Installing a radio for tv with a sound idea....??

[Shane826]

A car radio will likely have 12V battery and 12V ignition leads. One is a small power feed all the time to save clock, presets, etc. and the other turns the radio on when the car is turned on. I’m guessing that blue wire is hot all the time, so you would tie both Battery and Ignition power wires to the blue wire. That means the radio is always ON.

[Bill]

Exactly. That's why I asked him to look for a black wire. If some wires are missing or hidden, that will confuse the project.

I think the powered antenna comes into play as well. As I recall, the blue wire is the always-on, as you said, and it should also power the antenna.

So where is the black wire? I think he needs to dig a little deeper back there.

Bill

[kjbooe]

Thanks for the reply and the diagram. Sweet.

I will just need to check and see if there is adapter switch needed or if the wires can plug directly into the radio separately..??

[commodor47]

Originally Posted by Bill

Exactly. That's why I asked him to look for a black wire. If some wires are missing or hidden, that will confuse the project.

I think the powered antenna comes into play as well. As I recall, the blue wire is the always-on, as you said, and it should also power the antenna.

So where is the black wire? I think he needs to dig a little deeper back there.

Bill

My TM uses the blue wire as power for the radio. I was able to trace the blue wire back to the converter panel. The radio I bought also came with a plugin connector and a bundle of wire ends needed for various connections. The radio installation listed which wires offered the various options.

[kjbooe]

So, so incredibly helpful!

Thanks so much!

[Shane826]

Bill- Interesting on the schematic I have it is a black wire.... But either way there is only one power wire to the radio. Since there is no ignition switch to turn the camper on, it makes sense that BAT+ & IGN+ power wires are just tied together. It also shows that this circuit piggybacks off the 12VDV fridge power circuit.

Here’s an easy way to add an IGN circuit that should shut off the radio but save clock and presets, and likely shut down the power antenna as well. Split two leads off the one power wire you have for the radio. Connect one directly to the BAT+ lead on the radio. Run the second one to a rocker switch installed next tO the radio, and then to the IGN+ lead. Now you can shut the radio (and likely antenna) off with the flip of a switch.

[kjbooe]

Dick and Jeri,
Did the plug-in adapter that came with the radio have the blue hot wire option with it? Where did you plug in the blue hot and white ground to the radio or does that come with the installation instructions like you are mentioning?

(see enclosed attachment....)

[Shane826]

The harness that comes with the radio will likely have red for BAT+ and orange for IGN+ (or vice versa) which you would tie together to the blue TM power wire (or wire to a switch as I described) and then black for ground which you would connect to the white TM ground wire. You’ll have to read the instructions for which wires connect to the speaker wires.

[kjbooe]

Got it Shane!! Super cool info.

[commodor47]

Originally Posted by kjbooe

Dick and Jeri,
Did the plug-in adapter that came with the radio have the blue hot wire option with it? Where did you plug in the blue hot and white ground to the radio or does that come with the installation instructions like you are mentioning?

(see enclosed attachment....)

The radio I installed uses a yellow colored wire for the + power connection and a black wire for ground. Also included with the plug is a red colored wire that is used for the accessory key selection in a vehicle installation. Since this is not a vehicle installation I coupled the red wire with the yellow and connected both to the blue wire (found above the refrigerator) which comes from the TM converter and is the + power supply for the radio.

The other challenge is determining which speaker wire corresponds to the left speaker and which goes to the right speaker. Standing inside my unit, facing both speakers I opted to make the left speaker connection to the radio left (speaker)channel out and the right speaker to the radio right channel out. To make that determination I used a continuity test. But I also tested the remaining pair to verify they went to the other speaker. Testing in this manner also confirmed both speakers would be operational once all connections were made and the radio was turned on.

See thumbnails for the plug schematic of my radio installation. The numbers referenced are explained in the second thumbnail.

Dick