Community Forums

Oliver220 · 05-06-2014, 12:08 AM

2013 Allegro 34TGA. The dash radio is only powered by the house batteries even though there is a radio switch on the dash. Why Allegro chose not to power the radio thru the ignition switch is dumb. The clock on the radio will not work the way allegro has it wired. (The radio has the wiring harness to make it work this way.) The dealer says nothing they can do about it. Is allegro to cheap to wire it in. It seems they are cutting corners where ever they can, now there are no "on lights" on the water pump switches and no pump switch for the outside shower. There are many more complaints about this coach but I'll just say its sad to see allegro cheapen their product.

woodburner · 05-06-2014, 01:20 AM

Boy...If you think it's such a crummy product; why did you buy it?
Can't believe someone would come on here complaining about cheapness with the items you mention.
There are so many good points to a 34tga that a few little things like you're complaining about is really....
I'll just say I disagree with your views and leave it at that.

dabrooks · 05-06-2014, 05:47 AM

I have a 35QBA and mine is wired the same way. I leave the dash switch on and turn the radio off using the power switch on the radio. That way the clock stays powered and the radio memory save my favorites.

I also added "pump on" LED lights for the water pump. That was or is one of the best improvements I have made.

jeepfreak · 05-06-2014, 02:14 PM

Mine came wired with clock memory hooked up. Also it came with the radio booklet that shows how to hook it up. Maybe , if you have the booklet you could find the wire that needs to be hot and tie it in.

mel s · 05-06-2014, 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oliver220

2013 Allegro 34TGA. The dash radio is only powered by the house batteries even though there is a radio switch on the dash. Why Allegro chose not to power the radio thru the ignition switch is dumb. The clock on the radio will not work the way allegro has it wired. (The radio has the wiring harness to make it work this way.) The dealer says nothing they can do about it.

Oliver220
First off where the dealers lips moving when he said, "nothing they can do about it"?.......that's how you know they're lying!

On my old coach the dash radio is powered by the house batteries, but the "clock/preset station memory" of the radio is powered by the chassis battery....(there are IMO, good logical reasons for that arrangement).

Since your "radio has the wiring harness to make it work", simply connect the "memory wire" of that wiring harness to an "always on" hot lead from the chassis battery.
If you want the radio itself to work off the chassis battery, connect the "radio power wire" to the same hot chassis battery lead.

However, if you want the radio power switched on/off by the ignition key, and not lose the memory, connect the "radio power wire" to "an on with key switch" lead and the "memory wire" to "an always hot" lead.

That will should solve your perceived problem.

BTW I don't think an ybody knows why most things are done the way they're done by any coach builder, (not just Allegro).

Mel
'96 Safari

wa8yxm · 05-06-2014, 05:46 PM

You said there is a switch on the dash.. .. Just a guess but I'd say that switch is fed via a blown fuse when switched to "CHASSIS" you might wish to check that out.

My favorite fuse tester is a test lamp.. Sometimes I home brew but I have a couple I got at the auto parts store.. They look like old fashion ice picks (Might well work as one too) with a translucent plastic handle with a light bulb in it and a lead with a clip coming out of the handle.

Ground the clip.

Touch each end of the fuse

LIGHT-LIGHT fuse good and powered

DARK-DARK fuse not powered

Dark-Light or Light-Dark = bad fuse.

Oliver220 · 05-07-2014, 02:18 PM

Got a lot of good info to my radio power post. I will follow up on your suggestions just as soon as I get the MH back from the Dealer doing other warranty work. It's in his yard more than mine.
I do agree, it's not just allegro, I have had 8 MH's over the years and they are all about the same. Honda needs to make a MH, it would give the RV industry a wake-up call much the same as they did to Detroit in the '70's.

garykk · 05-07-2014, 03:57 PM

I think the reason the radio is wired the way it is , is to keep any parasitic draw from killing batteries when in storage..

gemini5362 · 05-10-2014, 01:36 PM

I think it is wired the way it is for music when you are sitting with your camper parked instead of having to have a radio in the coach in addition to your dash radio. If you have it on the chassis batteries and are sitting in your coach listening to music then you might fall asleep and have dead batteries when you go to start the coach.

DoubleCK · 05-10-2014, 03:53 PM

The dash radio on our Camper is wired just the opposite. The idea seems to be that the dash unit is used when rolling and the Home Type Sound System is used when parked.

We would like to replace the in dash unit with the new Alpine 7" unit. Seems to have all the whistles and bells. My problem is if we drop that kind of change into a unit seems it should be able to be installed to be used while rolling and parked.

Any ideas for me?