Stereo help needed please!-gctid399516

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I have a Keenwood 440u head unit on my 2006 Bayliner 195. I installed it Easter 2011 so it is just over a year old.

About a month ago it would not turn off and stay off-I would turn it off and it would immediately come back on, so I took the face off to be sure it did not stay on and kill my battery. Well it has never turned back on since. It just will not power up. I have checked all my wiring connections in the back and have put my volt meter on the multi-wire plug that goes into the back (sorry not sure what it is called by the power wires and all the speaker wires go into one rectangular connector that plugs into the back of the unit). My meter reads between 13 and 14 volts but it still does not turn on. So I bought a new one, same thing so I should be able to just plug in the connector and go right? Got the new one yesterday and plugged it in but not even the new one turns on!! I have sprayed my connections to clean them as well.

I am at a total loss, can someone please help me?? I have done everything I know to assure that power is getting to the unit but neither old nor new unit will turn on. Obviously something is wrong but it is beyond me...

Thanks in advance guys!

Attached files [img]/media/kunena/attachments/vb/703204=29631-stereo wires.jpg[/img] [img]/media/kunena/attachments/vb/703204=29632-stereo.jpg[/img]

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Hmm a couple things here, the first question I am going to ask only partially makes sense considering that the head unit would not turn off prior to the issue where it will not turn on.

But.... Have you checked the ground connection back to the battery? Boats are funny things in that you have to run ground wires, maybe there is a bad connection somewhere.

After that, (it's been a while, bear with me), check that the wiring for power is correct. Most head units are the same, basically you have an "always on" constant power wire, and then you have an ignition wire that's only hot when the ignition is on. With a boat I believe you have to just wire them both off the battery in most cases, so make sure all that's set up correctly. While doing that, may as well make sure that it's not actually just the face place that's broken... but that doesn't make any sense on the new head unit.

Perplexing, but as with most electronics troubleshooting... we think it's a lot more complex than it really is so we actually overlook and don't consider the super simple stuff, that turns out to be the culprit.

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You know I did recently disconnect my dual battery set up to charge my batteries indivdually to be sure they were both ok. Maybe I left a wire off? Is there typically a single wire connection that stays ont he battery? I cannot remember...

Thanks for the suggestion I will check that

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You could check the manual ;my understanding is that sometimes they go into "sleep mode" and there is a process required to power it back up.

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Hey guys, I'm still trying to figure this problem out-been a while I know it seems to rain every time I get a chance to get to it.

Anyhow, I did find a small in-line fuse at my battery that was blown. It was labeled something like stereo memory. I replaced it hoping that would solve my problem, but NOPE!

My friends suggest I have a bad ground. If I have a bad ground would I still get a voltage reading on my meter if the ground was bad? Forgive my electrical egnorance...To test voltage I put the meter to the positive and negative leads going into the back of the head unit and it reads 14volts.

If it is a bad ground, any ideas where the stereo ground goes to?

Thanks in advance!

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It's time to trace wires to find out what goes where. Your ground needs to go back to the battery or to a distribution block or something and then the battery. (but if you are getting a steady 14v reading, this is likely not the problem). But have you checked the head unit to make sure it doesn't have the requirement for an always hot AND ignition connection (most do)? For a boat you would just splice them together unless you wanted to get fancy with the wiring and actually run the ignition wire through your boats ignition system. Guess that depends on the location of the radio and your intended use. I often use the radio only when the boat is off, and the head unit is on the opposite side of the boat from the helm (read I'm lazy). But make sure to check that you have all the positive connections required. If you are reading 14v on the harness then you probably don't have a ground problem.

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Both power wires are spliced together as you mentioned. It has always been that way too, as I have not changed anything knowingly prior to it stopping to work.

Funny how you put your set up , but mine is just as yours-my head unit is opposite side of the boat from the helm. And we do use the radio when the boat is off a lot as well so it normally has power no matter what

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Hmm perplexing. maybe one of the pins in the end of the harness are bent or pushed in? maybe something is not quite right with power... I don't think most head units have a fuse, I have seen very few that do, but do you have a fuse in the back of the head unit that may be blown? One thing you can do is to put it all back together and start jiggling the harness and wires at various points to see if you get a response. That will tell you something at least.

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It does have a fuse, 10amp fuse which is not blown...I'm so frustrated with it and my fiance says I'm not allowed to fiddle with it anymore until someone else is there to look at it too haha!