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Stereo and VHF Cutting Out

tdonoughue

Jetboaters Admiral
Messages
4,926
Reaction score
4,052
Points
417
Location
The Woodlands, TX 77381
Boat Make
Yamaha
Year
2012
Boat Model
AR
Boat Length
24
Ok, looking for ideas, please:

Yesterday while out doing the sea trial of the trim tabs, the water was pretty choppy and I was playing with the tabs, bouncing around pretty well. Then the stereo head unit and the VHF radio rebooted at the same time. They did this several times on the voyage. I figured, as I had just been poking around the helm doing the install, there was probably a loose wire there somewhere. I might have used a crimp connector that I should just solder or something.

So today I emptied out the helm compartment and crawled my large butt in there to try to find the problem. I found that, when I install the head unit, I soldered the wires together. I soldered them to the old (stock) head unit power wires. Jiggled them--the stereo played on. Could not get it to cut out. The radio I have crimp connectors on and have it screwed to a bus block with the connector that goes to the GPS puck (I cut that set of wires to hook the VHF to the puck to get GPS signal on the VHF). I unhooked those--the wires were pretty short, but firmly crimped. I added some solder to one, but quarters were pretty tight and I was afraid of doing more damage to the other wires around... At any rate, I hooked those back up, jiggled more... could not get the VHF to go out again. Even if it was that connector, that is a different connector than the head unit--they are nowhere near each other. So I am thinking the issue is not there.

So I went to the back and found the fuses (oddly, I have never been in them before). When I opened the cap on each side, the 2nd spare fuse (10A, if memory serves) was loose in the box there. I replaced them, of course. But I pushed all of the fuses, tried to wiggle them--nothing went out. Jiggled the wires around the box... nothing.

What am I missing? Any ideas of the next thing to check? TIA!
 
Does your VHF and Stereo share the same ground? A loose ground could also cause the issue. Does the loose 10A fuse you found power the units. If so, you may have fixed it. If not, check the grounds. Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to check battery voltage as well.
 
Only have the same ground back at the battery, I think. So that is my next check: house battery connections.

The 10a I found on each side was the spare...

Will check the voltage, but I don't suspect that. Batteries were new last season and have been on Minn Kota pro charger all during off season.

Thanks!
 
I would then check the grounds. I just noticed on my 2019, when I added the blue interior leds, I used 16 guage audio wire. The point of this story is, one of the LEDs stopped working. I thought it was the led. Upon replacing, I noticed the wire was completely corroded. (falling apart). I am now going to replace all the wire with quality marine wire which is tinned.
If the grounds doesn't reveal anything, check the wires. They may be corroded and not letting enough current through.
 
Coda:

So, I went up and checked the wires and the fuses. Found some loose wires on the negative bus bar. Battery connections were all tight though. Tightened them all up.

On the water today, no issues at all. I declare the issue fixed.

Thanks for the help, folks!
 
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