Re: what do you tow yor AS with?

[BTF112989]

Well, hopefully by tomorrow afternoon the engine will be "found"!  I'm switching it over from the other boat tomorrow.  Someday soon I'll be able to post the suburban pulling a fully rigged boat.

Seabob, sadly my radio doesn't want to turn on at the current time.  Worked right before I bought it.  Is there a big enough difference between the 15A 125V fuse & a 15A 32V fuse to keep a radio from turning on?  The 125 volt fuse blew & my replacements aren't fixing the problem.

Sorry to get off topic

[GoneFission]

Seabob, sadly my radio doesn't want to turn on at the current time.  Worked right before I bought it.  Is there a big enough difference between the 15A 125V fuse & a 15A 32V fuse to keep a radio from turning on?  The 125 volt fuse blew & my replacements aren't fixing the problem.

If your radio blew a 15A fuse, you got bigger problems that what the voltage was!  Radios usually should be fused at 5A.  Blowing a 15A fuse usually means a short somewhere.  If you blew a 15A fuse and there was no short (meaing the short was inside the radio), odds are the radio is blown.  Many radios have an internal fuse as well, so there is an outside chance you could open the case and replace the internal fuse (if it has one).  Look in the owner's manual and find the schematic/wiring diagram for the radio and see if you see a fuse in the circuit.  It should be about 5A and is denoted by a squiggle symbol ~

Fuses are rated by ampage, and voltage is not much of an issue - usually a higher voltage fuse with the same rating will blow faster than a low voltage fuse of the same rating.  Lower voltage fuses are usually the "slow blow" type compared to high voltage fuses.  Putting a higher voltage fuse in is usually not a problem, but putting a lower voltage fuse in can reduce the margin of safety.

[seabob4]

Damn, we derail all the time here, don't we?  But we're allowed...

BTF, did the 15A blow quick, like NOW, or was it a slow blow, 5-7 seconds?  NOW means a short, slow-blow means a resistance issue, i.e. corrosion that causes the heat to build, or a case of too small a wire to carry the current the stereo needs.  I'm guessing the former.

[BTF112989]

I think when I first hooked up my battery in the dark, I may have accidentally put the wrong wires on the wrong poles of the battery. Positive with negative pole & negative wire with positive pole. The radio is wired into an accessories switch. Would the fuse blow if I never turned the radio's power button on, but flipped the accessories switch on?  When I connected the main line up to the battery again today(while I was installing my outboard), I heard something cut on momentarily, then cut off. I think it was the fan in the radio. Is there some hope for my radio if the fan still cut on?
 
I think I saw a 15 amp fuse connected into the main power wire(which I have in there) & something about a 5 amp fuse(I didn't see that in my wiring) when I downloaded the wiring schematic for the radio online.

I don't really know when the fuse blew because the radio was not on at the time. I think I just tried to press the power button, and the fuse blew right then, before the radio had a chance to power up. So I'm assuming it was a quick blow, not a slow one.

Thanks guys!

Should I move this to another section, so we don't derail this thread too much?

[gran398]

Thread derail is no longer a meaningful term, unless it is blatantly blatant.  It is now "value-added."

Keep it right here.

You may have had the polarities exchanged.

[GoneFission]

I think when I first hooked up my battery in the dark, I may have accidentally put the wrong wires on the wrong poles of the battery. Positive with negative pole & negative wire with positive pole. The radio is wired into an accessories switch. Would the fuse blow if I never turned the radio's power button on, but flipped the accessories switch on?  When I connected the main line up to the battery again today(while I was installing my outboard), I heard something cut on momentarily, then cut off. I think it was the fan in the radio. Is there some hope for my radio if the fan still cut on?
 
I think I saw a 15 amp fuse connected into the main power wire(which I have in there) & something about a 5 amp fuse(I didn't see that in my wiring) when I downloaded the wiring schematic for the radio online.

I don't really know when the fuse blew because the radio was not on at the time. I think I just tried to press the power button, and the fuse blew right then, before the radio had a chance to power up. So I'm assuming it was a quick blow, not a slow one.

Unless you have some mega-watt receiver or amp (Dynaco 400 comes to mind), there is no fan in your radio.  What you might be hearing is the CD turntable.  If the receiver blew the 15 amp fuse when you turned it on, well, let's just ask the Magic 8-Ball oracle:

 :cry:  :cry:  :cry:

[John Jones]

I think the 8-ball is correct again.  Many electronic devices have a circuit to protect itself from reverse polarity power.  IF it has the correct size fuse it will just blow the fuse when connected backwards.  With a triple size fuse it blows the protection circuitry.  If that's the case the radio itself may be okay still but it will require an experienced technician with a soldering iron to get it working again.

[seabob4]

Some good deals on new stereos...you know, Black Friday and such...

[Circle Hooked]

Any deals on Magic 8 Balls  

[gran398]

He won't sell it, but he lets me borrow it every week for the football picks

[BTF112989]

I think Yall are right about it being the cd turntable instead of a fan. I read into it some & there is a hidden reset button behind the radio face. Everytime I press it, the turntable spins for a moment, then cuts off again. No other action. So will a 15amp fuse with a higher voltage rating(125v) really hold up and not blow for that much longer than a lower voltage rating(32v) fuse? Thereby blowing the protection circuitry. The fuse was very thin. Looked thinner inside than the 32v fuses.

The manual says nothing about a recommended fuse voltage rating. Only a rating for amps.

Maybe I'm in denial, but I would rather not spend $250 on the newer model if this radio was working a month ago when the previous owner derigged the boat. I don't see how a 500 mile tow could have changed anything. The switching of the poles is still speculation on my part. Wouldn't something else on the boat have blown if they were switched?

Anyone know of any other tests I can do to see if it can be resurrected before I trash it?

Thanks everybody!
Ben

[John Jones]

Amps are amps.  The voltage rating of the fuse is not critical.  The fuse voltage rating is more concerned with arcing when a fuse blows.

The switching of the poles is still speculation on my part. Wouldn't something else on the boat have blown if they were switched?

Only if they were turned on.  Some devices are not as sensitive as others.

The only other thing you can do is take it to a good technician and that's liable to cost the price of a new one.

[seagate]

I would think you could test it if in stalled by hooking up straght to a battery and trying to turn on after putting the right fuses  in.