Reverse Polarity- Stereo not working

[melby]

Hey all
I have a 71 Avion camper parked at an RV more or less year round. I have a car radio hooked up and shortly after I moved into the park, the stereo stopped working. My control panel read "Reverse Polarity". I know a little about the topic, but nothing else has been affected. No shocks, or appliances frying. Any clues?

[wolfe10]

Easy to tell-- unplug from shore power. If light goes out, it is 120 VAC. If it stays on (assuming your battery is not dead) then it is 12 VDC.

[Chris_Bryant]

I would guess that it is the 120 volt reverse polarity indicator, and has nothing to do with the radio. Airstream put reverse polarity indicators on their rigs back then, so I don't doubt that Avion would as well- it's just a light hooked between neutral and ground.

[2oldman]

Ok, well, 12v stuff does not work well with reverse polarity. 120v is fine.

[melby]

Yeah the panel seems to only feature 12v system items.

@sch911 I'm working on figuring that out. I'm new to this subject matter.

[2oldman]

sch911 wrote:

2oldman wrote:
Does the control panel indicated the 12v system is reversed, or the 120v system?

Pretty sure that his 1971 system was not capable of doing that....

I only know what he says.

[sch911]

2oldman wrote:
Does the control panel indicated the 12v system is reversed, or the 120v system?

Pretty sure that his 1971 system was not capable of doing that....

[2oldman]

Does the control panel indicate the 12v system is reversed, or the 120v system?

[sch911]

Measure the radio's input voltage with a voltmeter and see if the polarity is reversed.

[melby]

Sorry, not sure if I'm being clear. There is no car in the situation. I mean to say a stereo you would find in a car. An in dash radio that's in the RV.

[2oldman]

I'm not getting what a car radio and the stereo have to do with each other.