RV Radio Cutting Out

[Pusherman]

We have the RV Radio with Sirius Satellite radio, and the radio cuts out. The display will go blank (backlight cuts out), the time will reset to 12:00am, and the radio turns off. I hear a 'snap' from the speakers when this happens. I have to turn the radio back on at the power button to restore the radio, but I do not lose the preset (Sirius) radio station. This will happen several times during a day's drive.

I have had it into the dealer, and of course it won't happen when the tech is observing it. So the dealer's response is they can't replicate the problem, and no fix!!

Anyone else had this problem with their RV Radio? Any suggestions??

[Pusherman]

We have the RV Radio with Sirius Satellite radio, and the radio cuts out. The display will go blank (backlight cuts out), the time will reset to 12:00am, and the radio turns off. I hear a 'snap' from the speakers when this happens. I have to turn the radio back on at the power button to restore the radio, but I do not lose the preset (Sirius) radio station. This will happen several times during a day's drive.

I have had it into the dealer, and of course it won't happen when the tech is observing it. So the dealer's response is they can't replicate the problem, and no fix!!

Anyone else had this problem with their RV Radio? Any suggestions??

[Y-Guy]

Just thinking out loud, but on my Sightseer we have the choice to run the radio off of House or Engine batteries - does the Journey? I wonder if changing it might help or help isolate the problem.

[John_Canfield]

It seems the radio is losing 12V power somehow. Assuming it is not operator oversight (house/engine switch), it might take some tenacious troubleshooting. I would start by reviewing the Winnie wiring diagram, then get access to the back of the radio. Find the +/- radio wires and follow & inspect every connection you can access.

[afrank1971]

Mine cuts out (just in sound) for a second when I turn the auxilary fans on, but I have never had it go out completely where I had to reset the time, etc... Both suggestions sound good, but John's sounds like more work! If it were me I'd start with Steve's idea, but not sure that will help, and bet you'll end up tracing the wires as John suggested. Good luck!
Alan

[Pusherman]

Happens when I'm on either Aux or Main for the radio source switch.

What type of instrument could be placed on the 12V line to demonstrate that the power failed at the source entering the radio vs. something internal to the radio?

[John_Canfield]

You can make a simple tell-tale circuit to detect a power loss with a 12 volt DC single pole double throw (SPDT) relay and a 12 volt DC buzzer. The relay is energized while 12 volts is present at the radio connection. The negative lead of the buzzer is wired to ground or negative, the positive lead is wired to the normally closed contact. The center pole or wiper of the relay is wired to 12 volts.

While power is present at the radio leads, the relay is energized and no power is applied to the buzzer. When the relay loses power, the center pole or wiper applies power to the buzzer via the normally closed contact.

If you have the desire and the ability to build this, I can draw you a diagram.

[SCVJeff]

Wouldn't have thought of that one: a power OFF alarm..

I'm one that doesn't mind test leads all over the place. If it were me I would jam a needle probe into the B+ at the radio,watch my meter and work back from there. Of course it could just as well be the ground coming loose, but unlikely.

To further the complaints on the Magnadyne: My Sirus module quit the 1st day on the road heading home from the dealer (SEA>LAX). It took almost 2 months to get Magnadyne to replace the module, and I delivered it to their door in LA. Now anytime I drive under a bridge or tree and lose the satellite, there's a 50-50 chance the display will come up saying "Lost Satellite", even though it hasn't.

Complaint 2: The screen is WAY too bright when night driving. I fixed that with window tinting gel (works great!), as well as the Freightliner status panel that's even brighter!

Complaint 3: And maybe it's just me, but I need to be able to only glance at the radio to see clearly whats going on. Not so with this one. Although it looks like the Jensen has a much better display, and 8 levels of brightness.

[Pusherman]

The problem with the radio losing power is it's 1) intermittent, and 2) it immediately resets itself. So tracing the wires back will do me little good, unless the power failure continues.

John,

thanks for the idea of the 'power-off buzzer'. It's a good one, and I can build one myself.

What I am trying to do is to isolate whether the failure is at the 12V supply or in the radio. If I can prove it's in the radio, then Winnie and Magnadyne will have to replace it.

That Jensen radio is looking better and better....

[SCVJeff]

Well, if you knew where the problem was, it would be a fix, not a problem. And what fun is that??
Put some sport into it: Lose the buzzer and replace it with a shin-kicker

Jeff

PS- Please let us know if you get price and delivery on the Jensen.

[Pusherman]

Great idea.... especially when the dealer would be working on it trying to debug it!!

[tomsm]

Just my $.02 - the way it's failing really doesn't sound like the radio. It may well be, but I would be more suspicious of the wiring that is jostling around as you go down the road. The wiring at the back of the radio is a 12-18" pigtail that plugs into a Winnie harness. I would give the wires a good tug on each side of that connection. Do it with the radio ON so you'll get immediate feedback if it's loose.

I had one wire on the female side of a Winnie connector pull right out of the socket. This was on the wiring that powers the reclining couch. It's down behind the couch and guess how much fun it is trying to get to that. There wasn't even any stress on the wire. Apparently, the connector just vibrated out of the socket.

[FrankO]

I must admit that I am new to the Class A scene and to the new high tech electronics in the MH. But if I think through this logically it seems to me that it is the radio. If you have the radio set to coach and you hit the Coach Bat Kill switch it does not reset the radio, correct? And if you put a battery disconnect on the chassis batery and deisconnect it, it also does not reset the radio, correct? So I am not sure it can have anything to do with the power feed. It has to be the radio.
Feel free to tell me my theory is all wet as like I said I am new to these electronics.
Frank O.

[tomsm]

They may not all be wired the same, but when my radio is ON and I hit the battery disconnect and then reconnect, the radio will be OFF and the clock will be reset to 12:00AM. I do not lose my station presets since they are apparently stored in non-volatile memory.