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Cockpit Speaker's Not Working

djstewydjstewy Member Posts: 37 ✭✭
in Electrical Discussions

Hi All,

So I just picked up my new (to me) 2007 Rinker 280 Express Cruiser from the dealer yesterday and all and all my friends and I had a great cruise back to our home port in Olympia, WA from Tacoma.  The only issue I had is my cockpit speakers stopped working entirely during the cruise.  I was blasting the speakers pretty good to test them out, but I'm not 100% sure when they stopped working, I just noticed no audio when we got back to port.  The cabin speakers are still working just fine.

Went back down to the boat today with my buddy and we ran through everything we knew to check.  Made sure the balance or fade wasn't messed up on the stereo deck.  We accessed the back of the unit and the cabling to check all the fuses which were all still intact.  I also looked at the built in fuses below the helm and back at the battery switch and nothing was popped.  Anything I might be missing that could explain the lack of audio out of the four speakers up top?

Thanks!

Derek

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    Cableguy GregCableguy Greg Member Posts: 5,011 ✭✭✭✭✭

    The amp is in the cabinet behind the TV. Check the fuses at the amp and make sure it turns on. If it is a Clarion amp, you will see a blue light on the side that is towards the front of the boat. There should be 1 or 2 fuses on the amp itself. The other thing to look at are the speakers themselves. On my 2008, they were all dry rotted. I ended up replacing the four cockpit speakers with Alpine's.

    2008 280 Express Cruiser, 6.2MPI, B3, Pittsburgh, PA "Blue Ayes"
    Go Steelers!!!
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    AustinAustin Member Posts: 16 ✭✭

    I have the same boat and have also lost cockpit speakers, I have check the amp power and seem to have 2volts, i have checked all fuses on the amp and back by the battery switch. I will let you know if i make progress. I emailed Randy Rinker and he sent me the electrical Diagram of the Boat, I hope that help find the problem. Good Luck :)

    2007 Rinker 280 EC , Volvo Penta GI-H , Generator

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    djstewydjstewy Member Posts: 37 ✭✭

    Yeah, I have no blue light on the amp at all to indicate power.  I forgot to bring down my multimeter to test the power going into the unit.  Am I right in understanding that as long as you have your ignition switched to ACC it should power up?  The couple times I played with it when it was working I couldn't remember if you had to switch anything on for it to power up.

    Derek

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    AustinAustin Member Posts: 16 ✭✭

    I believe you are correct.

    2007 Rinker 280 EC , Volvo Penta GI-H , Generator

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    AustinAustin Member Posts: 16 ✭✭

    I also have no blue light, multimeter showed 2volts. Maybe a bad fuse? still not sure yet.

    2007 Rinker 280 EC , Volvo Penta GI-H , Generator

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    djstewydjstewy Member Posts: 37 ✭✭
    Well power doesn't seem to be the issue, I tested it out and I do have voltage and the stereo is sending the turn on signal as the blue light is blinking on the amp when I have the stereo turned on.  My thought now is it is either an issue with the RCA audio feed coming out the back of the stereo to the amp or something in the amp is shot.  Since I'm not getting anything out of all four speakers up top, I don't think it would be anything speaker related since they each of their own termination on the amp.

    I'm going to bring down a set of PC speakers and hook them up to the stereo output tonight to confirm it's pumping music out.  If it is, then I know something in the amp is fried.
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    Cableguy GregCableguy Greg Member Posts: 5,011 ✭✭✭✭✭

    The blue light on the amp should be solid blue, not blinking. It sounds like a bad amp to me.

    2008 280 Express Cruiser, 6.2MPI, B3, Pittsburgh, PA "Blue Ayes"
    Go Steelers!!!
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    djstewydjstewy Member Posts: 37 ✭✭

    Agreed, I'm going to head down to the marina on lunch today so I can rip it out and drop it off at the repair shop.  Of course they don't make this model anymore so if I switched amps I'd have to rewire/splice stuff to make it reach.

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    djstewydjstewy Member Posts: 37 ✭✭

    Been on vacation so it's taken awhile to get this one figured out. Got a call from the stereo repair place and they told me the amp was working great. $30 down the drain in diagnosis, but better than $150 on a new amp I suppose.

    Took it back down to the boat to hook it back up and troubleshoot further. Connected up the power, ground, and remote power, and suddenly I had that solid blue light. Connected individually each speaker up top and they started working when I connected them.

    So short of some random cable that was slightly lose or the amp needing to be completely disconnected from power to reset, I have no idea what the issue was. Stereo guy told me I did everything he would have tried before ripping the amp out and taking it to him.

    I'm going to chalk this one up boat gremlins, just wanted to update everyone. *shrug*

    Derek

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    Capt RonCapt Ron Member Posts: 217 ✭✭✭

    Probably just a bad connection that cleared up after removing and replacing the unit.

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    StodgeStodge Member Posts: 2,738 ✭✭✭✭

    I vote for bad ground.

    2002 FV 342 on Lake St. Clair - Past Commodore SHC - Vessel Examiner USCGAUX

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    midwestemidweste Member Posts: 135 ✭✭

    +1 Stodge - bad ground

    2000 180 Bowrider, 135hp 3.0L Merc, 2.00 Alpha One Gen 2 OD, 14.5 x 19P prop

       Regular weekender, trailer stored indoors, Southern Ohio  

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    raybo3raybo3 Administrator Posts: 5,458 admin

    Now that's an oxymoron "grounds". There really is such thing as a dc ground. Its a negative not ground. Ground for a boat........ is really bad...lol 

    2002 342 Fiesta Vee PC Point Of Pines YC Revere MA. popyc.org     raybo3@live.com
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    djstewydjstewy Member Posts: 37 ✭✭

    That was my guess as well after reading up a bit more on it.  Was nice sitting up top listening to some music out on the water this weekend. :smile: 

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