Radio Install - 2016 Bay Star sport 2705

[15650street]

Hubby and adult son spent most of day attempting to install a new radio head in the Bay Star Sport. WOW. Pulled the current radio. Discovered a wiring harness that appears not to do anything and wasted more than a hour trying to figure out why the radio would not work. Finally, connected to the wiring harness coming in from the chassis. This worked.

The problem is that the power line goes to the house battery, not the auto battery. And, there is no separate switch to turn the radio off. This doesn't seem acceptable.

Need some help to understand how Newmar harness supports the radio and if it is normal for the radio to only operate off the house battery and not the auto battery. Now that we have removed the existing set up, we have no way of knowing how it worked originally.

Can anyone provide some info on how the standard radio works in Bay Star Sport 2016. In our previous unit (which we also modified), there was a switch to have the radio run off the house battery instead of the auto battery while you were not traveling.

Anyone know how to connect the radio to the chassis batteries? We could install our own switch.

Will have some photos tomorrow.

thanks in advance!

Lynn in MI, 2016 Bay Star Sport 2705

[15650street]

Looking on the Tips, going to COMNET, I found info on the BIRD. If I am interpreting this info correctly, both batteries are charged when engine is running based on need as sensed by the BIRD. Please correct me if I am misinterpreting this info. Thus, it would not run the house battery down when driving with radio on. With engine off, neither battery is charging, unless plugged in. Is it correct to assume, both batteries are charging when plugged in at night?

Thanks!

Lynn in MI

[Luv2go]

Lynn, you're interpreting this correctly. The BIRD will charge the house battery as well as the chassis battery off the engine when running, also will charge the engine battery as well as the house battery off the converter (or inverter/charger) when on shore power or generator. Glad to see 007's Tips pointed you in the right direction!

[purrin along]

Yes both batteries are charging when plugged into
shore power.

[gremlin]

Check out my post on bay star radios I sourced a switch to turn it off when not in use, and yes it's wired to house I believe, but I was able to use the factory wiring harnes from the original radio and built a pig tail to the new radio

["007"]

In the pass most radios have worked off the chassis batteries.
You can still do the same its up to you, when coach is in storage and the battery cut off switch operated it would mean with radio off house batteries it would eliminate one of those parasitic loads to drain your chassis battery in storage.
Older coach's had the LP Gas detector off the chassis battery also that could drain your chassis battery in storage but Newmar had a switch in the overhead display area to cut power to the detector.
Not sure where your LP Detector is wired to these days, I had a 1 amp fuse for it in a coil of wires in front of coach on fire wall under hood area.
When your coach is in storage you will still have your ECM, TCM and steps working off the chassis battery but you have the small solar panel to compensate for those parasitic loads, if the panel gets the sun to charge your chassis battery.
As has been stated your Bird controls the charging when your on shore line or when your driving but the BCO switch needs to be on at all time when you use your coach.

[gremlin]

Here's a link to my thread if it's helpful: http://www.irv2.com/forums/f103/bays...os-246582.html sorry I couldn't get it last night, on a different device!

[GaryKD]

Had the same situation on my coach. I did what gremlin posted. For me this is the best solution.

["007"]

Added your link in http://www.irv2.com/forums/f103/newm...-a-113631.html gremlin, BAY STAR Section.

[15650street]

All mods and upgrades are now done in our Bay Star Sport 2705. Thanks to all the great responses to my questions and posts about this task.

The last three mods were the most difficult. In order to improve our ability to hear talk radio/books on CD, we selected a Pioneer deck and new speakers to install lower and on each side of the cab. The overhead speakers, which point down, were impossible for us to hear clearly while traveling at 70 MPH. My husband built speaker boxes to hold the new speakers and mounted them on each side of cab. He mounted small tweeters on each A-pillar and tied in the existing speakers.

We also purchased a new CB, but then could not find anywhere in the driver's area to mount it. My hubby and son decided to incorporate it into the dash. This meant moving other things around, including switches. To manage this, my hubby made a whole new cover to replace the existing one and moved things around a bit. He also added a switch to turn the radio on and off, independently. The radio can also be off, but the clock and lighting displayed. The CB unit is now below the radio deck and easy to see and reach. Both the radio and the CB have weather feature. We installed a Firestick antenna, side mounted above the driver's side window (no ground plan antenna). It worked perfectly without tuning, per meter on radio. While we have not tested the new radio on the road at 70 MPH, we are hopeful that we will be much better able to clearly hear our talk radio as we travel. Will update when we head out on first long trip early in October.

Hubby also figured out a way to install the water suppressor valve inside the unit. Using Sharkbite fittings, he re-plumbed the lines coming into the unit beneath the bathroom sink. The gage is somewhat difficult to read (you have to stick your head in the cabinet), but once it is set as needed to protect the unit's plumbing, we should only need to view it if there is an issue.

It was very hard to cut, drill and dismantle our brand new unit. While not a half million dollar coach like most, it is nevertheless a big chunk of money for us. We wanted to keep costs for these mods proportionate to the unit, choosing the best components we could within agreed-upon price range.

As hard as it is to downsize (going from 36-foot DP to 28 foot gasser), we are getting used to the changes and upgrading the things we found ourselves using the most in our past 26 years of RVing. We want to keep things simple, easy and nimble, but still be able to enjoy the few niceties that made the long hours on the road to pass more quickly.

Thanks again to all for the great advice and useful info.

Note: Trying to load pictures. If unsuccessful now, I will post later.

Lynn in MI
2016 Bay Star Sport 2705 - 2014 Escape (std. trans-4 down)

[15650street]

Here are rest of pictures of mods discussed in prior posting.

[gremlin]

Nice! I'm going to do exactly the same thing with the speakers down low, but I'm going to make cabinets that have room for sunglasses etc on the drivers side, and maps a real cup holder and a usb charge port for the passenger side. I hadn't thought of throwing the tweets up there but it makes total sense.


Are the boxes built for the speakers ported in anyway? My understanding as car audio speakers were built for a larger space (a door) that if you installed them in a sealed box you would lose a lot of the bass due to the back pressure created.

[15650street]

Gremlin

Hubby says boxes are not ported. The they are not sealed airtight to the side wall, so a little bit of pressure is able to escape. Also, the boxes are a little under 500 cubic inches in volume, which is plenty of room for air movement from that size speaker (5.5 inches).

If it's not to late to rethink the tweeters, my hubby says they make a huge difference, even more significant than the lower speakers. They are connected to a crossover off the lower speakers.

Hope this info is helpful!

Lynn

[gremlin]

Originally Posted by 15650street

Gremlin

Hubby says boxes are not ported. The they are not sealed airtight to the side wall, so a little bit of pressure is able to escape. Also, the boxes are a little under 500 cubic inches in volume, which is plenty of room for air movement from that size speaker (5.5 inches).

If it's not to late to rethink the tweeters, my hubby says they make a huge difference, even more significant than the lower speakers. They are connected to a crossover off the lower speakers.

Hope this info is helpful!

Lynn

Ahh, so the boxes don't have back then! No it's not too late to rethink the tweets, I'm doing just that now.