PowerTek tv lock out

[cgmartine]

I would like to have my kids watch tv while I am driving (2008 Tioga 31M). The tv is not visible to the driver. It is powered by a 12 volt receptacle. The DVD player, however, operates on 120 VAC, and is connected to the PowerTek outlet. I removed the outlet and saw it had two brown wires labeled "12v," coming out of what I believe was the relay. One of the brown wires was connected to a red wire with black stripes, and the second brown wire was connected to an orange wire with black stripes. I cut one brown wire, then turned the ignition key, but the outlet lost power. I then cut the second wire, and the same thing happened. The outlet which powers the tv also lost power at the same time. The only other wires going into the PowerTek were for 120 VAC, but no wires coming from the ignition. I would like to disable this device. Can someone help?

[LittleBill]

cgmartine wrote:
If is fused at the fuse panel, why would it work when the ignition is off?

its tied into some form of relay that is triggered by the ignition switch, they don't wire things directly to ignition switches

if you probe with a meter on the fuse panel you will see alot of stuff is still powered even with the key out of the ignition

[Snowman9000]

You say the 12v outlet works off the house batteries? If so, remove the house 12v fuses one at a time till you find the one that controls the outlet. If you don't find one, that will be a clue. If you do find it, that will be a clue too.

Bottom line, I suspect there is another relay. Maybe at the chassis fuse box, as LittleBill said. I'm just guessing as to the where.

[cgmartine]

If is fused at the fuse panel, why would it work when the ignition is off?

[LittleBill]

its not connected to the ignition switch, its tied into the fuse panel where it is switched by the ignition switch

[cgmartine]

Ok, I was able to bypass the PowerTek relay by joining wires #1 & #2, as described in the above photo. I can now use that plug with the engine running. I am not out of the woods yet. One other thing has me stumped, and that is that the 12 volt receptacle is still shutting down when I turn the engine on. I pulled it out and the only wires running to it are the negative and the positive, and nothing else. It is definitely not connected to the PowerTek device, which is now totally disconnected. There is no relay, or any evidence of a wire running to the ignition switch. I can't figure out how it is being controlled by the ignition switch. One thing I know for sure is that it works when the ignition switch is off. Any ideas that can help me?

[cgmartine]

I hope the above link to the photo works. Thx.

[cgmartine]

Snowman9000, although I could run the generator to power the dvd while driving, I will not be doing so. The 110 AC powered dvd player will be running from an inverter, while the tv, which runs off 12 volt, will be connected to the 12 volt receptacle. As stated, the PowerTek lock out relay and the 12 volt receptacle are wired together, which means that when the engine is running, the relay also shuts down power to the 12 volt receptacle. I tried using one of those splitters which allow for connecting multiple electronic items to the 12 volt receptacle, however, the power to the receptacle was not strong enough to power the dvd, the inverter, and the tv, all at the same time. I would get a low voltage alarm and it would shut down. My intent then is to bypass the PowerTek relay by joining the two black, 110 Ac wires, which are now routed thru the relay, and the ignition key will not activate the relay.

[Snowman9000]

Based on the description, yes you could bypass the relay by wiring the 110v directly. But that won't change the TV outlet.

Can you measure the DC voltage, polarity really, on the two brown wires, with the ign on and off? And report back? I'm assuming one is pos and one is neg. Don't connect them to each other.

[Snowman9000]

BTW, posting a photo is basically a two step process.
1) put your photo online somewhere. www.tinypic.com or someplace like that.
2) use the photo button in the posting form, and paste your photo's URL into its box.

[Snowman9000]

Can we go outside the box for a minute?
Are you going to run a generator going down the road just in order to power the 110v DVD player?

Once you figure out how to bypass the lock out, get a 1 into 2 cig outlet splitter, or add a second outlet, and a small cig lighter inverter for the DVD player. IMO.

[cgmartine]

I wanted to attach a photo showing the PowerTek RL 1003 television lock out relay, but I don't know how to do it. Here is my description, without the photo.
The #1 arrow points to the black wire that comes out of the relay and goes to the 110 VAC plug on the face plate. Arrow #2 is the black wire that comes in from the 110 VAC outside source to the relay. Arrow #3 shows two brown wires going into the relay. My plan is to join wires #1 and #2 (black), which will send 110 VAC current directly to the plug, thereby bypassing the relay.

[cgmartine]

Yes, the tv is a Jensen television plugged into a 12 volt receptacle. I can watch the television while on house batteries, without generator or shore power. It has the cigarette lighter type of receptacle. The DVD player is different. It runs on 110 VAC and is connected to the PowerTek controller. In order to see a video, you have to crank up the generator or connect to shore power. As I said, the 12 volt receptacle appears to be connected to the PowerTek controller, because as soon as I turn on the ignition, even in accessory mode, the tv and the dvd player lose power. That is why I need to bypass the PowerTek, so that my passengers can watch a dvd on the tv while I am driving.

[ADAD437]

are you sure your tv is 12v? i have a relay by the 110v receptacle that had a wire going thru the relay to the rec. i took that wire out and wired it direct to the 110v rec and that disabled the relay cut off.

[cgmartine]

The only other place where I can connect the tv is to a 12 volt receptable on the dash, but I don't want wires hanging all over. The DVD player is 110 VAC, and it also would require an extension, which I also don't want. Other folks have disabled the tv lock out by taking out a single wire. I have a wiring diagram for the PowerTek, which shows two 12 volt wires (brown) going into what I believe is the relay, which are labeled on the diagram as "ignition signal," which like I said, are now disconnected. That should have disabled any connection between activation of the ignition switch and the receptacle, but it did not. There is also a 110 VAC going to the solenoid (black), but I don't want to mess with that. Anyone who has done this, can you help?