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Old 08-02-2009, 11:49 AM   #1
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Upgrading the AM/FM radio

A while back I posted about finding a replacement for the original AM/FM radio in the Suline. There were several possibilities, but the low cost ones were all AM/FM/Cassette players which we didn’t want. The AM/FM/CD units for RV’s were a little pricey for our budget as were the automotive aftermarket units.

Finally, “Cash for Clunkers” bailed us out. My son (an auto tech at a dealership) called and said they had taken in an ’01 Grand Cherokee and offered the radio and some other items to us. The car is headed for the crusher so we are getting some items that will fit DW’s Jeep plus the radio.

The radio turned out to be a factory original AM/FM/CD/Cassette with a basic graphic equalizer and is just perfect for the Sunline. The new radio is wider than the original plus it needs different mounting requiring an even wider opening. That meant that the existing vertical stiles of the cabinet had to be relocated to create a bigger space. So here are the pics from the conversion:

Here’s the radio area of the trailer before the job started. The radio is surface mounted to the wood stiles of the cabinetry.


I removed the radio and the adapter wiring leaving only the 12vdc hot and ground wires plus the four speaker wire pairs. Everything was labled before removal. The 12 vdc hot was taped off and all the wires were bundled together. The inner stiles of the cabinet and the small paneling pieces between the stiles were also taken out because the new radio is wider than the original, and mounts differently. The left and right cabinet doors came off because I kept hitting my head on them as I tried to work.


Here’s a view of the back side of one of the stiles. There are four wood screws in low angle pre-drilled holes which screw into the horizontal stiles of the cabinetry. In the confined space of that cabinet, it was a real knuckle-skinner to remove and reinstall them.


Here’s the left stile all clamped in place ready for the screws to be run

This is the position I had to work in when tightening those four screws:


Both stiles back in place; the opening was 7.5" wide and is now 9.5"::


Trial fit of the new radio with mounting brackets in place:


And fasten the mounting brackets:


www.installdr.com has connector wiring info for all the different automotive radios and instructions on how to install them. If you need to figure out how to get into the dashboard of your car or truck, this is the place for answers. The radio came with about a foot of the original harness so it was a simple matter of identifying each wire and connecting it to its corresponding wire in the Sunline. The new radio permanently in place and all wires hooked up:


The paneling between the left and right stile pairs gets reinstalled. Each one was originally stapled in place with over a dozen long wood staples. There was no easy way to pull the staples so the edges of the panel pieces got chewed up during removal. Since the new openings are narrower, no harm done. I used Gorilla Glue (my new best friend!) to hold them in place. All clamped up waiting for the glue to dry:


Had to go back into the wiring and add pigtails for the dimmer and back light switching. The wirenut and tape on the 12 vdc hot wires is just for insulation and protection. There are 6 wires in there and they are twisted and soldered in place before the wirenut is screwed on.


Automotive radios are designed to be mounted behind the dashboard’s panel so I had to fabricate a cover plate. I did it in two sections using 1/8” sheets of ABS so that I will have the flexibility to add something else in that area without disturbing the radio. Since the radio’s front panel is rounded at both ends, I had to make a custom template for the opening using pieces of card stock and tape.


Here’s the lower panel in place:


And the final job with the upper cover panel mounted as well:
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Old 08-02-2009, 12:03 PM   #2
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Steve

Nice Job!

But I did not see the report on how the new sound system worked compared to the old. If this pans out a trip to the car junk yard can produce many 12 VDC sound sytems.

So how does it sound??

John
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Old 08-02-2009, 01:07 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnB
Nice Job!

But I did not see the report on how the new sound system worked compared to the old. If this pans out a trip to the car junk yard can produce many 12 VDC sound sytems.

So how does it sound??
Thanks! Yeah, I forgot to include the "sounds" report....

It's grand! Much fuller sound than the Sunline original. More available volume without distortion, too but that just means it sounds better at low volume (campground couretous) settings. The built-in 3 range graphic equalizer really helps plus having fade capability from front to rear and left to right is great! No more A, B or A+B switching.

The only thing I might miss is having auxilary inputs so I could connect the TV or the XM radio to the sound system. XM's not a problem because it has a built-in FM transmitter, and we don't use the TV that much anyway. We've also got a portable boom box for the XM so it's even less of an issue.

The toughest part of the job was getting the mounting plates to match the radio. I tried to be a bit too precise and that created some minor headaches. If I ever do it again, I'll drill slightly larger mounting holes so I have some tweaking room.

What would be really cool is to find a good quality after-market radio in one of the Cash for Clunkers cars. That would actually be a better upgrade for a TT than a factory stock radio. But the price was right and I had everything but the #10-24 screws and nuts for mounting the radio on hand.

I am still contemplating adding a rocker switch to dim the display panel, and another to backlight it. That would make the radio work exactly like the one in a car. I may also put in a 12vdc master switch so I can shut off power just to the radio. The same circuit feeds the Winegard amp panel way in the back of the trailer, thus the two large red wires at the hot junction. I left plenty of space for the switches in the faceplate just above the radio itself.

The only potential downside may be electric consumption when boondocking. We're off to the Adirondacks for another 16 days starting next Monday so it'll be a good test. I'll have a report on that sometime after the 26th.
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Old 08-31-2009, 07:59 AM   #4
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Update:

We just spent two and a half weeks up in the Adirondacks dry camping at our favorite campground, Fish Creek Pond.

When we first got there, the radio would not receive anything which was a real puzzler because it had worked so well here at home. After a while, I started to mess with the antenna connection on the back of the radio. Lo and behold, it started working properly. After working the plug in and out a couple of times, it was fine. Must have been some oxidation on either the plug or socket that prevented a strong signal from getting to the radio. I added a light coating of dielectric grease to the plug.

I am going to take the rooftop antenna apart next and do some cleaning and greasing there, too.

I also added a switch to dim the display at night before we left. DW was dubious of this saying that it wasn't necessary. But, since she spends part of the night on the couch (back problems) she rapidly discovered that the brightness of the display really lit things up at night. So she started dimming it from the first night we were there.

We only ran the battery down one time, but I can't single out the new radio as the cause. We get 5 hours a day that we can run generators, and I confess to not giving the battery at least two or three hours of charge daily. I did much better after the night it drained down enough to shut off the fridge and we never had another problem.

I would also admit that we've treated the generator as a luxury and gotten away from being "frugal" with our use of 12vdc lights in the evening. I swapped the 921 in the amber scare light for a 194, and that cut back a lot of drain as we were leaving it on for an hour or two nightly. I have a pair of cheapie 921 LED's and tried one of them in the scare light, but it would not light at all. I fiddled with it for quite a while and then gave up. I have to order some more and will try different LED's there. It's possible that the ones I have are more voltage sensitive than others.

Overall, the radio worked just fine.
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Old 07-10-2011, 06:12 PM   #5
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Jensen AWM975

First of all, thanks Steve for posting the pictures of your upgrade. I had a how to guide with pics! Now for the downer, after modifying the opening and getting the new wiring all rigged up I keep blowing the in line fuse on the "memory" power supply and the radio pops its internal breaker. Checked all possible issues, ground, voltage, continuity, etc. Seems like the radio is the problem. Can't do anything after powering up the radio, that doesn't cause this fuse to blow. Would like the experts on this forum to confirm my findings. I have a feeling I am going to have to go through the old return routine.
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Old 07-10-2011, 06:46 PM   #6
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Joe, I don't know that I can offer much from a distance on this. I used the Sunline wiring and the Jeep radio wiring diagrams that I found online to double-double check every single wire before I ever applied power to it.

I also had the luxury of having just installed an aftermarket HD radio in my Dodge truck. Dodge and Jeep are the same when it comes to radio wiring, at least in the '02's, so I was on very firm ground in identifying each wire and connecting where it belonged. The color coding was the same all around.

What you might do is disconnect all of the wiring and go through it again, wire by wire, verifying each as you go. I never connected up the wire that dims the radio lights when the headlights are on as it isn't needed in this application. You might want to disconnect that first and see if it helps.

There are a couple of other wires that are non-essential like the backlighting control. Disconnect them and see if the problem persists.

If you really feel the radio is the problem, maybe you can find another car radio somewhere and substitute it. Had I not been able to pick up the used Jeep radio, I would have next looked at used stuff. There is a lot of it around, and for cheap. Check with a store that does upfitting installs of aftermarket radios - they may have a "take out" that they'll let go for pennies.
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Old 07-10-2011, 07:46 PM   #7
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Thanks Steve. Rechecked all the wiring. Installed a few car audio systems in my day, and as your upgrade shows, that all these units are. Have an email in to Jensen. Will contact the dealer I purchased unit from too. Was an ebay transaction, but I have had nothing but good experiences with ebay. The unit was new in box, factory sealed. This is the newest version of these units, so am thinking I just might have received a lemon. This should end up being a cool thing as it has integrated DVD, ipod, and also a weather radio, as well as AM/FM/CD. Should make those long nights during hunting season more enjoyable. Will let you know what comes of this.
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Old 07-10-2011, 08:51 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by joe8grouse View Post
This should end up being a cool thing as it has integrated DVD, ipod, and also a weather radio, as well as AM/FM/CD. Should make those long nights during hunting season more enjoyable. Will let you know what comes of this.

do you by chance have a link to the site....sounds like a nice upgrade!
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Old 07-10-2011, 11:00 PM   #9
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AWM975 - JENSEN AM/FM/CD/DVD/USB/WB/iPOD Ready Wallmount Stereo with HDMI Video Output
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Old 07-12-2011, 07:44 PM   #10
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Thanks Steve for getting that link posted. Purchased this unit from RVSurplus on ebay. Best price I could find. Now to update my fuse issue. Spoke with the supplier techs and they were very helpful. The Sunline wiring harness has two fused 12 volt supplies. One is fused with a 3 amp and the other is a 1 amp. Tech explained that the old radio didn't have the amp requirements of the new Jensen and that most of the power draw to the unit comes through the "memory" side of the power in leads. This was the line that had the 1 amp fuse. So, with the advice of the tech, I went with a 10 amp fuse, and viola, we have sound! All is good, now just waiting on the new Pioneer speakers.
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Old 07-13-2011, 03:47 AM   #11
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Joe, I love it when a plan comes together!

That is a good "tech tidbit" for the future. Someone else will have the same issue someday soon.
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Old 07-14-2011, 06:57 PM   #12
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I installed a new JVC the camper never had a radio and most of the speakers with out an amp just don't have enough quality for me so instead of boring holes for speakers I used a computer speaker set up that had a sub woofer. I used a small 150 inverter I had laying around and a relay to turn it on from the amp out power lead great sound! I usually record music from an on line radio station convert it to MP3 and put 12 hours or more on a memory stick (the radio has a USB port) and go camping!
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