Quick Electrical Question

[Uncle Joe]

I have my AM/FM radio wired into a secondary breaker/switch panel in my Offshore. Every so often the radio will shut itself off....but the switch on the panel stays lit. The radio is in a cover...inside the cabin so I know it is not getting wet. Does anybody know why this might happen? Could it be getting overheated?
Thanks!

 

[Capt Bill]

All connection points of wiring to all electronics need to be clean and tight. If there is a poor connection, hot or ground, anywhere along the way, voltage to the radio could drop, even momentarily, enough to cause it to shut down. But yes, there could be an intermittent component in the radio, that is overheating, and causing the problem.

Just go over all the connection points, and that includes removing the radio's fuse(s), cleaning them and checking that the fuse holders internally, are clean and bright.

 

[PointedRose]

Agree might be a loose connector. Radios also often have a direct feed to the battery so when the switch is off, the station memory remains connected to the battery, so maybe that’s the backlight feed too

 

[seasick]

The switch backlight feed is completely separate form the radio power . Therefore if the light is on, the power to the switch is OK but that's about all you can assume. The connection from the switch to the radio could be intermittent as could the ground connection to the radio which is not the same ground as the switch panel back lighting. If there is a direct battery feed for the memory it would not have anything to do with the radio shutting off.
The only sure way to test is to check for both ground and 12v at the radio when the problem occurs and then work backwards if power is bad. As mentioned, check all connections and inline fuse holders.
Do you know if the normal current draw of the radio is less than the breaker on the switch. I assume each switch has a circuit breaker. If the draw is too high for the breaker, the breaker will pop after a while of use and then reset after it cools down.

 

[Legend]

My radio runs through the boat fuse panel and it also has in inline fuse which is closer to the radio. Could be some corrosion on that. To access mine you need to drop the radio box cover.

 

[Uncle Joe]

Agree might be a loose connector. Radios also often have a direct feed to the battery so when the switch is off, the station memory remains connected to the battery, so maybe that’s the backlight feed too

The unit did have a hot line for the memory that was supposed to be a home run to the battery.....I tied it in to the switch as I didn't want to drag another wire. It has worked fine this way for 3 years....I just have to tune it each time I use it....mostly I Bluetooth Spotify through my phone anyway.

 

[SkunkBoat]

when I bought mine it had a stereo in a weatherproof box that had a door. We found that closing the door sometimes turned the radio on or off..depending
I fixed it by removing it and throwing it away. I enjoyed the quiet for a few years thru my brother's complaints about how we need to hear some Molly Hatchet.

I just bought a JBL bluetooth speaker so he can listen to stuff on my iphone. He doesn't have music on his phone... he has cassette tapes.
The first time using it...beautiful quiet pre-dawn I put on Hotel California. By the time it played Life in the Fast Lane he said..."thats kinda loud"...
I'm never taking it on the boat again

 

[Uncle Joe]

when I bought mine it had a stereo in a weatherproof box that had a door. We found that closing the door sometimes turned the radio on or off..depending
I fixed it by removing it and throwing it away. I enjoyed the quiet for a few years thru my brother's complaints about how we need to hear some Molly Hatchet.

I just bought a JBL bluetooth speaker so he can listen to stuff on my iphone. He doesn't have music on his phone... he has cassette tapes.
The first time using it...beautiful quiet pre-dawn I put on Hotel California. By the time it played Life in the Fast Lane he said..."thats kinda loud"...
I'm never taking it on the boat again

LOL!! I can deal with Flirting With Disaster, but after that......