Summation of stereo and electrical upgrades this season. '08 MC X2

Copied Links from Photobucket and the order is completely messed up. Sorry.

From the winter project into the summer, I overhauled the stereo and electrical system for the most part.

Spent a lot of time doing all this and learned a lot. If anyone has any questions just ask!

Boat is a 2008 MC X2




Backside of four new wet sounds REV 10 with the swivel clamp connectors




put a phone mount in so I can pull up avionics while driving in some new areas. incorporates charging cable into it. Works pretty well. Very sturdy. 5 bucks on eBay


I completely rewired the tower with Knucoceptz 12 gauge wiring. I forget what the name of this wire is called but its the oxygen free copper one. Also wired in Neutrik speakon connectors for folding the tower down.



Here they are connected up!


I used a volt meter to test to find which wire on the fuel pump (I think) was the ignition activated wire. So there would only be power to it when the key is in the on position. (or the boat is running) See the next caption for the reasoning.


I took the wire tapped into the ignition wire and put a relay in the small ground wire that powers the Voltage sensing relay MC puts in there boats. Since I have an AGM system the relay will sometimes not open when it should. Since the resting voltage of AGM batteries is higher than that of lead acid batteries. This way, if the key is off the batteries are separated no matter what. When the key is on the VSR allows the batteries to combine for charging off the alternator. I want them completely separated without a doubt when on shore since I have separate chargers wired in for the stereo bank and starting battery (see later pics). You may be wondering how do I get the stereo to turn on if the key is off (separating the batteries). I took the breaker panel off under the steering wheel and routed the stereo wires to the seat heat breaker. This way the stereo can turn on whether the key is turned on or not. I don't have the seat heater option so this was fine for me. Only catch is you have to remember to turn the stereo off manually or it will stay on. Unless you switch the battery switch to the off position. (I'm talking about the switch from the factory that can combine the batteries, turn on, and turn off)


This is an XS Power D1200 battery used as the boats starting battery. I shorted the boat's starting battery cables and rerouted them to here to make more room for the stereo bank. The difference in this battery is that its supposed to be better for cranking (D series) than the XP series I have for the stereo bank (made for supplemental power). The charger you can see in the picture is velcroed up on into the side wall. It is a Pro Mariner ProSport 6 on AGM mode.


I replaced all the in boat speakers with the same JL audio component system that came stock in the boat. Just this time with the sport grilles.


Here is where I routed an extension cord plugged to both of my battery chargers. I used a circular saw and drilled a hole in the panel behind the cup holders and mounted a pro mariner cord holder in there. Works great. You can see the Aux cord laying there too. I routed it here so passengers could control the music.


Closer pic of the extension cable port.


This is the big charger I decided to go with to charge the stereo bank on shore. It is a Progressive Dynamics PD2150 50 amp automatic charger. It is made for three bank (have to open the unit and wire in your own extension power cord and the battery bank cords.) I used 8 gauge Knukoncepts OCF wire to wire the battery bank in as one large bank. (all four batteries are in parallel. See later pics) This charger is also on AGM mode


Here you can see the batteries I used for my stereo bank. They are 4 of the XS power XP2000's. I think they are 80 amp hours a piece. I made my own bus bars out of aluminum bar and sprayed them with plastidip to reduce the huge fire hazard risk. ( I know they are still too open to be safe, I'll work on that later)


This is the positive end of the bus bars. I used all Oxygen Free Copper 0 gauge wiring from Knukonceptz.


Here is a better pic of the whole bank. Mounted strap cleats into the floor and strapped them down to prevent sliding.


U can see that the heater switch is flipped up and lit up. *This is my on off switch for the voltage meters since I don't have a heater, it worked out perfect. *(unpictured, I have an underwater LED wired to the courtesy lights switch as well.)