www.iFourWinns.com

1998 Sundowner 205

I am in the process of hooking up an amp to my stereo head unit. Here is the deal......

I dont know where to hook the (blue) wire to. The head unit has blue wire and I connected the blue wire from the amp to it. This causes constant power to it and will kill my battery cause the past owner had somehow bypassed the fuse box from the ignition. That being said , all my switches, lights and such have constant power. Any ideas on making this amp turn off with ignition. Should I rig up a acc. switch just for the amp?

Honestly....I would get the other electrical portion of the boat fixed first. You mentioned the previous owner rigging some wiring...I say...FIX THAT FIRST.

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Current Boat:
2004 Sea Ray 320 Sundancer "Nauti Luvin'"

Previous Boats:
1999 298 Vista "Seas The Day"
2008 H200SS "Nauti Luv"
2006 Tahoe Q4

yea, I agree. This is my first boat so I take it that the switchs usually only work when the ignition is turn on, (like a car) right?

You want (at least I do, at least) the nav. lights, interior lights and bilge pump switch to have constant power. If you go to the four winns website I believe their manual will have a wiring diagram.

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'90 Horizon 220 5.8

I agree that fixing the original problem is the best option, but I also like your idea of wiring up an accessory switch to control the amp as your second-best option. That or add a second battery which is dedicated to only the amp.

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Paul
2007 Four Winns Horizon 220
Mercruiser 350 Mag MPI w/ Bravo III Drive
2004 Ford Explorer Limited (V8-AWD)
Pomme de Terre Lake (Southwest Missouri)

Some switches on my boat (purchased new) do have power when the key is off. Examples:
- courtesy lights
- bilge pump
- blowers

So, your switches are probably working as designed. If you want to kill the power to them, turn off the battery switch.

The blue wire you talk about is a remote amp turn-on. It should have 12v when the radio is turned on, and none when the radio is off. If it's not working this way, there is a problem with the radio, not your boat wiring. Your amp main power should always have 12v (with the battery switch on). The blue wire tells the amp to come on when the radio is on. So, it won't be draining your battery if the radio is off... assuming the radio's blue wire is working properly. Sometimes, there may be a short delay for the blue wire to drop the voltage. The purpose is to prevent a pop or thump sound when turning off the radio.

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2008 Four Winns F224
5.0 Volvo Penta
Towing with Audi Q7 4.2 V8