Jensen radio (head unit) no power

Sometimes the radio is off the chassis battery, sometimes the house battery, sometimes there's a switch to select between the two. The first thing I would check is whether the house battery disconnect ("salesman switch") is off and try turning it on.

If it is on the chassis battery, then indeed the standard Ford radio fuse(s) as identified in the chassis manual almost certainly would cut its power. I suspect the fusebox in question is under the dashboard on the driver's side, but I may be all wrong; at any rate, the manual would spell it all out for you.

I don't know if this is related, but I posted about my Greyhawk's Jensen JRV215N problems over on the Jayco Owners forum. My solution might help. Turns out the JRV215N goes really wonky if the coach battery dies.

The way I brought it back to life was: fully charge the coach battery.

Then master power switch off. Then disconnect coach battery completely. Then disconnect chassis (Ford) battery. Wait 30 seconds and reverse things - reconnect chassis batter, reconnect coach battery, master power switch on.

This worked for me. It might not be what's wrong with yours but it's worth a shot.

The Ford fuse that's there for the radio does not connect to the Jensen in our unit. It's #39 (IIRC) and is behind the parking brake. But pulling it had no effect on the radio in my Greyhawk.

If all else fails, you can try ASA Technical support. But they were no help to me. Somewhere in your coach should be the two metal 'prongs' that will allow you to pull the unit out of the dash.

Have you turned the COACH Battery disconnect by the entry door ON? This is required to power up the features on Jayco Motorized. Jayco does NOT connect the Dash radio system to any part of the Ford Radio/Nav fuse system. Doug

Yes. Battery disconnect is on. Everything else working fine. Just radio. Checked all fuses and everything is good in both chassis (#39 fuse) and house fuses. Very weird and frustrating.

Many car radios have a reset button that you can press in with a pen or toothpick or whatever. Maybe that would jolt it back to life. If not, turning off the house battery for an hour (or even a minute or two) would probably serve the same purpose.

There may be an inline fuse behind the radio or one built into the radio (hopefully accessible from the back). I would tend not to suspect a blown fuse, however; a radio sitting turned off all winter is not generally liable to suddenly start consuming excessive current.

ever1ast15 wrote:
Yes. Battery disconnect is on. Everything else working fine. Just radio. Checked all fuses and everything is good in both chassis (#39 fuse) and house fuses. Very weird and frustrating.

Again - in my Greyhawk #39 did NOT connect to the Jensen.
There's another fuse in there.

Do you know what model you have?
Is it the JRV215N?

Yes, it is the JRV215N model.

James

One suggestion would be to call or email Jayco and ask for a wiring diagram. They may have a PDF diagram that shows where the power leads connect to the batteries.


But if you've tried the two battery disconnect approach that worked for me and there's still no power then about all I can suggest is to pull the unit out of the dashboard and try to trace the wiring that way.



I was NOT able to trace the wires from underneath and laying down. Too cramped, too many wires.

The manual is here: https://www.asaelectronics.com/downloads/dl/file/id/764/jrv215n_owners_manual.pdf

page 9 shows there are two or three 12V wires - perhaps there's an inline fuse.

Thanks all for the help. I tried all suggested here and nothing. I have a 1pm appointment with the local RV Service Center. They were able to get me in today after I just called yesterday (amazing). I will let everyone know what they find so it may help someone else in the future. Thanks for all your replies.

James

So...after going to the RV Service Center, it turns out there is a fuse back in the area of the house battery (underneath RV) that the RV tech said I would never have found. That fuse was blown. He replaced the fuse and I was out in 10 minutes. Everything working fine. So...if this ever happens, search by the House Battery compartment outside and find the fuse that is there.

Back in business. Thank all for your support.

James