Wonky Radio

[gypsmjim]

When we go home I turn the battery switch off and disconnect the shore power cord. Thus, no power to the RV at all.

When we return I turn the switch back on and connect the 120V cord. Been doing this for 10 years and every time we return, the radio is tuned into FM 87, so I have to reset it to the local channel frequency.

This weekend, several times the radio cut out and just went back to 87 and I had to change the station again. I was sitting right there when it happened. The furnace was running, as well as a bunch of lights and I saw no anomaly in the electrical system. In other words, the power didn't go out.

Do I have a radio problem or a power problem?

[craigav]

Could just be low voltage. Keep in mind that it is not the battery voltage in particular but instead it is the voltage at the radio which could be pulled down with the furnace and many lights on. Monitoring the voltage at the battery could be revealing but that voltage would likely be a bit higher than at the radio. ~CA

[gypsmjim]

Originally Posted by craigav

Could just be low voltage. Keep in mind that it is not the battery voltage in particular but instead it is the voltage at the radio which could be pulled down with the furnace and many lights on. Monitoring the voltage at the battery could be revealing but that voltage would likely be a bit higher than at the radio. ~CA

Now that gave me a thought. Something else happened that I didn't correlate at the time.

I have a digital voltmeter plugged into the DC "cigarette lighter" plug. It usually reads about 13.2+- volts. When the radio went out it was reading zero. I pulled it out and plugged it back in and it went back to 13. We were on shore power at the time. As I said before, the lights did not blink or any other anomaly.

I'm guessing now that there was a momentary loss of DC power. So, what would cause that? Do I have a problem in the making?

[craigav]

Originally Posted by gypsmjim

Now that gave me a thought. Something else happened that I didn't correlate at the time.

I have a digital voltmeter plugged into the DC "cigarette lighter" plug. It usually reads about 13.2+- volts. When the radio went out it was reading zero. I pulled it out and plugged it back in and it went back to 13. We were on shore power at the time. As I said before, the lights did not blink or any other anomaly.

I'm guessing now that there was a momentary loss of DC power. So, what would cause that? Do I have a problem in the making?

It certainly could be a momentary loss of DC power or it could be a spike or surge on the DC circuit near the radio. It can be hard to find loose connections sometimes but often they are found where the radio's wiring harness connects to the RV's power wires + or - such as a loose ground. If the problem continues, I would check the connections as some connectors seem to not hold up well with time.

However, I am curious to how you worded your comment above. Did the digital voltage meter actually read "zero" as if it did then it may be causing the issue? I have a few of those meters in a few different vehicles, and a couple of them also provide USB power to charge my phone. These meters should never read zero volts as zero volts should prevent the display from displaying anything at all. Therefore, if the display did read zero for the voltage then I would suspect that the plug in meter itself is possibly the cause of your radio's issue.

BTW, I am assuming that your plug in voltage meter is similar to the type I have which does not have a battery inside of them, which is why I was saying it can't display anything without some incoming voltage. A handheld voltage meter DVM which has a battery in it can read zero volts but not the type I have that plugs into the dash cigarette style power outlet. ~CA

[gypsmjim]

I also have several of these meters, used in my boats. I always knew there was a difference between meters, so I checked them against my digital multimeter and found that all were off by a few tenths. The one in the RV is the most accurate of the lot.

They do NOT have a USB plug, and no battery inside. When the incident occurred, it indeed show a red digital ZERO. I pulled it out and plugged it back in and then it read 13.1.

Next time down I'll replace it with one of the others I have at home.

BTW, how do you get the radio out of the wall to check the connections?

[craigav]

Originally Posted by gypsmjim

I also have several of these meters, used in my boats. I always knew there was a difference between meters, so I checked them against my digital multimeter and found that all were off by a few tenths. The one in the RV is the most accurate of the lot.

They do NOT have a USB plug, and no battery inside. When the incident occurred, it indeed show a red digital ZERO. I pulled it out and plugged it back in and then it read 13.1.

Next time down I'll replace it with one of the others I have at home.

BTW, how do you get the radio out of the wall to check the connections?

I have replaced radios in previous RV's and in other vehicles, there are different methods depending on the radio style you have. Perhaps someone with your make\model RV (or very similar) can provide more information in regarding how to pull it out and check the wiring, or if you can do so, a few pictures of it and where it is mounted may be of value in determining how to remove it. In a previous RV (non-Jayco) I could get to all of the wires by removing a panel next to the radio while leaving the radio mounted, not all are that way though. ~CA

[gypsmjim]

UPDATE...

Back at camp this weekend. The radio lost its memory a couple times again. One morning I noticed the CO / Propane detector had a red light on. I had planned to replace it next year anyway, so I took it out ahead of time. I replace them in about 5 year intervals.

When I disconnected the wires the radio went off. It came back on a few minutes later and worked fine for the rest of the weekend.

Could that detector been the source of my problem?