop isolator....maybe a couple.

I do this on any stereos I wire and I rarely have ground loop problems. I only tie my turn ons to switches. The main power and ground go back to the battery, especially the ground.

As far as worry: don't. You have slim to no chance of anything happening from the wire getting wet as long as you use marine grade wire. There are numerous other items in your boat that would be damaged just as easy or over time. Even if the wire chafes, there is little chance of problems. One good (or bad) thing about marine is that the entire chassis isn't grounded, so if a wire chafes it is highly unlikely it even makes current on anything although there should be some form of fusing a very long run just to prevent over current.

[evil0ne]

I'd just shove it in one of the already used openings so you get a good contact with that small of a wire.

[Jeff T]

If this is ok'd by Tim, I'm ok with doing for sure. I have a 3 4-guage to 1 0-gauge block for power and the same for ground. I have 1 free 4 gauge port in each block. Would i just use this despite using 18 guage wire, or share with a port that has 4 gauge for an amp?

[philwsailz]

That's what I would do, I dont see anything wrong with it, but I would like to hear Tim or Phil's opinion.

Tim should address this too, since we are talking about the ws420, but I think he will agree. If in fact there is a really good source of power from a distribution block that is tied straight to the battery that is a great place, especially if it is where the amps are getting their power... It places the ws420 power connections right at the same power and ground plane as the amps. It should result in the quietest installation from a noise standpoint.