Marine stereo wiring help

[wchevron]

i just bought a stereo for my boat. looking at the wiring diagram i am a little confused. i couldn't get the diagram to scan legibly but this is what is says:

blue wire: remote turn on. connect to amplifier or power antenna.

black: ground. connect to ground.

red: accessory. connect to existing ignition circuit or switched 12v source.

yellow: memory. connect to battery circuit or constant 12 v source

the rest of the wires are just for the speakers.

blue i don't need
black goes to ground, i get that.
red would go to the stereo breaker on the elec. panel.
yellow, would that go back to the dc negative bus bar? this is where i'm getting confused.

[alecs123]

you need the yellow wire to "keep alive" the stereo in order to keep your clock, memories and perhaps other sound settings.
It will draw a little current from your battery and should be wired to the + terminal.
If you don't need the clock to be on time and don't mind manually tunning your stations I would skip it

[T37SOLARE]

should be wired to the + terminal

Just make SURE you have an inline fuse on it.

[wchevron]

how does it work with no negative wire? i thought you always need positive and a negative. thanks for the info on the yellow wire.

[timebandit]

black wire

[alecs123]

the black is ground or negative. in a typical 12v dc circuit ground and negative is the same. For a boat there is a slight difference and it depends on your electrical circuit. Most boats with an inboard motor are "grounded" to the engine block and other fixtures, like through hulls, are connected to a "ground" (keel, or zincs) to prevent galvanic corrsion, this commond gorund is also wired to the negative pole on the battery.
For your simple installation, you can either use the ground, as described above, or simply wire your stereo to the negavite (-) wire/pole of your battery.

[scottyt]

also you might want to think about hooking the yellow wire to a another breaker or small switch. so when you are one the boat you dont loose settings but when you park it for a while you can shut it off to avoid the small drain the memory functions take.
you could also do this by hooking it to the battery switch, when the battery switch is on the yellow has power, when off it does not. that way when on the boat and the battery switch is on it keeps the settings

[wchevron]

thanks for the help everyone. i'm assuming i can just connect the black wire/ground to the neg. bus bar.

[alecs123]

Originally Posted by wchevron

thanks for the help everyone. i'm assuming i can just connect the black wire/ground to the neg. bus bar.

that is correct

[Stingrayj]

Originally Posted by alecs123

that is correct

Hello - I found some photos from about 2003 of the Dennis Connor wing sail Stars and Stripes yacht, on Lake Andaro. I see that you list Valle Bravo as your location.

Do you know anything about where it went after that, or what has happened to it? Can she still sail? Has she been completely destroyed, or do parts remain from her? Or someone else who may know anything?

Thank you very much for anything you can tell me about this boat's condition, or maybe about people who I can ask for more information.

Cheers!