Garmin 600 series

[Balibe]

I looked at the pictures, looks like all the wires are there for the speakers on both connectors to the amplifier per the drawing. The wire colors also match the drawing.

Also no 9-pin connector under the seat either or connection points #3 & #4. I looked closer at the drawing, connector #5 in the radio harness cannot connect to connector #6 in the amp harness. They are different 9-pin connectors, even by the AMP (manufacture) part number.

This leads me to believe the numbers next to the wires are locations. Location 5 is the radio and location 6 is the amplifier. I did see your roof location drawing the dealer supplied you. Need the lower location drawing to know these locations.

If I am correct with the locations numbers, amp harness connection #5 & #6 go to location #120. The radio harness connections #2, #3 & #5 go to location #10. There will be another harness from location #10 to location #120. Connection location #10 should be somewhere under the Sprinter Dash as connection #3 is connecting to the Sprinter ignition, ground & illumination.

[Imazman]

Ok, so I looked behind the dash radio. I saw two groups of wires coming up from down under that dash ...one group had 8 wires (white, white/blk trace, gray, gray/blk trace, purple, purple/blk, green, green/blk)...and the second group which has 9 wires, all the same colors as the other group but the extra wire is a blue wire. The group of 9 leads to a connector, going to a short 6" group of wires that leads to a connector connected into the radio. The group of 8 wires coming up from under the dash has barrel connectors. Of the 8 wires coming out of barrel connectors four of them are brown but have a different trace color. The other four wires are actually more like speaker wires where two conductors are connected together by the shielding. Here is a crude diagram...the 'o' are the white plastic connectors, the '--' represent wires, so an o---o represents a harness with connectors on both ends:

Radio]o--oo--------o[Amp]o-------barrelConnectors------speakers

So this information led me to the following conclusions...

1) The 9 wire group must be going from radio to the amp input because Balibe mentioned a blue wire is a remote power wire so the radio can turn on the amp.
2) The 8 wire group must be coming back from the amp and connects to the four speakers.
3) The 4 brown wires must be the chassis speakers (door speakers) because they come from a wiring harness which has an unused black connector which is most likely the original Mercedes radio harness, plus the cut off wires from this harness are all brown. Finally to drive this home, I removed the passenger door panel an found the speaker is terminated with brown wires.

So now that I know all the wires that are involved and where they all go...I am left with the following questions...

All 4 speakers work, but volume goes up/down together...conceptually why is the external amplifier REQUIRED to allow the volume for 2 speakers to be changed independently of the other two speakers? That is, if the radio can adjust each signal to the amplifier independently why can't it just change the signal directly to the speaker. Why do I need the external amplifier? Seems like the amp just isn't working? What is my next step?

[Balibe]

I was able to open up my dash today and fix the dash cap vibration issues. Both braces bent over in the factory when they made all the harness connections at this location. Even smashed several ac/heat ducts, always wonder why I never got enough air out of the dash. All fixed now, several hours wasted along with several beers (well the beers were not a wasted) ……

I also went over the radio system, there is no amplifier under the dash or seats. I am 99% sure I do not have one, going to call Jayco this week to see if I can get the audio drawing for my RV.

My stereo is not using the RCA outputs, speaker outputs are connected to the radio harness (picture attached). The speaker wires come out of the radio and connect to another wire bundle with field connections (picture attached). After this field connection to the next wire bundle there is a string tag with hand writing stating AX Roof B (picture attached), all my speakers are in the ceiling/roof.

Inside this wire bundle is typical speaker wires, two wires together not 8 separate wires which can be seen in the picture. I pulled my cabin passenger side speaker and have the same wire type which is brown & black (picture attached) as the field connection at the radio.

I do not have JBL speakers like you. Mine appear to be Magnadyne (made in China). They are rated for 15w/4ohm. As I have stated I always thought my sound quality was poor, got a radio capable of 45w/4ohm per channel and only 15w speakers.

Just to be sure I turned on just zone 1 & turned off zone #2, only the speakers in the front work. Turned on zone #2 and turned off zone #1, only the cabin speakers work. I even did the left/right balance for each zone, which worked. They did wire mine backwards for the front & main cabin. The left speaker output is wired to the right speaker. I will fix this when I upgrade the speakers ……



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[Imazman]

Originally Posted by Balibe

I was able to open up my dash today and fix the dash cap vibration issues. Both braces bent over in the factory when they made all the harness connections at this location. Even smashed several ac/heat ducts, always wonder why I never got enough air out of the dash. All fixed now, several hours wasted along with several beers (well the beers were not a wasted) ……

I also went over the radio system, there is no amplifier under the dash or seats. I am 99% sure I do not have one, going to call Jayco this week to see if I can get the audio drawing for my RV.

My stereo is not using the RCA outputs, speaker outputs are connected to the radio harness (picture attached). The speaker wires come out of the radio and connect to another wire bundle with field connections (picture attached). After this field connection to the next wire bundle there is a string tag with hand writing stating AX Roof B (picture attached), all my speakers are in the ceiling/roof.

Inside this wire bundle is typical speaker wires, two wires together not 8 separate wires which can be seen in the picture. I pulled my cabin passenger side speaker and have the same wire type which is brown & black (picture attached) as the field connection at the radio.

I do not have JBL speakers like you. Mine appear to be Magnadyne (made in China). They are rated for 15w/4ohm. As I have stated I always thought my sound quality was poor, got a radio capable of 45w/4ohm per channel and only 15w speakers.

Just to be sure I turned on just zone 1 & turned off zone #2, only the speakers in the front work. Turned on zone #2 and turned off zone #1, only the cabin speakers work. I even did the left/right balance for each zone, which worked. They did wire mine backwards for the front & main cabin. The left speaker output is wired to the right speaker. I will fix this when I upgrade the speakers ……



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I believe the problem is Jayco doesn't know what the hello they are doing. They have the amplifier installed but they are not using the RCA Jack's!
RIDDLE ME THIS...
...what's the difference between German workmanship and American workmanship? Well I won't answer that but I will tell you that to take the dash apart and the door apart on a Mercedes was very simplistic...I will also show you picture of Jayco's installation of a stereo head unit...
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Gp7...w?usp=drivesdk
...anyway I leave it as an exercise for the reader to come to their own conclusion.
Now, I do believe the stereo head unit is not in stalled correctly...in fact here is an excerpt from the RV-BBT601 user manual...
"Speaker Zones:
You can group speakers in one area into speaker zones. This enables you to control the audio level of the zones individually. For example, you could make the audio quieter in the cabin and louder on deck. Zones 1 and 2 are powered by the on-board amplifier. To use the RCA line outputs and the RCA subwoofer outputs, you must
connect external amplifiers."

@Balibe
This might explain why your radio works as expect and you can't find an amplifier. I think I will be ripping out the amplifier and see if it will start working for me. However, before I rip out the amplifier I will give Garmin a chance to explain why it might be wired without the RCA Jack's and have an external amplifier.

Here are a few more pics, this one is shows what I believe was the original Mercedes stereo connector with the cut off speaker wires...
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jWT...w?usp=drivesdk
...here is pic of extra unused RCA cable that was run from the TV, perhaps they thought they could watch TV on the 7" screen...
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wrB...w?usp=drivesdk
...this pic shows the short harness going from radio to longer harness leading to amp input (lower left shows back of stereo, upper right one can see harness to harness connector)...
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19wI...w?usp=drivesdk
...and finally here are the butt/barrel connectors which connect stereo speakers to the harness coming back from the amp...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E3e...w?usp=drivesdk

[Balibe]

I would not cut the wires to bypass the amplifier or do major modifications as they may not warranty it if you need to take in to be resolved. They may say you caused the issue. You could unplug the two white plugs at the amplifier and use 18ga wire stripped and inserted into the plugs to test/bypass the amp. I can mark up a sketch based on your harness diagram if you want to try this.

The RV-BBT601 has an internal amplifier connected to the harness output for zones 1/2. The zones 1/2/3/4 RCA outputs are before the internal amplifier. Which is why you must use an amplifier if the RCA outputs are used. Both our systems along with the Seneca are using the harness output for zones 1/2. Your system has an external amplifier after the internal amplifier, mine does not which is why I have crappy sound.

As a shot in the dark, have you tried turning off the internal amplifier to see what happens? There is a checkbox in the menu settings to turn on/off the internal amplifier. I saw this setting this past weekend while going thru my menu system.

I also have the loose RCA yellow video at my stereo. Our system only has one video input, which is used by the cameras. I also have the same mess behind my stereo. I looked under my bed to install a hardwired surge & electrical portector, it is worse. This is where all my main system wires are with the fuse panels.

The cut wires on the black sprinter plug are the same brown with color striped wires connected to the barrel connections. These are the wires from the amplifier to the front factory speakers. From your picture you can see white, white/black, gray & gray/black connecting to the original sprinter brown wires with a color stripe for the front speakers. This is as you amp harness diagram states for connection #5.

The purple & black and green/black & black are double wires together, like my wires to the speakers. These are the wires from the amplifier to the cabin speakers. From your picture you can see green, green/black, purple & purple/black connecting to the double wires above for the rear speakers. This is as you amp harness diagram states for connection #5.

From every picture you have sent, everything appears to be wired per the drawing (D.N.) 0.092.125. The only connection point not shown in any pictures is amp harness connection #6. This should be at the stereo location, but may be at the amplifier location.

[Imazman]

Originally Posted by Balibe

I would not cut the wires to bypass the amplifier or do major modifications as they may not warranty it if you need to take in to be resolved. They may say you caused the issue. You could unplug the two white plugs at the amplifier and use 18ga wire stripped and inserted into the plugs to test/bypass the amp. I can mark up a sketch based on your harness diagram if you want to try this.

The RV-BBT601 has an internal amplifier connected to the harness output for zones 1/2. The zones 1/2/3/4 RCA outputs are before the internal amplifier. Which is why you must use an amplifier if the RCA outputs are used. Both our systems along with the Seneca are using the harness output for zones 1/2. Your system has an external amplifier after the internal amplifier, mine does not which is why I have crappy sound.

As a shot in the dark, have you tried turning off the internal amplifier to see what happens? There is a checkbox in the menu settings to turn on/off the internal amplifier. I saw this setting this past weekend while going thru my menu system.

I also have the loose RCA yellow video at my stereo. Our system only has one video input, which is used by the cameras. I also have the same mess behind my stereo. I looked under my bed to install a hardwired surge & electrical portector, it is worse. This is where all my main system wires are with the fuse panels.

The cut wires on the black sprinter plug are the same brown with color striped wires connected to the barrel connections. These are the wires from the amplifier to the front factory speakers. From your picture you can see white, white/black, gray & gray/black connecting to the original sprinter brown wires with a color stripe for the front speakers. This is as you amp harness diagram states for connection #5.

The purple & black and green/black & black are double wires together, like my wires to the speakers. These are the wires from the amplifier to the cabin speakers. From your picture you can see green, green/black, purple & purple/black connecting to the double wires above for the rear speakers. This is as you amp harness diagram states for connection #5.

From every picture you have sent, everything appears to be wired per the drawing (D.N.) 0.092.125. The only connection point not shown in any pictures is amp harness connection #6. This should be at the stereo location, but may be at the amplifier location.

I am going to hold off cutting anything for now. Worse case I will see if I can get the metal clips out of the plastic connects but I will wait until after I talk to Garmin support tomorrow (well today given it's after midnight). It should be simple to bypass...down at the amp I should just need to connect wht to wht, wht/blk to wht/blk, gry to get, gry/blk to gry/blk, etc. Anyway, I called them this morning and talked a bit but I was not in front of my RV at the time. He sounded positive he would get my issue resolved but with all his suggestions, I am 99% confident I tried everything he mentioned (unlink zone to from zone1, set volume limits to max, adjust volumes in two different menus, etc.). I also did turn off the internal amp...it killed all sound...another reason I believe the amp just isn't working. We will see tomorrow.
The connection #6 I think is in the pic repeated below...look at the top left pictures, just below my pointer finger. It connects the 9 wires from radio to amp harness...
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19wI...w?usp=drivesdk
It is a little hard to see the wires coming out the bottom of the connector but they are the wht, wht/blk, gry, gry/blk, grn, grn/blk, ppl, ppl/blk, Blu.
Also, I had updated the radio to 3.2 last year when I bought the RV but it is back at 3.0...i think the dealer reset it back to factor when they tried to fix it. I updated it to 3.4 but only the dock updated, the remote still says 3.0 but unfortunately when I put the USB drive in the computer the Garmin Express software thinks it is all up to date so I don't know how to get the remote to update. This is something I will get the support guy to help with too. I will keep you posted.

[Balibe]

I updated it to 3.4 but only the dock updated, the remote still says 3.0 but unfortunately when I put the USB drive in the computer the Garmin Express software thinks it is all up to date so I don't know how to get the remote to update. This is something I will get the support guy to help with too. I will keep you posted.

The USB process only updates the dock. You also need to connect the remote to the computer to update. Garmin Express will create a second device to update. In addition to software updates, map updates are also installed in the remote.

[Imazman]

Ok, quick status. I did update the dock and remote...yes didn't realize I needed to hook up remote directly to PC. As far as the radio and amp...Garmin said they were talking with Jayco for several days on how the installs are being performed. Garmin said they will get this fixed one way or another just hold tight until they are done discussing. Three days later...Garmin told me Jayco will be in touch with me. Two more days...still waiting by the phone. I am starting to believe it is just lip service.

[Imazman]

Status update...
...Garmin said the talked directly to Jayco electrical engineer who designed the whole system integration (wiring, amp specs, speakers, etc). Garmin said the way they designed the install it can't change front and back speakers. Garmin agreed it needs to be fixed and it was designed incorrectly. He further said any anyone who has the "upgraded JBL" system will have this issue.

[Imazman]

Since Garmin did all they could I requested names of Jayco contacts from him and I called Jayco. Well Jayco blocked me from talking to the correct guys involved with Garmin and I basically have to start over with Jayco tier one support! They are back to trying to trouble shoot! I am so close to taking this to a new level.

[Imazman]

Still no word so had to call Forest back at Jayco. He said that Jayco intentionally design the system to not be as Garmin recommends. He said that is it, it is the way it is, and I need to go back to the sales man who told me I can adjust different zones. I will continue to pursue this but in a slightly different way.

[Balibe]

What did Garmin say on why it is not designed correctly?

May need to inform Forest @ Jayco that it works this way in other RV's they manufacture.

From posts in this thread, the Seneca that Rustynuts & RVermont have and the Alante I have can adjust zones #1 & #2 independently. Maybe he can explain to you why your Melbourne does not work like these two models ……

[Imazman]

Originally Posted by Balibe

What did Garmin say on why it is not designed correctly?

May need to inform Forest @ Jayco that it works this way in other RV's they manufacture.

From posts in this thread, the Seneca that Rustynuts & RVermont have and the Alante I have can adjust zones #1 & #2 independently. Maybe he can explain to you why your Melbourne does not work like these two models ……

The main connector on the back of the radio is output from the internal amplifier. The RCA outputs on the back of the radio are line level outputs and those are the outputs that are to be used with an external amplifier. Apparently, the Jayco "Electrical Engineer wanna be" that attempted to design a system with a specialty amplifier failed drastically as their "solution" locks all the speakers to a single volume. I hope he finds himself a skill some day.
Apparently, this "engineer's" "solution" was the "JBL upgraded option" that went into some units. It is those units that won't work correctly. I am guessing you do not have the "upgraded audio option" and thus you don't have an amplifier...so your 4 channels out of the radio can be adjusted independently.
The best I can tell, there might (big might) be three solutions (all of which are trivial for me to do but that is not the point, I shouldn't have to be the one to do the work):
1) Remove the amplifier, write "James' Junk" on it and use it as a paper weight and conversation piece. Cut the plug off the wiring harness going into the amp and cut the plug off the harness coming out of the amp and splice the wires together. All four speakers will only use internal amp.
2) Cut the speaker wires coming out of radio and attach 4 RCA jacks, plug these 4 RCA jacks into the radio's RCA line level outputs. Still have some reservations on this working.
3) Cut just two speakers wire coming out of radio, attach RCA jacks, cut other two speaker wires going into amp and out of amp and wire those cut input wires to the cut output wires. Effectively using internal amp for two speakers, say zone 1, and using external amp for other two speakers, say zone 2. Again I have reservations on this working.

[Imazman]

I just bought a new car and guess what? I can change the rear speakers independently than the front speaker. Why is it that if one buys a car and the fader doesn't work it is fixed but if Jayco sells you a vehicle and the fader doesn't work, it is considered "by design"?

[Balibe]

Originally Posted by Imazman

Apparently, this "engineer's" "solution" was the "JBL upgraded option" that went into some units. It is those units that won't work correctly. I am guessing you do not have the "upgraded audio option" and thus you don't have an amplifier...so your 4 channels out of the radio can be adjusted independently.

I do not have an amplifier. It was not listed as an option for the 26x, I do have the customer value package.

If the Jayco wiring diagram RVermont posted in post #15 is accurate for his Seneca, he also has an JBL amplifier. The connectors to the amplifier are the same as your wiring diagram, it does not state the model number of the amplifier.

If he does have a JBL amplifier as the wiring diagram states, it is odd that he can adjust zone 1/2 and you cant.

[Florida Ranger]

How do I get the TV sound to play in the radio speakers ?

[Balibe]

Originally Posted by Florida Ranger

How do I get the TV sound to play in the radio speakers ?

In my Alante 26x, I select the "AUX" input. Then the TV sounds comes thru the stereo speakers and TV speakers. I adjust the stereo level and TV level to a acceptable balance. I do turn the front speakers (zone #1) down to 0% so the TV sound only comes out of the cabin speakers and TV speakers.

[bobert]

Imazman, I have the exact issue with my 2018 24K. I tried your option #2 before finding this thread ... it did not work. I also chased the wires to the JBL amp and stopped there trying to figure out how they became one channel out of there I came to the forum. Just curious, did any of the other options work?

[Imazman]

Originally Posted by Florida Ranger

How do I get the TV sound to play in the radio speakers ?

Set Garbage, I mean Garmin unit to Aux. Jayco installed an RCA cable from Garmin unit to TV and used an RCA to 3.1mm headphone jack adapter and plugged the headphone jack into the headphone output of the TV...the crap TV they installed (Insignia) didn't have an RCA audio output :-O

Originally Posted by Balibe

In my Alante 26x, I select the "AUX" input. Then the TV sounds comes thru the stereo speakers and TV speakers. I adjust the stereo level and TV level to a acceptable balance. I do turn the front speakers (zone #1) down to 0% so the TV sound only comes out of the cabin speakers and TV speakers.

Oh sure, rub it in...you can turn Zone 1 down independently of other zones ;-)

Originally Posted by bobert

Imazman, I have the exact issue with my 2018 24K. I tried your option #2 before finding this thread ... it did not work. I also chased the wires to the JBL amp and stopped there trying to figure out how they became one channel out of there I came to the forum. Just curious, did any of the other options work?

Nope...dump the Garmin Garbage!

[bobert]

I got it solved … two speaker zones now! One in the cab and the other the house speakers.

I disconnected the house speaker wires from the long wire bundle and spliced them into the short wire bundle coming straight off the radio. Left the long wire bundle connected to radio and now I have two zones that I can control independently.