Fleetwood Nitrous Radio Issues

[freeriders98]

Hey everyone, I am new to RV/Trailers and loving the Toy Hauler we just picked up. Its a 2007 Fleetwood Nitrous.

My only issue so far is that the radio is very finicky. The problem is that it won't run on just the batteries, not sure if that is standard or not. The previous owner told me it run off shore power or the generator.

However when plugged into shore power (110v 15amp) or on the generator, I am getting a very small amount of power to the radio deck and amp. like 2-6 volts. The volts slowly rise, and then the radio will eventually turn on. Nothing else has a power issues. AC will run, microwave works, etc.

I work on all my cars and motorcycles, but new to the trailer scene and not sure what this would point to. Does this just point to a wiring or ground issue, or something with the AC/DC converter going bad?

Any pointers for a newb would be much appreciated.

[2oldman]

What's puzzling to me is that if it truly is the batteries, then nothing else that requires 12v would work, like the refer or hot water.

[arhayes]

It's not even necessary to pull the batteries initially. Just disconnect SP and put a meter on each to make sure you are getting at least a solid 6 volts on each battery, and then that you get 12 volts at the buss. I'll bet you are not. You probably have a weak/shorted cell on one battery and it is not delivering enough voltage to run the radio on battery only. It slowly builds on SP and Generator because the converter in delivering 13.5 volts and is able to deliver enough through the batteries to overcome the weak/lost cell. It may be giving less that 12v, but enough to overcome the low voltage cutoff on the radio.

[2oldman]

I don't know. If you have an inverter you can test them yourself with a big load.

[freeriders98]

From what I can tell it is not getting any power on just batteries. I haven't found a "radio" fuse yet, so I am unsure of where it is getting power from.

I'l pull the batteries and have them tested to at least eliminate that side of it. Can auto parts stores check deep cycle battery's like they do for cars?

[2oldman]

freeriders98 wrote:
Once plugged in or running on the generator the voltage at the stereo deck/ amp slowly builds voltage, until it eventually gets to 12v and the radio will turn on and work fine.

But it won't do that with just batteries?

Strange. I'm out of ideas.

[freeriders98]

2-6 volt DC, checked at the amp and stereo deck. Everything else runs great no issues. The lights are all converted to LED, so not a big draw when running just off batteries. I checked voltage at the DC power distribution and when plugged in or on Generator it is getting 13.7 volts.

Once plugged in or running on the generator the voltage at the stereo deck/ amp slowly builds voltage, until it eventually gets to 12v and the radio will turn on and work fine.

It has 2 6v batteries wired in series, and was told they were a year old. I do have another RV battery in my enclosed trailer that I bought a couple months ago. I guess I could swap that in and see.

[2oldman]

freeriders98 wrote:
when plugged into shore power (110v 15amp) or on the generator, I am getting a very small amount of power to the radio deck and amp. like 2-6 volts. The volts slowly rise, and then the radio will eventually turn on. .

2-6 volts AC or DC? Rise to what? That sounds like it does run off batteries but only when plugged in. That indicates shot batteries.

How do other 12v things work..?