2012 Stereo Re-Build...

It seems every year I rebuild the stereo in my Outback, and this year is certainly no exception.

On the list this of things I am doing this year are:

• Build dual battery box (Starboard) & Relocate batteries to where port sub current resides (directly behind bow seat back)
• Relocate port side sub to under drivers dash / build dual sub box for helm (2x Kicker L7 10")
• Build new amp rack for Exile Harpoon, Xi800.4, and Kicker 1000.1
• Instal Exile XM9 tower speakers
• Relocate head unit into glove box (currently mounted under glove box)

There are a few other things I am going to do like adding a relay and larger gauge wire for my in-boat LEDs, install the 2 additional Newty transom LED's I scouped up last fall, and I'm sure more interior LED's.


At any rate, I jumped into the battery box this afternoon. I started by finding a local source for King Starboard and picked up 1/4 sheet (24"x48") of black 3/4". I want to avoid using wood for anything, and since Starboard is what seems to be used for all of the factory panels, I figured it would be perfect for this.

First things first, I needed to devise a plan; at $16/sq ft I didn't want to waste any material!
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....5&d=1329947750

The start of my box - I used a chalk line to mark my first cut,then went to it with the table saw (I needed 12" and the my tablesaw gate only goes to 11", so I had to free-ball it):
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....6&d=1329947752

Cut in half, came out pretty clean;
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....7&d=1329947753

All the cuts made and a mock-up of the box. Basically the lid will sit flush with the 2 longer sides, and on top of the 2 shorter sides. I'm going to use a small square of scrap on the inside of the lid on each end to keep it from sliding back and forth, and some stainless steel latches to hold it in place. I'll cut vents into the sides as well as holes for the wires once I get everything laid out.
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....4&d=1329947749

I need to pick up some stainless steel screws so I can get it together, I thought I had some but alas they weren't stainless.

Overall the Starboard is pretty easy to work with - I cut it with the same blade I use for MDF and it seemed to do fine, maybe a little harsh, but for this where finished edges don't really matter I'm not worried about it. I'll likely use a router on all of the edges to finish it off, but ideally this will never be seen anyway, as it will be mounted behind the amp rack in the observer side storage compartment.

Ian, looks like some nice mods but you gotta be careful using a table saw while free-balling.

u might wanna wear a cup :)
can't wait to see the progress...........

I'm excited to see how this goes. Please keep us updated with pictures. Thanks, Tom

Looking good Ian, i assume your putting a cover over your battery box or is this a door on the side to make it easier to slide the batteries in and out?

I personally would build a door to the access it from the side.

The top piece will be the door.

I'm going to run a 1/0 plug out of the start battery to use for jumping and such, other than that I dont think I need quick access to the batteries.

Cheesedip.

Ian, I can't wait to see how this whole thing goes... as I need to re-tool my sad system in the worst way. I am hoping this inspires me to get it done. I do see a major flaw in your design though... not one beer in any of those pics??? Good luck with that!

Attachment 13482

Ahh. Looks just like a first kiss-- and it is -- every time. Gotta love beer.

^^^ LMFAO I didn't even think of it that way, but you are sooo right!

I ordered a bunch of 1/2" Starboard, for the top and bottom of the battery box, and also to build the amp rack. Hopefully I can pick it up tomorrow so I can get moving on these projects. I intend to get the amps all mounted, wired, and looking good in my living room, then I can put the whole board into the boat, plug in the speaker wires and RCAs, hook up the batteries, and be good to go.

I finished up the battery box, and started to play around with the layout of the amp rack. I really need to get to the boat and measure what kind of room I have to work with, this is all really just playing at this point.

I am not going to use hinges, rather I will get a strap or some stainless clamps to hold the lid down - here you can see the lid with the little blocks to keep it from sliding around:
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....2&d=1330537035
I also put some runners inside to keep the smaller battery from moving.


Battery box with the lid in place and holes drilled for wires:
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....1&d=1330537033

Playing around with what will become the amp rack:
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....0&d=1330537032

I am going to pedestal mount each amp to accommodate air flow and cooling, not sure if I'll leave it raw Starboard or wrap in vinyl or carpet. This board is 24" high by 36" wide, which I think will be too large for my Outback (previous was 24"x24"), but we'll see. Looking at this makes me kind of mental, the Kicker ZX1000.1 stands out like a sore thumb next to those nice matching Exile amps. Maybe I'll tuck the 1000.1 behind the side cushion or something.

Ian, looking great. Wish I had somewhere near me to purchase the black plastic board. One thing you might want to think about battery cases need to vent and if the cables are about the same size of the holes in the side you may want to make some type of vent on the case.

The box its self is not really sealed up tight, but I think I will likely put a vent hole on the opposite side as well. I am going to wait 'till I have it in the boat to determine placement of the vent - I want it out if sight, but also not blocked by anything.

I also think I am going to use a router to round all of the edges - I need to stop at HomeDepot and pick up a bit, I couldn't find it last night when I was tinkering.

Smart man rounding off those sharp edges.

Did you consider mounting the kicker in between the exiles, then put your distro blocks either down low or up high? I personally like things balanced and symmetrical.

Or possibly stack the Exiles horizontally on one side, the Kicker vertical on the other?

Its looking great so far. Lots of thought. Lots of effort.
I do have a question about the redundant fusing when the amplifiers already have fuses in the chassis? That's extra points of contact and extra resistance. Its just odd when the master fuse or breaker should trip before the short lengths of 4-gauge could be harmful if shorted. And certainly a reduction in wire gauge coupled with a protracted distance would normally necessitate independent fusing. But that is a very very short extension. Contrastly its critically important to the safety of occupants and for the boat to have a master fuse or breaker within a few inches of the battery or battery switch supply. That would be triple fusing.

David
Earmark Marine

Quote:

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Originally Posted by harmsway

Ian, looking great. Wish I had somewhere near me to purchase the black plastic board. One thing you might want to think about battery cases need to vent and if the cables are about the same size of the holes in the side you may want to make some type of vent on the case.

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Im in the Charlotte are and have a plastics guy here in town that does some work for me. Im sure he could give you an out the door price on the raw materials. He stocks sheets and rolls as well as plexi and acrylic.

PM me if you want the name and number.

Ian pull the top cover off of the kicker and paint it to match. I'm pretty sure that kicker has some vinyl wraps for the amps too.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by EarmarkMarine

Its looking great so far. Lots of thought. Lots of effort.
I do have a question about the redundant fusing when the amplifiers already have fuses in the chassis? That's extra points of contact and extra resistance. Its just odd when the master fuse or breaker should trip before the short lengths of 4-gauge could be harmful if shorted. And certainly a reduction in wire gauge coupled with a protracted distance would normally necessitate independent fusing. But that is a very very short extension. Contrastly its critically important to the safety of occupants and for the boat to have a master fuse or breaker within a few inches of the battery or battery switch supply. That would be triple fusing.

David
Earmark Marine

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Ironically enough, none of my amps are fused at the moment, I just bought the fused distro because it looked cool and I needed to split rather than connecting directly to the battery, lol.

Cheesedip.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by New Guy

Ian pull the top cover off of the kicker and paint it to match. I'm pretty sure that kicker has some vinyl wraps for the amps too.

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At some point I'll just buy the matching Exile sub amp.

Cheesedip.

Oftentimes with the compound contour of the hull you have a lot of available depth behind some portion of the amp panel. So, if you get too tight on space you can create a window behind one of the amplifiers and place distribution and related parts on a sub panel behind the window. It only needs to be spaced off the back of the amplifier panel enough to pass through the heavier supply cables.

David
Earmark Marine

I moved the boat from my dads garage (about 40 minutes from my house) to a buddies heated warehouse about 10 minutes from my house to allow me to get an early start on my stereo rebuild.

Last night I got down and dirty with pulling the remainder of the old equipment out, as well as re-routing a bunch of wiring and such. It seems that since I built the stereo in stages, there was not much organization to the wiring (IE: a wire added here, another there) so I decided to pull it all out and start from scratch.

The rats nest:
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....1&d=1331054993
^^This picture makes it look much worse than it was when things were operational, lol. This is after I removed many of the zip ties and tape that had the wiring organized.

While going through everything I found a little pass through that allows me to run wires from 1 side to the other without routing through the bow! This is huge, as I previously had a huge harness going all the way around. Once I'm finished pulling the wires through I will tie everything up neatly;
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....0&d=1331054992

The new battery box it its almost new location - I am going to cut that brace on the right out so the box can sit flush against the wall. The brace does not connect to (or even touch) the floor, so I can't see why lobbing a few inches off the bottom would hurt. I guess I'll find out;
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....3&d=1331054996

Her new home for the next month or two;
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....2&d=1331054994

Putting my label maker to use!
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....4&d=1331056191


And a shot of the rig - this is the first time I've towed with the Jeep since lowering it - it actually pulled really well. I still need to put air bags in the rear to keep it from bottoming out on big bumps;
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....5&d=1331056192

Nice Jeep!

Wiring looks like a nightmare, haha. That is tedious work.

Great to have a friend with a heated warehouse!

Looking good, Ian.

The journey is half the fun (although my elbows don't agree with that sentiment).

I wonder if we all have that pass through... I have wires strung around my bow as we speak.

I bet you do - on my boat I found it because it is how the factory runs +/- from the battery to the fuse box under the dash. I just tied 2 18awg lines to the ring terminal, pulled it through, left one 18awg in the tunnel, and pulled the power wire back through. Then I used the other 18awg to tie my other wires to and pull back through. Bingo Bango.

I actually enjoy playing with the wiring, its oddly rewarding.

Those pics bring back awful memories!!

Glad it's you and not me this time! Lookin great so far!

[QUOTE=chawk610;169644]I wonder if we all have that pass through... QUOTE]

[QUOTE=ian ashton;169646]I bet you do -QUOTE]

I believe the Outbacks do, I strung my wire the same way for my 2nd amp under the helm. Other models may differ because the Outbacks dont have the storage in the floor.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dusty2221

Glad it's you and not me this time!

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It'll be you soon. Spring is just a few days away & KG is loooong way away from shootin' tunes across the H2O.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wolfeman131

It'll be you soon. Spring is just a few days away & KG is loooong way away from shootin' tunes across the H2O.

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... likes this

The LSV has a good one from behind the observer's seat into the ski locker, along the "ski locker ceiling" if you will, then there's a tube attached to the ceiling in there just ahead of the ski locker opening and you can go right back from there to the hump below the driver's feet. A lot easier than around the bow under the seats. Very easy to reach and to fish through too.

If only this thread existed 4 years ago when I initially wired it! :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kaneboats

The LSV has a good one from behind the observer's seat into the ski locker, along the "ski locker ceiling" if you will, then there's a tube attached to the ceiling in there just ahead of the ski locker opening and you can go right back from there to the hump below the driver's feet. A lot easier than around the bow under the seats. Very easy to reach and to fish through too.

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Yea what he said!lol

The brace is not an up and down structural device but a side brace. Its there to help add rigidity to the fiber glass making the passenger dash so when you use the walk threw that section isnt weak and gets broken. I would think you can trim some of it down but if you get to trimming to much i would cut some alluminum angle bar and screw it in place to keep the structure tight.

Looking good mang

i have 4 sets of RCAs plus the power wires for my WS420 plus my subwoofer speaker wire all jammed into that secret tunnel, i think i used all the space in mine up

I think that's exactly what's in mine too.

I got a few packages in the mail today - a bunch of 8awg power and ground that I intend to use to power my LED's and Transom LEDs - I experienced a bit of dimming with the shared 12awg when everything was on, so I figured I will re-run the main lines and use a relay to power everything.

The second package was a Tantrum Tow Ropes wireless speed controller! I saw the manufacturers post on here (I think it got deleted?) and then stumbled across an eBay auction from them with an opening bid at $.99 and no reserve - I put in a max bid of ~$100 and ended up snagging it for a little less than that shipped! Not bad, and I figure at that price its well worth being the "test dummy" - I'll be sure to post a separate opinion thread once I get a chance to play with it.

Whats in the box:
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....2&d=1331143244
It comes with the receiver, remote, and an arm-band that holds the remote. I think I'll probably hook up a carabiner or something to the remote and attach it to the handle, rather than my body, but I guess I'll have to play around and see what is easiest.

To give you an idea of the size of the remote;
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....1&d=1331143243

Interesting let us know how that works. I don't know what handle you have but keep in mind that when you fall it will be slapping in the water the whole time. I don't think I would trust a carabiner. Maybe solid mount it to the handle.