im adding a radio/cd player to a 30 year old boat, everything is 12 vt on it, i was thinging about wiring the unit right up to the battery or ignition with a inline fuse. if i go directly off the battery i will prolly add a switch so i dont kill the battery... im worried about cooking the head unit (in experimenting 3 old/cheap/ finiky units have died for the cause before i drop 100 on something new and kinda decent i wanna make sure im not toasting them) Do you see any issues with this? How much power does the average maintainer draw off the battery? if i were to hook it up how long would it take to drain the battery. jump starting a boat is not fun and it could be months of sitting before anyone fires it up and recharges the batteries, dont wanna chance killing them.
I'd hook it up to the ignition with an inline fuse. Then it won't drain your battery. Hook the constant wire to your battery. Then, you can hook a switch up to that and cut it off during winter months so it doesn't kill the battery. There shouldn't be an issue of the head unit or battery with it hooked that way.