Car audio install in RV... weird things, what did I do?

[Shibbershabber]

I’ve been restoring a travel trailer... and it’s time for music

It already had speakers wired in, from factory, and an awesome 8 track deck.

So removed deck and old speakers, opened the hole up and stuffed a 2din deck in there and put up new speakers. Sounded good last night.

This morning I’m showing my kids my handy work and the deck comes on, but no sound at all.
It’s on, had radio on... put in a CD which appeared to be playing by the display.... nothing though from speakers.


After some creative thinking, I turned on the lights, recreating the environment I was in last night during the install................ AND IT CAME ON!

Turn the light off and the speakers cackled a bit and sound was gone.... maybe I’m crazy but it seemed like the more lights I turned on the better it sounded.


I used the existing speaker wires, which looked like 14-16awg copper stand wire.... maybe they all share a ground or something? Maybe power source, but the deck is just fine...

I did notice when the wiring was complete and I plugged the harness into the deck for the first time, all the lights got brighter.

Fixtures, btw are all new LED fixtures.... nothing odd noticed when installing them


Any thoughts?
I don’t mind having a light on for music, but want to be sure of what’s going on... don’t want any trouble while on a trip, etc

 

[Doubeleive]

sounds like sketchy electrical in the trailer and not directly related to the radio install, might be advisable to check on a forum that deals with travel trailers and be sure to mention the year/make/model that will probably be useful to individuals knowledgeable in that area.

 

[yates ™]

Maybe you're not getting full power unless the lights complete a circuit. i would try to wire temporarily wire your stereo directly to a battery and see if it plays the same with the different scenarios.

Did you run new wiring to the speakers or use existing? The camper could have an amp some where along the line that isn't wired correctly or maybe that is how it was wired back in the day by this manufacturer. If you can still get a wiring diagram may help you understand this. If this is the case I would rewire the speakers directly to your amp or the head unit (H/U) depending on what you want. I would also wire the H/U on your own vs using the camper wiring.

I have seen power issues give weird results like this.

 

[Shibbershabber]

Looks like I tapped into the middle of the lighting circuit ... although I dont know why it would kill the sound but continue to power the unit....


Either way, I found a better circuit to tap and its nice and clean. No interference and was close enough that I can keep a clean install without running a bunch of wire

 

[yates ™]

Looks like I tapped into the middle of the lighting circuit ... although I dont know why it would kill the sound but continue to power the unit....


Either way, I found a better circuit to tap and its nice and clean. No interference and was close enough that I can keep a clean install without running a bunch of wire
View attachment 222744

Because the amp portion takes more power than the display. Glad you got it figured out.