[jbondy]

That is interesting that the power is mostly drawn thru the yellow "memory" wire. As Patrick stated above, "some stereaos (sic) won"t power up if the yellow "memory power" wire is not alive". Clearly that would be the case with yours. If there are some that will power up with the memory wire not connected, then for those, most of the power must be drawn thru the red wire. Either way, follow the manufacturer's installation instructions. And always fuse every power line.

I would never connect anything directly to the battery, with the possible exception of a bilge pump, because I want to be able to switch things off. And certainly the stereo, unlike the bilge pump, would be something that should be off when the main switch is off. Things that I want to be on when the main switch is off I wire to the hot side of the main switch. That is currently (pardon the expression) limited to the bilge pump and the yellow "memory" for the stereo. I put a small switch behind the stereo in the memory wire that I turn off when Pokey is put up for the winter, otherwise it is left on.

Also, an earlier post suggested connecting the black wire to the ground bus. If you have a battery monitor such as a Heart Link, battery use is accomplished by measuring the current that is returned to the battery bank from all circuits. A shunt is inserted into the circuit. Pokey's PO inadvertently bypassed this by wiring some grounds on the wrong side of the shunt. Just something to keep in mind.