why does my radio in my boat keep cutting out when i turn up the volume?

Question

when i turn up the volume, the radio "shuts off" then turns back on and keeps doing this until i turn down the volume

Answer 1

It's very common in boats for the voltage source at the radio to be weak. Thin wiring and corroded connections create resistance in the power wiring, which results in a voltage drop when the deck's amplifier requires more current. The problem is made worse by the fact that there's no metal chassis like in a car, so more voltage drops are introduced into the ground wiring.

The easiest fix is to run a new power and ground wire directly to the battery from your radio. Depending on the length, some 14-gauge or 16-gauge speaker wire should do nicely. Connect the deck's black wire to your battery's negative terminal, and the yellow wire to the positive terminal. Put a 10-amp fuse on the wire near the positive terminal.

If your deck is wired to turn on and off through a key switch or accessory switch, then leave the deck's red wire connected as it is now; it doesn't require any significant current. Otherwise you can combine the red wire with the yellow wire and connect both to the positive terminal.

Answer 2

KaeZoo has the right answer, but today I also found in my boat the radio was on a 2.5 amp fuse or something ridiculously small. I checked the wiring to be sure it was the right size, but replaced this with a 10 amp fuse and the problem was solved. The 2.5A was limiting the current to the radio when the voltage drop from my amp/sub was hitting at louder volumes. At first I thought it was a grounding issue or bad wiring but checking the fuse solved my problem! Just wish it were this easy for everyone!

Answer 3

Could be your main speaker has small crack . when you deliver more amps the small crack opens up thus cutting the volume off.

Answer 4

Your radio watts is not strong enough.. You're overloading your radio.. You'll need a after market amp.

Answer 5

clearly it's possessed.