Boat stereo question

[Sharpy]

Hey guy's, I'm trying to figure out how many amps my stereo is pulling so I can decide if I need to re configure my charging system. But using online conversion tables I've got to be missing something. Here's what I'm working with:

1 J.L. HD1200/1
1 J.L. HD750/1
2 J.L. HD600/4

Charging system is Honda 2000 coupled with a Cascade 75 AMP converter and 2 Interstate deep 27's and stock Merc Alternator. Using the online calc's (3150 Watts/12 Volts) I should be drawing 262.5 Amps. I know that's a max load scenerio, and I think I remember my draw being in the 45 amp range with a clamp on amp meter and volume set high. But Am I missing a step here?

Also, for the guys on here with big systems, how are you playing your sounds at high levels "all day" and not killing your batteries?

Thanks,
~Chris

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

A couple thoughts:

You are not running your stereo at full volume/max amp draw all the time, if ever.

If you watch what amperage you are pulling while running your stereo normally this becomes a simple math problem. Once you know the amp draw you can figure how many amp hours of battery you need to run your stereo "all day".

I have a 1000 watt system and can run it for 6 hours at a decent volume on a single 110 amp hour battery and it will still (barely) start my boat. I don't normally do that, but I just wanted to try it.

If you are pulling 45 amps, you will certainly need 2 or 3 high capacity batteries to run everything "all day" at that power level without recharging.

My battery would run your system for a couple hours at 45 amps, maybe a bit less.

 

[Bigbore500r]

What color is your wakesetter?

 

[HavaToon]

Direct from JL.

https://jlaudio.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/209635477-Selecting-the-Proper-Size-Power-Wire

 

[28Eliminator]

Chris

If you need a generator to run your sound system in your boat, your obviously spending too much time parked, and not enough time boating [emoji4][emoji23][emoji23]

With that, I blew one alternator trying to charge my 2 interstate group 27's when they were down. I isolated the 2 big batteries, and don't charge them on the boat if they get run down by the stereo. Just the engine battery. I plug it in and charge them off the maintainer over night if I run the stereo very much.

 

[ONE-A-DAY]

So you have a honda generator on your wakeboard boat?

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

Direct from JL.

https://jlaudio.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/209635477-Selecting-the-Proper-Size-Power-Wire

That's good info.

 

[rvrrun]

I've found, at sandbar and in the channel, my batteries last forever. I just need to be content listening to what everyone else is playing.

 

[wet hull]

Your system and mine are very similar. I have the Eu2000 and APS 75 as well with (2) costco group 27. Running JL Slash Series amps. Very power hungry. I have (2) 300/4, (1) 300/2 and (1)500/1. I can run at max volume all day as long as there is gas. Do you have fans cooling the amps and power supply? I have a CPU fan on each amp and same on power supply in addition to built in fan. I think your issue may be in the power supply. It only runs 75 amps at peak performance. Typically in the 50-60 amp range. If it gets hot it will scale back even further. Therefore not keeping up with your power draw. I can guarantee your system is draws less power then mine with those HD amps. Side note, I charge my batteries each night back at the house to make sure I always start fresh each day.

Hey guy's, I'm trying to figure out how many amps my stereo is pulling so I can decide if I need to re configure my charging system. But using online conversion tables I've got to be missing something. Here's what I'm working with:

1 J.L. HD1200/1
1 J.L. HD750/1
2 J.L. HD600/4

Charging system is Honda 2000 coupled with a Cascade 75 AMP converter and 2 Interstate deep 27's and stock Merc Alternator. Using the online calc's (3150 Watts/12 Volts) I should be drawing 262.5 Amps. I know that's a max load scenerio, and I think I remember my draw being in the 45 amp range with a clamp on amp meter and volume set high. But Am I missing a step here?

Also, for the guys on here with big systems, how are you playing your sounds at high levels "all day" and not killing your batteries?

Thanks,
~Chris

 

[Sharpy]

A couple thoughts:

You are not running your stereo at full volume/max amp draw all the time, if ever.

If you watch what amperage you are pulling while running your stereo normally this becomes a simple math problem. Once you know the amp draw you can figure how many amp hours of battery you need to run your stereo "all day".

I have a 1000 watt system and can run it for 6 hours at a decent volume on a single 110 amp hour battery and it will still (barely) start my boat. I don't normally do that, but I just wanted to try it.

If you are pulling 45 amps, you will certainly need 2 or 3 high capacity batteries to run everything "all day" at that power level without recharging.

My battery would run your system for a couple hours at 45 amps, maybe a bit less.

What batteries are you using? Mine will need to be replaced this season, which is what prompted my question.

 

[Sharpy]

Direct from JL.

https://jlaudio.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/209635477-Selecting-the-Proper-Size-Power-Wire

That's a great start, thank you!

 

[Sharpy]

Chris

If you need a generator to run your sound system in your boat, your obviously spending too much time parked, and not enough time boating [emoji4][emoji23][emoji23]

With that, I blew one alternator trying to charge my 2 interstate group 27's when they were down. I isolated the 2 big batteries, and don't charge them on the boat if they get run down by the stereo. Just the engine battery. I plug it in and charge them off the maintainer over night if I run the stereo very much.

Hey, I can't help it if my boat thinks it's a DCB! :-D

 

[Sharpy]

What color is your wakesetter?

So you have a honda generator on your wakeboard boat?

Hahaha, that's funny!

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

What batteries are you using? Mine will need to be replaced this season, which is what prompted my question.

Nothing special, just group 27 Duralast Dual Purpose marine batteries. I do throw them on the charger at the house after a day on the water so they are always topped up.

 

[Sharpy]

Your system and mine are very similar. I have the Eu2000 and APS 75 as well with (2) costco group 27. Running JL Slash Series amps. Very power hungry. I have (2) 300/4, (1) 300/2 and (1)500/1. I can run at max volume all day as long as there is gas. Do you have fans cooling the amps and power supply? I have a CPU fan on each amp and same on power supply in addition to built in fan. I think your issue may be in the power supply. It only runs 75 amps at peak performance. Typically in the 50-60 amp range. If it gets hot it will scale back even further. Therefore not keeping up with your power draw. I can guarantee your system is draws less power then mine with those HD amps. Side note, I charge my batteries each night back at the house to make sure I always start fresh each day.

Great info, I replaced 4 Slash amps (1000.1,500.1 and (2) 300.4) with the HD's. I've wondered the same thing about the APS not keeping up, and thought about jumping to the 100 because I've started having issues the last year or so. Maybe the batteries are just done. I had squirrel fans on each amp but as they failed I just unplugged them and just got lazy and didn't replaced them.

 

[HavaToon]

Nothing special, just group 27 Duralast Dual Purpose marine batteries. I do throw them on the charger at the house after a day on the water so they are always topped up.

You should look at running an Odyssey 2150 as your isolated stereo battery and a separate battery for starting the motor/boat.

In my last boat I had class D amps with 2400 watts running off of 2 2150's ran in parallel (one big battery) and they were only charged by the onboard charger at night. I ran isolated starting batteries for both outboards. Never once did I run out of battery no matter how loud and long I played the stereo.

The boat before that had class a/b amps with 1350 watts running off of 3 isolated optima blue tops. I could kill those batteries in 2-4 hours. Added a Cascade APS 100 and a honda 2000 and could run as long as I had gas or the amps overheated (even with cooling fans on each amp).

Between the two setups I would choose the batteries over the generator every time.

 

[Sharpy]

Nothing special, just group 27 Duralast Dual Purpose marine batteries. I do throw them on the charger at the house after a day on the water so they are always topped up.

I need to be better at charging at night when I can. Most of our boating is out for a day locally and back to storage. Storage company won't plug me in because of insurance reasons.

 

[HavaToon]

Great info, I replaced 4 Slash amps (1000.1,500.1 and (2) 300.4) with the HD's. I've wondered the same thing about the APS not keeping up, and thought about jumping to the 100 because I've started having issues the last year or so. Maybe the batteries are just done. I had squirrel fans on each amp but as they failed I just unplugged them and just got lazy and didn't replaced them.

The JL HD amps don't need fans at all, the slash amps absolutely did. Ditch the fans, cascade, and Honda. Replace with high quality batteries isolated and onboard charger.

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

You should look at running an Odyssey 2150 as your isolated stereo battery and a separate battery for starting the motor/boat.

In my last boat I had class D amps with 2400 watts running off of 2 2150's ran in parallel (one big battery) and they were only charged by the onboard charger at night. I ran isolated starting batteries for both outboards. Never once did I run out of battery no matter how loud and long I played the stereo.

The boat before that had class a/b amps with 1350 watts running off of 3 isolated optima blue tops. I could kill those batteries in 2-4 hours. Added a Cascade APS 100 and a honda 2000 and could run as long as I had gas or the amps overheated (even with cooling fans on each amp).

Between the two setups I would choose the batteries over the generator every time.

I have a single 5 channel class D 1000 watt amp. I could go with a single odyssey and then have a dedicated starting battery. My charger is a dual bank, so that should work ok to charge them up. I have an Odyssey in my race car, they are good batteries, but they do not like being drained.

Ideally I'd like to keep just 2 batteries, which is why I didn't go nuts with the stereo. To date I have not ran down the battery I have.

 

[rrrr]

With that, I blew one alternator trying to charge my 2 interstate group 27's when they were down. I isolated the 2 big batteries, and don't charge them on the boat if they get run down by the stereo. Just the engine battery. I plug it in and charge them off the maintainer over night if I run the stereo very much.

You shouldn't use a maintainer on batteries that have been discharged more than 10%. One amp or one half amp charge won't properly reverse the chemical reaction that took place while the batteries were being discharged. You will end up with sulfated plates and a diminished capacity which is cumalitive.

An automatic charger with a minimum of 10 amps peak output should be used overnight.

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

I need to be better at charging at night when I can. Most of our boating is out for a day locally and back to storage. Storage company won't plug me in because of insurance reasons.

I have this charger. It is a portable dual bank 5 amp charger/maintainer. You can also double up the banks and make it a single 10 amp if needed. I got this because it gives me more flexibility than an onboard charger, but those are great too.


Minn Kota MK-210P Portable Charger (2 Bank x 5 Amps) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000MN7EZY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_XOaLyb5HM8FEN

 

[Cole Trickle]

Man I don't miss those days...

Old boat had 2 zapco 500's and 2 Jl slash 300.4 and it would kill the 2 stand alone odyssey 1700's in a couple hours....pain in the butt and heat was always an issue with those Jl's even with 3 fans.

Last two systems were a single alpine pdxv9 with two blue top optimal and I have never killed a single battery.

Granted I'm not as loud but the lack of headache has been nice.[emoji41][emoji106]

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

You shouldn't use a maintainer on batteries that have been discharged more than 10%. One amp or one half amp charge won't properly reverse the chemical reaction that took place while the batteries were being discharged. You will end up with sulfated plates and a diminished capacity which is cumalitive.

An automatic charger with a minimum of 10 amps peak output should be used overnight.

If I have used one battery significantly for the stereo on the water I will switch to the starting battery, start the boat, and then switch to ALL so the stereo battery gets some charging, then put both on the charger and charge both batteries when I get home.

 

[HavaToon]

I have a single 5 channel class D 1000 watt amp. I could go with a single odyssey and then have a dedicated starting battery. My charger is a dual bank, so that should work ok to charge them up. I have an Odyssey in my race car, they are good batteries, but they do not like being drained.

Ideally I'd like to keep just 2 batteries, which is why I didn't go nuts with the stereo. To date I have not ran down the battery I have.

The Odyssey Extreme series (2150) can handle 400 charge-discharge cycles to 80% depth of discharge.

And for a fun comparison a single 2150 is about the equivalent to 3 optima blue tops on paper but will out preform the optimas all day every day.

Another great stereo battery is XS or Kinetik. I prefer the Odyssey simply because they are easier to find.

 

[28Eliminator]

You shouldn't use a maintainer on batteries that have been discharged more than 10%. One amp or one half amp charge won't properly reverse the chemical reaction that took place while the batteries were being discharged. You will end up with sulfated plates and a diminished capacity which is cumalitive.

An automatic charger with a minimum of 10 amps peak output should be used overnight.

This is what I have on the boat. It will charge/maintain all 3 batteries overnight. Been doing a perfect job for 5 years now[emoji106]

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

The Odyssey Extreme series (2150) can handle 400 charge-discharge cycles to 80% depth of discharge.

And for a fun comparison a single 2150 is about the equivalent to 3 optima blue tops on paper but will out preform the optimas all day every day.

Another great stereo battery is XS or Kinetik. I prefer the Odyssey simply because they are easier to find.

Thanks, I did t know that the Extreme line was that robust.

I just have a small PC680 in my car.

 

[YZFRider]

I have been using XS power bats for about 3 years now and am amazed with their capacity. I charge batteries each night and have about 1800 watts. After a day of use, or 5 hours of music. I am still reading 14.2 volts on my xs3000.

 

[McKay]

I run two of the Odyssey PC1800-FT in my boat. Love them. (They are over double the amp hour capacity of the 2150)

 

[rrrr]

This is what I have on the boat. It will charge/maintain all 3 batteries overnight. Been doing a perfect job for 5 years now[emoji106]

That's perfect. I had a dual 40 amp on my boat (which I sold in late 2015), and it was nice to just plug it in and walk away.

 

[Sharpy]

I run two of the Odyssey PC1800-FT in my boat. Love them. (They are over double the amp hour capacity of the 2150)

Holy cow, that thing is a monster! How do you have those mounted?

 

[Sharpy]

The Odyssey Extreme series (2150) can handle 400 charge-discharge cycles to 80% depth of discharge.

And for a fun comparison a single 2150 is about the equivalent to 3 optima blue tops on paper but will out preform the optimas all day every day.

Another great stereo battery is XS or Kinetik. I prefer the Odyssey simply because they are easier to find.

Thanks for the help. I think I'm leaning to the XS, but going to sit on this for a few weeks to be sure.

 

[HavaToon]

I run two of the Odyssey PC1800-FT in my boat. Love them. (They are over double the amp hour capacity of the 2150)

The 1800's are amazing but they are incredibly heavy. Weighing in at just under two 2150's.

 

[McKay]

Holy cow, that thing is a monster! How do you have those mounted?

Made a nice stainless polished bracket for it. Fit in the same spot down low in front of my motor in my heat. Will look for a pic.

 

[headshothills]

Hey guy's, I'm trying to figure out how many amps my stereo is pulling so I can decide if I need to re configure my charging system. But using online conversion tables I've got to be missing something. Here's what I'm working with:

1 J.L. HD1200/1
1 J.L. HD750/1
2 J.L. HD600/4

Charging system is Honda 2000 coupled with a Cascade 75 AMP converter and 2 Interstate deep 27's and stock Merc Alternator. Using the online calc's (3150 Watts/12 Volts) I should be drawing 262.5 Amps. I know that's a max load scenerio, and I think I remember my draw being in the 45 amp range with a clamp on amp meter and volume set high. But Am I missing a step here?

Also, for the guys on here with big systems, how are you playing your sounds at high levels "all day" and not killing your batteries?

Thanks,
~Chris

Hey Sharpy,

I will tell you from experience, running a shit ton of batteries sucks, my DCB had 2x PC1500's and 4x PC2150's, tons of wiring, and pushing 3600 watts Class D after upgraded from the old school Fosgate 2500watt amps. Yah, I was able to run about all weekend without charging, what what a friggin drag for all the weight...

The new boat will have a similar setup, so you are on the right path. If you have seen Bill Auberlen's 32 Spectre and the insane Zappco sound system he runs, I will tell you each of his 18" subs is 2500w. He is using the same setup, Honda 2000 and 75a converter/charger. His old Spectre was tied in with 6 regular Optima's, dont know what he has in his monster setup now, but I have picked his brain on quite a few things for my setup.

Save yourself a ton of coin and get the IOTA 75a converter/charger from Norther Arizona Wind and Sun SDC1-120-12-75 - Its the same as the Cascade, and its on sale for $149. They sell to Cascade and Cascade re-brand's it, adds 300 bucks to the price and you think you are getting something magical... You're NOT!! the SDC is the newer version, also get the IOTA Amp Life module for another 20 bucks and that will act as a Smart Controller for charging. Shipping is super quick, I got mine in 2 days...

I will be running 3x WetSounds Sinister SD2 amps, and possibly a DD Audio Amp and subs if I add them, we will see how 8x REV8's and 4x Rev10's keep me satisfied, Im being told I will not need subs with this setup.. HAHA but if we do, SPL2K will be on point for enclosure, subs, and amp config... These will be tied into 2x 31 Series Batts, dont know if I will stick with Northstar or Odyssey, or even XS. I currently have 1 Northstar 31 AGM as a new extra left over from my old boat that is collecting dust, but trying to find a decent looking compatible billet hold down for this seems to be the challenge, so I might end up going back to Odyssey or even XS..

 

[DWC]

Hey Sharpy,

I will tell you from experience, running a shit ton of batteries sucks, my DCB had 2x PC1500's and 4x PC2150's, tons of wiring, and pushing 3600 watts Class D after upgraded from the old school Fosgate 2500watt amps. Yah, I was able to run about all weekend without charging, what what a friggin drag for all the weight...

The new boat will have a similar setup, so you are on the right path. If you have seen Bill Auberlen's 32 Spectre and the insane Zappco sound system he runs, I will tell you each of his 18" subs is 2500w. He is using the same setup, Honda 2000 and 75a converter/charger. His old Spectre was tied in with 6 regular Optima's, dont know what he has in his monster setup now, but I have picked his brain on quite a few things for my setup.

Save yourself a ton of coin and get the IOTA 75a converter/charger from Norther Arizona Wind and Sun SDC1-120-12-75 - Its the same as the Cascade, and its on sale for $149. They sell to Cascade and Cascade re-brand's it, adds 300 bucks to the price and you think you are getting something magical... You're NOT!! the SDC is the newer version, also get the IOTA Amp Life module for another 20 bucks and that will act as a Smart Controller for charging. Shipping is super quick, I got mine in 2 days...

I will be running 3x WetSounds Sinister SD2 amps, and possibly a DD Audio Amp and subs if I add them, we will see how 8x REV8's and 4x Rev10's keep me satisfied, Im being told I will not need subs with this setup.. HAHA but if we do, SPL2K will be on point for enclosure, subs, and amp config... These will be tied into 2x 31 Series Batts, dont know if I will stick with Northstar or Odyssey, or even XS. I currently have 1 Northstar 31 AGM as a new extra left over from my old boat that is collecting dust, but trying to find a decent looking compatible billet hold down for this seems to be the challenge, so I might end up going back to Odyssey or even XS..

Please post pics of the wet sounds install when it's done. One wet sounds pro485 is loud (and clear) as hell. Can't imagine all that firepower.

 

[headshothills]

Please post pics of the wet sounds install when it's done. One wet sounds pro485 is loud (and clear) as hell. Can't imagine all that firepower.

Here's a couple from the progress