Tower speakers only work when engine shut off??? '08 Z1

[Frosty_Power]

Hi guys,

First post here. Great site and lots of info(especially for a newbie like me).

Have a question regarding my tower speakers. For some reason, they only work when the engine is not running? Is this setup right? I just bought a new(to me) used '08 Z1 with dual battery setup and I believe everything on it came from the factory. Anything I can check? Is there a setting I am missing?

Thanks!

[chpthril]

Pics of the amps and tower speaker would help determine if it is indeed factory, but its not really relevant to your issue. The amps and speakers should play with or without the engine running, so something is amiss.

A volt meter is going to be the best tool to attack it. You should also be able to see an indicator light on the amp that indicates its powered up or not.

[Frosty_Power]

Thanks for the reply chptril. What do I do once I have the volt meter? What am I going to test? Thanks!

[Frosty_Power]

Is it the voltage on my battery that I should be testing or the power going to the amp?

[chpthril]

Sorry, yes. Voltage across the amp B+ and B- terminals and the across the B- and turn on terminal. Should read battery voltage

[kko]

You have a dead "house" battery. Charge the battery's you will be fine.

[Frosty_Power]

You have a dead "house" battery. Charge the battery's you will be fine.

Thanks kko. That was my original guess as I did charge batteries first time out and everything ran fine. Only untill the 3rd time, half way thru the day it stopped working. Then a week later, it worked for half a day again. My guess was that my house battery wasn't holding a charge or that it wasn't getting charged quick enough. I'll look at swapping out the battery and test that. Thanks!

Oh, and the house battery is the one on the starboard side right?

[Frosty_Power]

How often do I have to fully charge my batteries? We float out on the lake all day and have the stereo on and I always assumed, starting the boat every so often and running it would give the battery back some juice so i wouldn't have to put the charger back on them. Is this the case or should I be charging them before I head out since they may not be fully charged? Or it could be my battery is not holding a charge too. Guess I'll have to pull them out to get tested.

[c_hotshot]

I put a "battery tender" on both of my batteries after each outing. You'd be surprised how much floating can drain the battery.

[Frosty_Power]

Just checked and my amp power for my tower speakers is hooked up to my starter battery. Is this setup correct or better? My starter battery is just that, a starter and not a deep cycle one(I don't think). The previous owner did it that way so that they switch the starter battery off when floating so it doesn't drain but mine now, doesn't work when it's one and were running it, only when the engine is off it comes on. Hmmm?????

[chpthril]

Just checked and my amp power for my tower speakers is hooked up to my starter battery. Is this setup correct or better? My starter battery is just that, a starter and not a deep cycle one(I don't think). The previous owner did it that way so that they switch the starter battery off when floating so it doesn't drain but mine now, doesn't work when it's one and were running it, only when the engine is off it comes on. Hmmm?????

The only way to address this with any kind of logical rely, is to know all the details about the dual battery setup, the style of switch and the rest of the amp components.

I also want to double check to make sure your thread title is correct, and not a typo? Cause this has thrown King Kong sized monkey wrench into the gears now.

I would first ignore who is wired where. What I would do, if get a volt meter and go directly to the amp and test the voltage as mentioned above. You need to diagnose why the amp only powers up when the engine is OFF. Anything else is pure speculating and dart tossing at a moving target. If the amp runs with the engine OFF and not with the engine RUNNING, its cannot a dead battery.

Post pics of your setup if needed, please. I am very curious about this one.

[philwsailz]

MY guess if his topic title is what he intended, that the stereo only runs when the boat is off:

He has a 1-2-both-off battery switch
He has at one time switched the battery switch through OFF with the motor running
The voltage regulator is blown
His amps are shutting off due to excessive voltage

This is just a guess based on very limited understanding of the situation but this is a highly possible scenario.


I agree with CHP. You need to go right to the amplifiers and measure the voltage across the + and - terminals of the amp(s). Do this both with the motor running and again with the motor off. You want your volage in both instances to be no lower than 12 and no higher than 14.4 or 15. I can't speak for other amp brands but in general a Kicker amp will shut off below 10.5 volts, or over 16 volts. If the regulator is blown, the charging system could be delivering higher voltage than the amp was designed to run on.



Phil
Kicker

[Frosty_Power]

Thanks guys for your input!!! I will post pics shortly but unfortunately I will not be able to put the boat in the water(to test voltage while running) for a couple weeks when I have my big vacation trip travelling quite a distance. Do you guys see any issues here that would affect the performance/engine of the boat(ie. blown regulator)? This has got me a little worried now as I plan on being in the water for 10 days while on holiday's.

Again, thanks for all your input in this thread!!!

[trent]

You should run the boat in you driveway using Fake-A-Lake or other similar device.

[chpthril]

An alternator can fall to one of two sides of the fence. Not charging and the batteries eventually go dead. Overcharging and you run the risk of damaging other electronics.