FUSION HEAD UNIT / REMOTE

[biffdotorg]

One hiccup so far that I can see. It's a single DIN, just like the stocker in height, but it's narrower.

I think I can use the cage from the old radio, if needed. But I need something to cover the holes in the dash. I may need some starboard, or HDP to back it so that the holes are covered. Heck, some diamond plate vinyl might look nice.

Since the radio is all plugs on the back, I can do a temp install to test and remount the head unit once I get a backer made up.

 

[mark_m]

One hiccup so far that I can see. It's a single DIN, just like the stocker in height, but it's narrower.

I think I can use the cage from the old radio, if needed. But I need something to cover the holes in the dash. I may need some starboard, or HDP to back it so that the holes are covered. Heck, some diamond plate vinyl might look nice.

Since the radio is all plugs on the back, I can do a temp install to test and remount the head unit once I get a backer made up.

There is a spacer you can get from jetboat pilot that could work for you. Worth a look. I used one and got rid of the kludgy cover.

 

[mark_m]

There is a spacer you can get from jetboat pilot that could work for you. Worth a look. I used one and got rid of the kludgy cover.

Check out this thread for what I bought from Will. I wonder if he still fabricates them though? The link he provided before to his site is dead.

https://jetboaters.net/threads/stereo-system-upgrade-recommendations.8471/page-2#post-146901

 

[Ramblinwreck]

Well, step #1 is done tonight. I pulled the old head unit, swimdeck remote and wet sounds Bluetooth adapter out. No real surprises other than the fiberglass in my arm from taking out the remote through the speaker hole.

I was surprised that the lines to my speakers were tapped into the stereo side of the wiring harness, rather than the chassis side. No issue, as that just means the only wires I have to tap into the harness are the 12v, 12v Acc, Ground and Blue remote wire! CAKE!

All the rest is RCA’s to the JL amp. Then setup the NEMA 2000 network to the swimdeck remote. Theoretically, I should not have to touch the amp, as the settings are all the same, and the RCA’s are line level. WOO WOO!

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How big is the hole from the original av remote? Any pics of what it looks like? Think I'm pulling mine along with the hu and may just go back with the fusion wireless.

 

[biffdotorg]

I fabricated a quick filler plate to hold me over till I find a good one. I can’t go a weekend without music.
All went in well. But I asked crutchfield specifically if this head unit supported power over NMEA and I find out it does not. Or I can’t find the setting to turn it on.
But the iPhone app is great, so other than outside the boat, my iPhone can do it all. Volume, settings, switch sources. It’s cool.
I will shop a better spacer and NMEA power tomorrow. And get my XM transferred over!

 

[biffdotorg]

How big is the hole from the original av remote? Any pics of what it looks like? Think I'm pulling mine along with the hu and may just go back with the fusion wireless.

The original hole was around 2" diameter. It's a big hole. The new remote covered it just fine. A filler cap with some silicone would make it look just fine if you pulled the remote. And the fiberglass in my arm is telling me it's a reach from the swimdeck speaker hole. I did buff the gelcote where it was mounted, so it looks factory fresh now with the new remote.

I didn't realize that this is the head unit installed in the latest 242x. I saw it in some factory photos.

Crutchfield and XM were closed last night, so I could not talk to tech support to get into the menus. But I hope to have this wrapped up by noon. Woo WOO!

PS: What's your favorite first song to test a stereo? Everyone has one. We did three sub installs in pontoons, and the first song had to be Sail - Awolination. OMG, it bounced the NMEA T's off the bench seat! Twin JL 10" subs behind the captains chair bench is called the ladies choice!

 

[biffdotorg]

It's a multitasker Friday morning!

While on a work conference call, I was on a live chat with XM activating my radio and moving my sub over.
While on the horn with Crutchfield confirming that the 70 series Fusion radios cannot provide NMEA 2000 power over the line and an injector is needed.

The guys there were cool, and since my question about needing power was documented, the rep offered to ship one out for free! $25 plus shipping. I declined, but thanked him graciously. As I could order one from Amazon for $23 shipped that had the T included. The one from Crutchfield had no T, and I was pretty sure I needed to add that on as well.

No biggy, I have Sound, and XM prior to our Friday afternoon boating! WOO WOO!!

 

[tim h]

@biffdotorg

Can you explain a little more about your NMEA power issue ?
Do you have an existing NMEA backbone ?
This backbone should have a power source connected itself, right ?
So you "should" be able to run a "drop cable" from RA70NSX to the backbone drop "tee" , Correct ?

I'm almost ready to start my install....maybe...
With the additional speakers (two pair 8"tower) coming, may need to order an additional AMP. And some decent wire kits...??

 

[Ramblinwreck]

Perfect. Thanks! Yeah, I thought it was gonna be a larger hole than just to get wires thru. Saw your comment about glass in your arm--guess I'll go thru the speaker cut out too, but prob gonna put on a long sleeve shirt or wrap my arm with something. Thanks for the heads up! I'll prob just cap the hole and stick the wireless remote over it. But I'm still considering going back with wired. Definitely going with Fusion for my use--like everything I read/hear about them. You've done a nice job! Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to seeing your comments (and pics) when wrapped up.
BTW, Sail is a perfect first test song.

 

[tim h]

also agree SAIL is a great test song...

Search "GRINDING THE CRACK/ SAIL AWOLNATION" it's an incredible BASE JUMP VIDEO with Jeb Corliss..
BASE jumping is near and dear to me..

 

[biffdotorg]

@biffdotorg

Can you explain a little more about your NMEA power issue ?
Do you have an existing NMEA backbone ?
This backbone should have a power source connected itself, right ?
So you "should" be able to run a "drop cable" from RA70NSX to the backbone drop "tee" , Correct ?

I'm almost ready to start my install....maybe...
With the additional speakers (two pair 8"tower) coming, may need to order an additional AMP. And some decent wire kits...??

Sorry guys, I'm having networking flashbacks from the early 90's. This is such old school technology, (T-connectors and terminators) being revitalized but it is the perfect application.

NMEA cable alone can be run from a single head unit to a single remote and this is a Fusion Audio only network. But a head unit that provides power over NMEA is required. The 70 series does not do that. Or you can use an existing powered NMEA network, if you have one for motor diags, sonar, nav, radar etc. Most of us do not. My Simrad has the connection, but I had nothing to use it for. In this case, the radio and remote came with enough drop cables, long cable, t-connectors and terminator to create a full NMEA 2000 network. It's just a line with drops to each device, rather than direct cabled (which are probably the wrong gender to connect anyway)

So if you choose the 70NSX, and this new 300 series wired remote, order up a power injector. I ordered this one off of Amazon, as it is pre wired with a T connector. Since it's male/female, there is no guessing if you have the right gender, you literally just put it inline.

Ancor 1m 270000 Nmea 2000 Power Cable with Tee : Electronics

Buy Ancor 1m 270000 Nmea 2000 Power Cable with Tee: Marine GPS Accessories - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

I plan on putting it back by the remote, as the old Aquatic AV remote was wireless, but required power. So there is a power drop back there already. I am going to cut the end off and butt splice the injector in, and drop the T inline. All good.

 

[mark_m]

Sorry guys, I'm having networking flashbacks from the early 90's. This is such old school technology, (T-connectors and terminators) being revitalized but it is the perfect application.

NMEA cable alone can be run from a single head unit to a single remote and this is a Fusion Audio only network. But a head unit that provides power over NMEA is required. The 70 series does not do that. Or you can use an existing powered NMEA network, if you have one for motor diags, sonar, nav, radar etc. Most of us do not. My Simrad has the connection, but I had nothing to use it for. In this case, the radio and remote came with enough drop cables, long cable, t-connectors and terminator to create a full NMEA 2000 network. It's just a line with drops to each device, rather than direct abled (which are probably the wrong gender to connect anyway)

So if you choose the 70NSX, and this new 300 series wired remote, order up a power injector. I ordered this one off of Amazon, as it is pre wired with a T connector. Since it's male/female, there is no guessing if you have the right gender, you literally just put it inline.

Ancor 1m 270000 Nmea 2000 Power Cable with Tee : Electronics

Buy Ancor 1m 270000 Nmea 2000 Power Cable with Tee: Marine GPS Accessories - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

I plan on putting it back by the remote, as the old Aquatic AV remote was wireless, but required power. So there is a power drop back there already. I am going to cut the end off and butt splice the injector in, and drop the T inline. All good.

Hook up that SIMRAD to the audio nmea2k chain and see what that Fusion remote might tell you about your plotter!

 

[tim h]

I just got the "starter" kit that includes the power drop, double tee, and two drops wires. With an additional 4 place backbone.
So I can add all my stuff... So up to six sources to the NMEA backbone. At the moment I think I need four.

 

[biffdotorg]

So first weekend out, and I'm pretty pleased.

It was easier to load up the app and start dropping in XM presets, than doing it on the unit. I let my buddy drive, as I sat back and played. I apologized in advance, as I was "MC-ADD" as I had to go to each station, before dropping it as a preset.

I don't like how you access the presets, but I'm getting used to it. I would like to have it like my truck stereo, where I can just skip through my presets till I find something I want to listen to. Although, these newer XM tuners/head units are buffering more channels, allowing you to create mix stations from multiple channels. That is next on my list of things to figure out.

So other than waiting on the power drop for the NMEA, I also have a black Single DIN adapter plate on order. This will replace the white one I carved out of HDP. I may get longer screws up front and put that white one on the back. This will "sandwich" the mount and cover existing holes from the stocker stereo.

I was also surprised that there was power, but no switched power on this new radio. So I was unsure how it was going to keep my presets. There must be a battery in the unit, as it's keeping my settings.

Yesterday, I tested the Wetsounds A-Link. As I had wired up a Line-out to the dash with an 1/8" jack. It worked pretty flawlessly to my buddies tri-toon. As expected, the line level coming out is low voltage, but adjustable volume, as it feeds my JL amp. So there are volume controls on the A-link as well. I can crank my sender up, and then he can turn it up or down on his side. Once we have our levels matched, then we adjust the volume on both boats from my controls!! Or he streams from his iphone and we control it all from the Apple Watch. It's all cool tech!

 

[biffdotorg]

Sorry about the dark photo. It was getting late and the tower lights don’t add much to the cockpit. I ordered in what I thought was the DIN adapter for the 70 series. It wasn’t, it was for the 600/700 series. But I got it to work. In fact, I used my HDP filler as a backer plate to center the radio and sandwich it perfectly.

I think it looks pretty good. A nice clean filler makes all the difference.

I also got to play a bit more. If you zoom in you see the “P” in the upper left corner. Every time you hit Play, it switches between manual, preset and song mode. So in song mode, it fast forwards or rewinds the live song, manual switches stations one at a time, and preset goes through only your presets. Which is super sweet on XM!

You can also setup an XM mix station. Yup, pick your favorite channels and the radio will grab a song from each and keep rotating. Making a perfect random playlist of your favorite genres!! It has the ability to go to the beginning of the song when you switch stations, so it must be buffering all the stations.

This unit is pretty damn cool. The NMEA power drop was supposed to be here today. I will put that in tomorrow night.

 

[Ramblinwreck]

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Sorry about the dark photo. It was getting late and the tower lights don’t add much to the cockpit. I ordered in what I thought was the DIN adapter for the 70 series. It wasn’t, it was for the 600/700 series. But I got it to work. In fact, I used my HDP filler as a backer plate to center the radio and sandwich it perfectly.

I think it looks pretty good. A nice clean filler makes all the difference.

I also got to play a bit more. If you zoom in you see the “P” in the upper left corner. Every time you hit Play, it switches between manual, preset and song mode. So in song mode, it fast forwards or rewinds the live song, manual switches stations one at a time, and preset goes through only your presets. Which is super sweet on XM!

You can also setup an XM mix station. Yup, pick your favorite channels and the radio will grab a song from each and keep rotating. Making a perfect random playlist of your favorite genres!! It has the ability to go to the beginning of the song when you switch stations, so it must be buffering all the stations.

This unit is pretty damn cool. The NMEA power drop was supposed to be here today. I will put that in tomorrow night.

Looks great! Nice job!

 

[biffdotorg]

Nearly Flawless Execuiton. My only complaint if I can call it that about the 670 is that it takes a few seconds to boot up for the first time during a day. It has all the inputs and outputs most people would have ever need. The zone control really works and the app gives you even more tuning control. The wired remote is expensive and worth it. The wireless remotes work well and have the same functionally as the wired unit but it takes button combos to make things like zone control work. The head unit is expensive but after having one for less than a season I wouldn’t buy anything else.

I was reading back through this thread to see how bad I hijacked it. But noticed this post Ronnie. Does your 670 still boot slow? I was noting in another post that I had no switched power on the 70nsx, but when I flip my battery switch, that thing is pumping music before I even get to the helm. I will have to be sure to turn it down at the end of the day before shutting off the batteries!

 

[jamesk]

I was reading back through this thread to see how bad I hijacked it. But noticed this post Ronnie. Does your 670 still boot slow? I was noting in another post that I had no switched power on the 70nsx, but when I flip my battery switch, that thing is pumping music before I even get to the helm. I will have to be sure to turn it down at the end of the day before shutting off the batteries!

My 670 boots slow, it takes like 20 second but feels like forever.
Interested to see what you think about the NMEA and what you get out of it.
I was going to hook my unit up to my Garmin 74CV chartplotter but could not get a good answer on how it would function and if I would feel like it was a worth the time and money to hook it up.
The little wireless remotes are great, I have 4....I even have one right near my throttles because it easier to hit the volume up/down button on the remote than to try and turn the volume knob on the HU it's just easier for me.

 

[biffdotorg]

 

[Ramblinwreck]

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That looks awesome!