stereo questions

[SubAlpine]

This is not 4x4, but in my boat. If this needs to be moved to chat section, I understand.
I am replacing the old head unit with a less old sony. I have good power and ground. All fuses are ok. When I turn the unit on, it turns on, for a second. Then it turns off, and a second later back on, and repeats. every time it turns off, there is a slight 'pop' through the speakers. Any ideas?

[Patrolman]

Make sure that the yellow and red wires are hooked up correctly. If I remember right, yellow is to the battery, and red is to the ignition/key. I switched them once and it caused all sorts of issues.

[Brad]

Make sure your ground is good. Stereo worked ok before?

[SubAlpine]

yes, it was working. Now I am wondering what to do with the ignition/remote wires. The boat only has four wires. L speaker, R speaker, Positive power, and ground. Should I wire the yellow constant 12v and the red acc 12vdc wires to the boats power wire?

[RidgeRunner]

Yes, both the red and yellow wires need +12v for the head unit to work. In the case of only a single hot wire, I recommend having a separate fuse for the red and yellow wires, and even a separate power feed straight from the battery for the yellow wire if possible.

In the case of some higher power head units, this makes sure that you aren't pulling too many amps through the stock wiring.

[SubAlpine]

I currently have this going on:
BOAT____________STEREO
L Speaker________L front+, L rear+
R speaker________R front+, R rear +
Power ___________Yellow constant, Red wire
Ground ___________Ground, L side- R side-

[SubAlpine]

I will try running a dedicated power to the yellow and see what happens.
Thanks

[SubAlpine]

ran dedicated power to the yellow. No change. I used a battery tester, and verrified that all - and grounds are good, as well as red and yellow power.

[xaza]

Check to make sure the speaker wires didn't get switched by disconnecting a speaker. Also try checking for a short/pinched wire to speakers. You can install a toggle switch for the yellow signal wire, it doesn't draw many amps.

[Robert B]

supposing this is the same standard deck that goes into cars it should only need power to the constant power wire and ground to work... speaker wires should not matter much even if they are backwards as it will affect the speaker if they were...... this sounds more like a power consistency issue i would use your power wire in the boat and hook it to a meter and see if it holds 12 volts all the time or if it varies some i think if you hook the acc and power wires to the same power source it may cause problems as they normally have power at different times

[SubAlpine]

Ok I had to wire power and ground straight to the battery, unit powers up etc.... No freaking sound to speakers. Tried wiring the speaker negs to different grounds, nothing. No sound at all, no matter the source. The speakers worked this am. Bad head unit? Wish I had another to try out. Really annoying.

[Hypoid]

Did you try the instructions? I have found many an owner's manual by googling the model number.

[SubAlpine]

Yep. Manual is online. Swapped head units from my Ford. Same thing. No sound. Going to play around with wires and see what happens. Thanks so far everyone.

[xaza]

You can touch a 9v battery to your speakers and you should hear it pop if the coil is still good.

[SubAlpine]

And boom goes the dynamite. The previous installer of the radio (factory in FL in 96) had all the neg speaker wires hooked to the main ground. For what ever reason, that worked with the old head unit and speakers. I just hooked them up correctly, and imagine that, it works.
Thanks for all the help.