Tower Harness

[B_Mutter]

Hey Guys,

When running wires up the tower to do speakers/RGB lights.. Whose tower harness do you guys use? Roswell seems to make a great 8 wire one. Yamaha offers only a 4 and a 7 wire unit. We are just getting into the Wetsounds speakers and they do not sell a tower harness.

Thanks for you help!!

 

[BigN8]

Depending on the tower the harness could be difficult to fish through. I ran separate wires in mine and have a Samson Reverse arch tower. I would also recommend pulling a seperate piece of string through with the wires and leaving that string in there for future modifications. Just tie it off to one of the wires at the entry and exit holes. That's what I did.

 

[David Analog]

Eight wires in a single harness is brutal to run through the tower. You don't need heavy gauge wire for LEDs.
If you are using surf speakers you can use a jacketed 14/4 minimum. For HLCDs, most use a jacketed 12/4. For LEDs use a jacketed 22/4.

 

[PaulyB]

I have an 08 AR230 with 4 Wet Sounds REV8 tower speakers with the LED rings. I used the Tower Harness Kit from Earmark Marine (http://store.earmarkcaraudio.com/Xcart/product.php?productid=16873&cat=260&page=1) and used 2 strands of 5 wire RGB wire from Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N8BRT98/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1). I used the two strands of 5 wire so I could have a positive and negative wire go to my anchor light that I used on my Tow Point and I wanted two seperate channels of RGBs on my Tower speakers so the two inside tower speakers flash differently than the two outside tower speakers. I mounted my Amps on the Port Side and ran the speaker wire up the port side and I ran the RGB wires up the Starboard Side. Hope this helps.

 

[Williamsone46]

Hey Guys,

When running wires up the tower to do speakers/RGB lights.. Whose tower harness do you guys use? Roswell seems to make a great 8 wire one. Yamaha offers only a 4 and a 7 wire unit. We are just getting into the Wetsounds speakers and they do not sell a tower harness.

Thanks for you help!!

Depends on the model you using them on. The Yamaha 4/7 wire harness are nice but wouldn't work with the newer 24' models.

 

[B_Mutter]

Nothing can be worse than running the Garmin Radar wires down a LS tower that we did last spring! I'm just looking for a harness with a nice waterproof connection as it enters the boat. Just for the chance the tower has to come off. But then again that's not how the Radar cable went so I guess just running some jacketed wire works well. Thanks so much for the info! You guys a good!

 

[PaulyB]

Nothing can be worse than running the Garmin Radar wires down a LS tower that we did last spring! I'm just looking for a harness with a nice waterproof connection as it enters the boat. Just for the chance the tower has to come off. But then again that's not how the Radar cable went so I guess just running some jacketed wire works well. Thanks so much for the info! You guys a good!

I used two 5 pin waterproof connectors for my RGBs, and one heavy duty 4 pin waterproof connector for my speakers. I bought the heavy duty one from earmark.

 

[scokill]

I have an 08 AR230 with 4 Wet Sounds REV8 tower speakers with the LED rings. I used the Tower Harness Kit from Earmark Marine (http://store.earmarkcaraudio.com/Xcart/product.php?productid=16873&cat=260&page=1) and used 2 strands of 5 wire RGB wire from Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N8BRT98/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1). I used the two strands of 5 wire so I could have a positive and negative wire go to my anchor light that I used on my Tow Point and I wanted two seperate channels of RGBs on my Tower speakers so the two inside tower speakers flash differently than the two outside tower speakers. I mounted my Amps on the Port Side and ran the speaker wire up the port side and I ran the RGB wires up the Starboard Side. Hope this helps.

View attachment 19237 View attachment 19238 View attachment 19239

Can you post a picture of your entire wire routing? I see you go from vertical tower bar to horizontal bar and have your disconnects there, and a hole drilled going forward and then where? How do you go out of the horizontal tower bar into the boat? I just moved my amp from battery compartment to behind helm and really need to re-wire my tower. Thanks in advance.

 

[VONCE]

I used a "Neutrik" connector and "speedwire" wiring. The connector has 8 poles, the wiring has 9 wires. I am unsure if this solution is considered waterproof, but it got its first test a few days ago. And it was raining...

https://jetboaters.net/threads/tower-too-small-for-speaker-mount.13135/#post-234386

 

[scokill]

I used a "Neutrik" connector and "speedwire" wiring. The connector has 8 poles, the wiring has 9 wires. I am unsure if this solution is considered waterproof, but it got its first test a few days ago. And it was raining...

https://jetboaters.net/threads/tower-too-small-for-speaker-mount.13135/#post-234386

I had this on the radar. Don't you have to unplug to put cover on? I've seen a way to go straight through to the hull by the front tower mount and only have to disconnect when removing the tower.

 

[VONCE]

I had this on the radar. Don't you have to unplug to put cover on? I've seen a way to go straight through to the hull by the front tower mount and only have to disconnect when removing the tower.

I am unsure about unplugging when covering. I still haven't covered my boat since the install - it's been in the garage.

 

[PaulyB]

Can you post a picture of your entire wire routing? I see you go from vertical tower bar to horizontal bar and have your disconnects there, and a hole drilled going forward and then where? How do you go out of the horizontal tower bar into the boat? I just moved my amp from battery compartment to behind helm and really need to re-wire my tower. Thanks in advance.

I pulled the horizontal bar off and drilled a hole in the fiberglass where the leg mounts on the boat at. The horizontal bar already has a hole in it, so the wire comes straight out of the horizontal bar into the boat where i drilled the hole into the helm compartment.

 

[scokill]

I pulled the horizontal bar off and drilled a hole in the fiberglass where the leg mounts on the boat at. The horizontal bar already has a hole in it, so the wire comes straight out of the horizontal bar into the boat where i drilled the hole into the helm compartment.

Got it. What length harness did you get? And what size hole did you dill in bar if you remember? Thanks so much.

 

[PaulyB]

Got it. What length harness did you get? And what size hole did you dill in bar if you remember? Thanks so much.

I think I got the 35 foot harness, and I just held the drill bit up next to the wiring harness and found one that was a little bigger than the harness.

 

[scokill]

Thanks. I found your other post about your installation.

 

[scokill]

Thanks. I found your other post about your installation.

So I removed the tower and unscrewed the horizontal base above helm. Drilled out the center hole in tower base with 1/2" bit, drilled into boat, and reinstalled. I had an extra gasket for the front tower from years ago, so came in handy. Drilled half inch hole in horizontal bar, used fish tape and string and I know have pull string in place for the horizontal run. I just drilled out the factory hole in the bottom of the tower coming down and I will use that instead of drilling another hole. I'll finish the install tomorrow if I can but more likely next week. Will post some pics. On a difficulty scale of 1-10 this was a 4. Only because me and my son the tower off and I didn't remove the speakers, and I did the rest by myself.

 

[VONCE]

So I removed the tower and unscrewed the horizontal base above helm. Drilled out the center hole in tower base with 1/2" bit, drilled into boat, and reinstalled. I had an extra gasket for the front tower from years ago, so came in handy. Drilled half inch hole in horizontal bar, used fish tape and string and I know have pull string in place for the horizontal run. I just drilled out the factory hole in the bottom of the tower coming down and I will use that instead of drilling another hole. I'll finish the install tomorrow if I can but more likely next week. Will post some pics. On a difficulty scale of 1-10 this was a 4. Only because me and my son the tower off and I didn't remove the speakers, and I did the rest by myself.

I'm glad it's going smooth for you so far. Hope it stays that way! My tower wiring was not fun.

 

[scokill]

I'm glad it's going smooth for you so far. Hope it stays that way! My tower wiring was not fun.

It should be. I fished the upper tower on the other side years ago and it was surprisingly easy using fish tape.

 

[VONCE]

It should be. I fished the upper tower on the other side years ago and it was surprisingly easy using fish tape.

For some reason my string would keep getting snagged or knotted up, so I'd have to cut it or rip it out. But there is still so much string in the tower it really worries me for any adjustments or repairs in the future. I tried to crimp and heat shrink and solder everything as best I could, but if a connection breaks, I am going to be screwed. It's not going to be easy shoving any more wire in there. I think I am at my max, even though I used some really tiny stuff for the LEDs.

 

[scokill]

For some reason my string would keep getting snagged or knotted up, so I'd have to cut it or rip it out. But there is still so much string in the tower it really worries me for any adjustments or repairs in the future. I tried to crimp and heat shrink and solder everything as best I could, but if a connection breaks, I am going to be screwed. It's not going to be easy shoving any more wire in there. I think I am at my max, even though I used some really tiny stuff for the LEDs.

I tried string and said screw that. I would have been done in 30 min or so if I had used fish tape from the beginning.