Installing a radio on my boat

[Covey]

I just bought a new marine stereo for my boat and was wondering how I should wire the radio to the battery. Can I just wire it directly to the cranking battery or do I need to wire it to a toggle switch? I'm pretty sure my boat has no open switches on it. Will it draw my battery down if I don't have it on a toggle switch, even if it's turned off?

[marine_man]

If your radio has a memory on it for a clock or channel presets it will draw the battery down over time even with the radio off. Not a huge deal unless

your boat sits without use for a couple weeks at a time.

marine_man

[JosMN]

I put one in my boat directly off the cranking battery. When the radio is off, the alumination light stays on, but has never ran down my battery. Even sitting for 2 weeks. Have it on all the time while trolling with my bow up front and have never had it run down the cranking battery either.

[solbes]

I've heard it both ways. The memory and illumination will draw a small amount of current which may affect your battery capacity if it sits for 2-3 weeks unused. Some people have had issues in the past. I installed mine off an unused fuse that is connected to my master power switch. Yeah I lose memory, but I don't have to worry about battery drain either.

You could always add another switch and install it in a location that's not highly visible if you don't want to look at it (side or underneath console).

[SkunkedAgain]

I read all of the stuff about battery drain and decided that, even though it pains me to admit it, my boat can sit idle up to a month in the summer! Therefore, I wired power from the starting battery but ran it to a toggle switch. That way I can turn off the main radio power when I get home. It takes all of 10 seconds to reprogram the one or two radio stations when I get back in the boat.