Problems with quality in Wetsounds Accessories...

We bought new a 2013 Centurion SV233 3 years ago equipped with a lot of Wetsounds speakers. We also had a WS-420 installed, and the entire boat was lit up with their own light rings.

The boat now has 320 hours. The first 3 years of its life, when it was not in use, it was in a boat storage warehouse (covered and out of sun). It is now in a boat house (covered and out of the sun). I take care of this boat and don't abuse it.

However, going onto year four, we will have replaced 6 LED light rings in the boat (2 in the front died under warranty), and the microphone pig tail is completely ruined on the WS-420 (we use the PA system when teaching people). The light rings failing is beyond me. LEDs should last a really long time. The only 4 original rings left are on the tower with the Rev 8s. We probably have about 25 hours of run time, total, on all the lights.

The WS-420 has a poor design with the microphone pig tail. The connection out of the back has 3 extremely small gauge wires that are weakly shrouded. At some point, there was a break in one of the lines inside the shroud, and the only way I could get the microphone to work was my crimping the line. I just tried to strip and rewire, but that attempt failed, and now I've totally ruined the pig tail on the WS. We'll have to buy a new one to fix that (if you want a WS-420 and don't care about the microphone let me know and I'll sell it to you pretty cheaply at the end of the season).

Anyway, has anyone else had problems with their accessories, or is this just my bad luck?

No I bought a REV 10l RGB Led kit this year and both strips were bad contacted my dealer and none we're available anywhere as they were back ordered I had to searh high and low to find another kit to buy so I would have them for vacation. I have also had a 420'eq fail as well as a crossover in one of my REV 410's and a crossover fail this year in one of my REV 10's. . I fixed the rev 10 crossover myself and other than having to buy a second set of RGB rings and fixing the rev 10 crossover myself wetsounds covered under warranty no questions asked and im sure will cover the rings and rev crossover if I ask.

Nothing to add specifically about wetsounds but in my experience a large majority of LEDs in multiple components overstate their lifetimes and are dead within a year or two, not the 10 or 15 or more years that they promise. Residential LEDs, cree LEDs, mid- and low-range LED flashlights, all have disappointed me. I hated when they were pushing CFLs and I was happy to spend a lot of money to replace them with LEDs but they are burning out left and right now, less than 2 years later. Sucks.

Have you tried reaching out to the directly. I have had fabulous luck working with their warranty department (Patrick in particular). I would say I am normally swayed by a good deal, but would definitely get wetsounds for future boat stereo items as a result of my customer service agreement. Poor guy had to sit on phone with me for 40+ minutes as I attempted to make my amp work with my club hands.

Best customer service in the business

Wetsounds reps are on this forum a good bit. They will probably chime in shortly.

Only have 1 season on my Wetsounds setup (stock A22 SP3) and they have been nothing but good.

Wetsounds bent over backwards helping me when my sub amp crapped out. Talked me through as much diagnosing as I could do and then they finally asked to just send it back and theyd send me a new one. Couldn't thank them enough since there isn't any "authorized" dealers or qualified techs around me.

Regarding LED life... My entire house has been LED for 4 years. I converted all of my low voltage lights to LED lights (replaced the bulb, not the fixture). In all of that time, I lost one bulb out of maybe 50. So while the LED light span may not be everything it is supposed to be, I've put a lot of running time of regular lights. I'm not entirely sure how these 12V LED lights work, but the boat is filled with other LED lights... All the courtesy lights, the underwater lights, the compartment lights. The only failures have been the wet sounds.

Maybe I'm just incredibly unlucky.

To Wetsounds credit, they DID offer 2 years ago to repair the WS-420. But it was the beginning of the season, and I didn't want to be without my radio for 2-3 weeks. I figured I could repair it myself. I was wrong... I wouldn't ask them to do it again, because at this point it has been too long to expect anything.

LED's in your house and in your boat and nothing in the same. I've tried all kinds of LED's in boats over the last 8 years, and NONE of them have lasted for more than a couple years. It's the nature of the beast. It's not a brand thing, as most of them out there are relabels. but dude, you got 4 YEARS out of them, IN A BOAT!

As for the Wet Sounds LED's rings backordered - they made some corrections in the middle of their peak season. Demand was higher than the supply. We all had to wait. Hope nobody died as a result of not having a $100 item.

The 420 mic, yes, it's a little weak, but I've also seen more people jerk on them then you can imagine. Electronics are delicate, and some people could break an anvil. Install a dash-mounted aux port, plug the mic into that, then from the aux port to the mic input of the preamp. That gets it outside or closer to you.

One thing that will prolong the life of the MIC lead, is to strain-relief the MIC cable after the connector. Any tugging or movement is after the strain-relief and on the MIC side. if theres a failure, its only the MIC, not the EQ.

I have used similar flexible LEDs from many different sources, including Wet Sounds. Sadly, the encapsulated flexible LEDs have not lived up the longevity that we have hoped. The issue is not the life span of the actual LED chip. Its not the chip thats going out, is a failure of the PCB they are attached to. We have found that the silicone encapsulation becomes dry and brittle over time. it starts to pull away from the PCB, opening it up. A failure can be one chip, all 3 in a section or the rest of the strip from the breach on. We have experienced this on strips that have never been out side in the elements as well.

All the led's I've put in my house have pretty large heat sinks to disapate the heat away from the LED chip which is crucial for longevity. I've had one on my back porch on for literally 3 years straight. And another inside a water dispenser on my garage fridge for two years straight and still going strong. I also have recessed lighting retrofits, large flood lights and all have actually been problem and maintenance free. They say led's don't get as hot as regular lights- which is true when coupled to a proper heat sink. Touch a moderate power one that isnt coupled to a heatsink after its been on a few minutes and it feels like a laser shooting through your finger! Most marine and speaker ring led's I see don't have heatsinks nor is there really room for one and I imagine that is contributing to the shortened lifespan.

I'm gonna agree doesn't sound like the 420's mic wire was secured on install that most who have worked with these do....

Now that's a lot of LED failures on one boat... On the other hand, Install matters there as well..

I've got a wet sounds bluetooth unit in my boat. I've hooked it up exactly how the guy at wet sounds told me, yet I still have engine interference.

To the OP. It looks like John and True have covered it pretty well.LED strips are notorious for issues. Its a lot of led chips stuck on a super thin flexible strip. We have worked hard over the years and changed designs and suppliers multiple times. Change the way the solder points are made, change the moldings and so on. I agree with John, that 4 years for strips in this harsh environment is good and does not warrant a "quality" issue. They have covered the mic as well as it sounds like you use yours maybe more than most and there was a lot of pulling on that area. We would still be happy to repair it so don't feel bad about calling.

To padgett, if you have followed the instructions and still have engine noise. This is caused by the install and the boat. The BT unit is reproducing the noise in the system, it does not produce the noise. So again, not a "quality" issue and the common way to install an item doesn't always mean it works in your system. Please call us and talk with Robbie or Joe F. They can give you some ideas. And worse case, find a qualified dealer that can help trouble shoot your system and why your getting noise. Some boats are more notorious for noise than others.

As you can see from others. We take care of all of our customers and we strive to make the best marine audio products in the world and thats not just speakers and amps, that includes the accessories as well.

Tim
Wet Sounds

Exactly everything has problems from time to time but wetsounds always has taken care of me when I ask no matter how long ago the purchase has been. I'm a wetsounds customer for life because of that

Agree with Harold. 1 call to that company and any of the sales guys will be more than helpful.

For years I never installed a stereo just carried a boom box. There is certain sort of beauty in its simplicity although the big case of cassette tapes was always in the way. When I retired that system I would purchase 2 head units so when one failed I could just plug in the replacement into the same harness. God bless you guys with these fantastic sounding systems. Now if I could only get you to play more Elvis at the party cove.

I got the replacement LEDs and installed them. The previous ones were yellowed and looked totally roasted. I am actually a little irritated I didn't take it out and examine it beforehand. If you already have the plastic containers for the strip lighting, you can replace the LED strip lighting for next to nothing. I 'think' the following will work [I'll find out when the next set goes and report back].

http://www.ecolocityled.com/product/...ire_connectors (the connector that bridges

and:

http://www.ecolocityled.com/product/...blue_led_strip

$100 spent, and you'll have enough material to do 8 speakers.

Originally Posted by wetsounds1

To the OP. It looks like John and True have covered it pretty well.LED strips are notorious for issues. Its a lot of led chips stuck on a super thin flexible strip. We have worked hard over the years and changed designs and suppliers multiple times. Change the way the solder points are made, change the moldings and so on. I agree with John, that 4 years for strips in this harsh environment is good and does not warrant a "quality" issue. They have covered the mic as well as it sounds like you use yours maybe more than most and there was a lot of pulling on that area. We would still be happy to repair it so don't feel bad about calling.

To padgett, if you have followed the instructions and still have engine noise. This is caused by the install and the boat. The BT unit is reproducing the noise in the system, it does not produce the noise. So again, not a "quality" issue and the common way to install an item doesn't always mean it works in your system. Please call us and talk with Robbie or Joe F. They can give you some ideas. And worse case, find a qualified dealer that can help trouble shoot your system and why your getting noise. Some boats are more notorious for noise than others.

As you can see from others. We take care of all of our customers and we strive to make the best marine audio products in the world and thats not just speakers and amps, that includes the accessories as well.

Tim
Wet Sounds

Before it was installed there was absolutely zero noise from any source I tried.

We used to use the WS BT all the time and went back to 3.5mm cable in back of the 420SQ and that seemed to help with the problem. Now we get better clarity and even louder volume to boot.
You might want to try the Exile BT. I have one to replace the wetsounds BT but haven't tried it yet.

@ Adam, You need to revisit how the BT is wired , in relation to the rest of the audio gear.

@ vee drive, I can say without a doubt, the BTVC has a stronger output level @ 1V than most any head phone output which are typically sub .5V. The strongest headphone output ove come across was/is from my Zune, and the BTVC is louder.

Outside of a possible defective unit, both these issue are likely wiring related.

+1 for the exile Bluetooth unit. Excellent range and no noise issues

Originally Posted by chpthril

@ Adam, You need to revisit how the BT is wired , in relation to the rest of the audio gear.

@ vee drive, I can say without a doubt, the BTVC has a stronger output level @ 1V than most any head phone output which are typically sub .5V. The strongest headphone output ove come across was/is from my Zune, and the BTVC is louder.

Outside of a possible defective unit, both these issue are likely wiring related.

All of my gear is stock. Been wired since the boat was new. This is the only add on. Both batteries are on a Perko switch. I don't see how the battery having a hot and ground to the bt unit would cause interference when the stereo is clear as day without the Bluetooth

I don't see how the battery having a hot and ground to the bt unit would cause interference when the stereo is clear as day without the Bluetooth

but i do

Boat builders don't have stereo installers. While they may build a great boat, they seriously cut corners on electronics.

I went through two WS BT units on my last boat. Both had all kinds of snaps, crackles and pops (not engine noise). Both were wired in common with the WS420 they were plugged into. WS customer service was great.... simon even called me and worked through potential issues for half an hour. Still, we were unable to resolve.

Put on the exile BT unit, wired exactly the same way, and voila, zero noise. I don't know whether the WS units are more sensitive to interference from boat electronics or what, but I definitely had better luck in my case on the noise front with the exile unit.

Shawndoggy I sent you a PM?