Quick wiring question

Northcap

I have the new stereo pre-wired and tested. It all sounds great. Before I close everything up I have a question.

The Sony Stereo has two constant and one switched hot wires, so I ran three hot wires as directed. The two constant hots are for memory/clock and illumination. To cut down on excessive wiring can I pigtail the two constant hots together off of the receiver and run them through one wire to my fuse bar? Would a 5 amp fuse be sufficient?

Thanks in advance.

BGW

__________________
This advertising will not be shown in this way to registered members.
Register your free account today and become a member on Buggies Gone Wild Golf Cart Forum

scooterman

Basically that is what I'm doing, unless your planning on driving an amp. Put a fuse at the battery, my radio has a fuse at the radio already but I will add one close to the battery. I ran 12 gauge wire through the support. You need to see what the radio requires for each hot wire. Most likely unless it is a high powered radio it won't be much but can range from 5A to 20A depending on the radio.

scotter

What do the instructions/wiring diagram say/show to wire the "illumination" hot wire to?
Any constant 12V source? Light switch 12V source? I guess I am asking what does Sony say the illumination hot wire does, like, turns on the radio background lights when you turn on the headlights? (Dash light circuit of a car). I would think an illumination circuit would be switch activated?

Northcap

I installed a 10 amp fuse on the switched hot line in the fuse box. The receiver also has a 10 amp fuse. Given the minimal amp usage for the two constant hot lines, I wondered if 5 amps would do the trick.

scooterman

Your not going to gain anything with a 5 amp fuse, if it is fused with a 10 amp then that is fine, if you go 5 amp and decide to jam out one day when you had a few beers you'll blow the fuse lol!.
I agree with scotter illumination you want switched, ie light switch etc.

Northcap

Sony's instructions are minimal at best. I believe it says wire it constant hot.

All of my accessory power runs through a 30 amp voltage reducer to an independent circuit fuse bar. I set up jumpers on the fuse bar so that the switched hot and constant hot lines off of the voltage reducer run through the fuse bar to power the various accessories. I run the headlights through the constant hot circuit. I run the red stereo wire through the switched circuit. I've set up the yellow stereo wire through the constant hot circuit as directed -- yellow being the memory/clock power wire. The orange wire (illumination) is set up constant hot. I will check the instructions to see if it can run it on the switched circuit when I get home.

I'm just trying to find out if it is okay to gang wire the orange wire so as to save space in the chase for future wiring purposes. And also to save a slot on my fuse bar.

The 10 amp fuse is on the red stereo wire. The five amp fuses are on the yellow and orange wires. I've got plenty of ten amp fuses if you think I should up the fuse size.

Thanks for the help.

scooterman

If your yellow and orange are on 5amp fuses and you want to consolidate to one wire which is fine and fuse that one with a 5 or 10 amp fuse you are protected all the way, you can probably use a 5amp fuse because the illumination and the memory shouldn't draw anywhere near 5 amps total. Really if they both are suppose to be hot all the time then there should be together at the radio, this is Sony over complicating things lol. Just make sure the wire is heavy enough, depending on how far you have to run it, probably a 16 gauge minimum for those two wires. The power depending on how much it draws at minimum a 12 gauge. Now this said if what your reading is correct, to me the illumination would only be used when the radio is powered on, If it stays on I'd put it on a switch or the light switch. You will know this once you get it wired, If it stays illuminated or not.

Northcap

Scooterman, what you have described is exactly how I have it wired. Thanks, guys.

On to the ground effects LED lighting. My wife had a stroke when she saw the test run. It is pretty obnoxious! Particularly when it the lights are programmed to flash with the music. Will be fun at the beach though.

scooterman

Post pics ����:)

Northcap

Got the ground effects LEDs wired up and installed. I bought them on a lark, but I gotta say they look pretty cool. As with just about any technical gadget these days, the company offered this tech idiot way too many options. I spent an hour leaning how to work the remote. One of the setting allows the LEDs to cycle in time with the stereo. Pretty cool.

As soon as I install the fender flares and hopefully stainless nerf bars and a bumper, I will shoot pictures of the cart. I'm almost there.

I also ordered a hinge kit for the roof from XT-innovations. The cart won't fit in the garage of its new home. What I really wanted to do was buy one of the Allsports sport windshields. I really don't like having a top, but the cart will be going to Southwest Florida. I don't like the idea of getting caught in a monsoon and destroying all my electronics.

To all who answered my electrical questions, thanks. I really appreciated the advise.