99gsxLtd ipod stereo

rotarypower101 · 10-24-2004, 06:54 PM

here are a few pics of my setup, it works very well and it dosnt detract from the look of the ski at all. Pluss I can control the volume, song , play, pause all on the fly.

Completely waterproofed everything in the controller and got a water resistant amp that seems to be holding up nicly. If the amp doesn’t survive I will seal a new one in a box and water cool it. but it seems to be doing fine over this last season.

http://www.rx7club.com/attachment.ph...chmentid=78900

http://www.rx7club.com/attachment.ph...chmentid=78901

http://www.rx7club.com/attachment.ph...chmentid=78902

http://www.rx7club.com/attachment.ph...chmentid=78903

well it wont link the pics to this site even though it worked in preview
o well!

I will try to get them to link so noone has to click the links

rotarypower101 · 10-24-2004, 07:10 PM

lets see if this place will link them corectly

rotarypower101 · 10-24-2004, 07:13 PM

Hope those show up, I still have a lot of refining to do to the system, but the basic structure is there and I think it works very well.

I like that I am able to change and control things while I am at full speed, without having to just endure what is in a playlist.

rotarypower101 · 10-24-2004, 07:17 PM

I hope to get around to making a CF mold for the speakers so they match it perfectly and seamlessly without the small gap on the sides, and have internal mounting points so it looks factory instead of modified to fit.

Hopfuly this thread is a little more entertaining than all the weatherizing threads during this season

Trfm88 · 10-24-2004, 09:02 PM

i like how you put the amp on the gas tank

looks really safe

rotarypower101 · 10-26-2004, 01:35 AM

Yes I will admit that was not my first choice for mounting. Previously I had it mounted on the inside top of the nose, but I was having clearance problems up there. I checked it out and the amp really doesn’t get more than noticeably warmer than room temperature, so I temporarily shoved it under the strap until I can properly mount it on the sidewall out of the way. The cables are a mess, but I will make those orderly when I get some time and probably pull some molds for the mirrors and get those finished up right.

The speakers seem to be holding up well also, I sprayed them with some locktight electronics sealer, and milled some slots in the bottom of the mirrors lengthwise with the ski so it will drain any moisture that finds its way in there from any angle the ski sits at.

At this point it is more of a beta, just to figure out if it was going to work as well as I hoped. Coupled with an odyssey battery I can run it without fear of draining to much power for well over 12 hours, so no worries about needing a battery tender like I thought I was going to need to protect me from myself.

It is kinda nice when we are on those long trips to just crank up the tunes and enjoy the day at full speed.

steach · 10-26-2004, 02:21 AM

I actually like the instal and the idea. As the speakers are pointing at your ears (point up if taller) you might actually hear it when riding.

You may want to find a smaller amp for fitment and curent draw. Your ski permormance may suffer from taking magneto juice away to feed the amp/recharge battery.

rotarypower101 · 10-26-2004, 03:28 AM

I have been running it all summer, with no ill effects to performance that I can tell. The speakers are pointed up into my face(tipped them in the housing a little bit, plus it is for the mirror so it is close to the right angle anyways), so even hearing them at full speed is not a problem. We put the voltmeter on it and it only was pulling around 3-4 amps at a very good level (enough to hear on the beach from 30-40 yard away) and right at 5 when at full capacity so it really only uses about 60 watts and if I remember correctly the system was charging at around 7 or 8, but I don’t remember exactly what that figure was. Regardless it seems to work without issue, so I am happy

96XPSS · 10-26-2004, 07:38 PM

One thing is for sure...you have some long a$$ toes dude!

Is it only FM radio or is there a head unit hidden somewhere?

Your amp should be fine there as long as it's fused properly. The trick to keeping water out of the hull is to replace the cheap weatherstripping seal on the front tub.

It looks real trick. Do you plan on mounting speaker grilles to keep kid's fingers out?

rotarypower101 · 10-27-2004, 06:23 PM

The girls don’t seem to mind..if you catch my draft.

No, it’s a ipod that has a hard drive in it, so it is all music I downloaded. It holds like 4 gigs, which is about 1000 songs.

The amp is fused in 2 different places, and it is a marine use amp that had a very thick epoxy covering it or it has what ever they call that electronics sealer over it (cant really tell which. so technically I should not get it wet, though you know that isn’t going to happen if you are using your skis like we do.

I figure if it doesn’t hold up it just gives me all the more reason and motivation to come up with better solutions. This amp has 2 sealed channels running length wise (triangular air cooling tubes), I was thinking I could seal the amp in a aluminum or SS box and run sealed fittings into the box, weld the triangular tubes shut drill and tap them for 1/8 or ¼ NTP and run a cooling system to the amp off from the engines cooling system.

Though it has lasted most of this whole season for me, so I don’t think it will even be necessary.

The speaker grills are going to be a little tricky as no one that I have found makes that size grill.
I will probably end up custom making them, but I think I am almost growing accustomed to them like that. I am kinda partial to the composite look, and those have a really nice looking Kevlar weave on them. And I havnt really got any peer pressure to change them, or make it look less ghetto, so I don’t know yet.