BEWARE! Check your outdoor speakers!

[egarant]

This morning I started on a simple task this morning (or so I thought) to rewire my back up camera from the factory hot lead to my reverse wire to my running lights wire. That way I can simply turn on my lights to see what is behind me.

I pull both rear lamp housings off of my TC so I can see what is what and low and behold behind one of them is wet wires and WET WOOD! Stomach sank.....

My mind quickly scans over the possibilities. I had replaced the shower skylight last year and did my yearly roof inspection just six months ago.

Then I decided to look at the speakers.....they were sealed nicely to the truck, but each speaker cone was completely torn at the bottom. When I washed the truck last night I am sure a ton of water went in each. God knows how long that as been going on.

These are stock Jensen "marine" speakers. I am removing both and sealing p both openings with a round metal/plastic disc. I never use the outdoor ones anyway as there are better bluetooth speakers available for that.

It is going to be very hard to dry out, but I'll do what I can.

My drying out set up....

[egarant]

Jack Spratt wrote:
Somebody on here many months ago, plugged up speaker holes with a piece of plastic, then caulked around them, then put speaker covers back on, couldn't tell the difference in his pic's. Seem like a good idea.

Great idea. That is going on my to do list.

That is a GREAT idea. I removed the guts of the speakers and kept the grills. I will then drill matching holes in the aluminum, then screw them both back into place. I will leave the aluminum natural so it has some interest if you look inside the grills. Then caulk around the grill.

I'll post pictures when they go up.

[ChooChooMan74]

Thanks for the heads up. I will inspect my HTT. May be a good thing to put some scare lights there.

[Jack_Spratt]

Somebody on here many months ago, plugged up speaker holes with a piece of plastic, then caulked around them, then put speaker covers back on, couldn't tell the difference in his pic's. Seem like a good idea.

Great idea. That is going on my to do list.

[rwbradley]

Back in the 80's Polypropylene was all the rage in home stereo system speakers. They were sold as "unblowable" when you turned it up to 11 (sorry bad Spinal Tap reference). My parents old boat had polypropylene for outdoor speakers, I am surprised they are not standard for outdoor application, however just because they are made for outdoor use, does not mean RV manufacturers are required to buy/use them. Anything to save a buck I guess. I am going outside to check my speakers now.

[Vinsil]

My toy hauler had Jensen speakers that did that. I blame the sun for the damage to the cone, but my trailer was going on 5 years old before it happened. I refuse to have them on an RV again as I find them worthless anyway.

[Campfire_Time]

Thanks for posting those! This is very different from what I'm seeing.

[Eric_Lisa]

I dunno. I am more putting the blame on Eagle Cap rather than Jensen. A speaker cone, even a marine speaker cone, should not be relied upon as a weather seal in my opinion. They should have put something behind the speaker. Even a sheet of plastic would be useful if they cannot architect a hard (plastic) case to hold the speaker. Seems like a poor design to me.

Just one guy's $.02
-Eric

[egarant]

Here are a few pics of the speaker tear that was in both units.

[Campfire_Time]

Do you have a photo of the ripped cone? One of my outdoor speakers had the tweeter cone fall off. Those are usually just glued on so I wasn't too worried about it and we never use the out door speakers anyway. Now you've got me thinking...

[Calicajun]

Good tip, hadn't thought about the outside speakers. Never use the RV outside speakers as they don't really sound that good. I use a portable Bose speaker system, sounds much better and can control were the sound go so as not to bug the guy in the next site.

[RoyB]

We use BLUE TOOTH portable speakers from WALMART in the patio area... They sound great...

My outside speakers shown above the tire on the trailer look like they have plastic cones. I imagine those would be pretty hard to bust out??


Google Image

Roy Ken

[egarant]

I just purchased two 6" in dia 1/16" inch thick solid aluminum discs that I will paint gloss white then glue in place.

[path1]

Good thing you found it when you did and your in a good area to dry thing out. I have one of these

https://www.google.com/shopping/product/6745205888056456937?lsf=seller:1135568,store:104208363606212...

Works OK, but hard time fitting it into small places. When I dry things out, I dry till I think it's dry then double the time to make sure. (Found that out after my window sills on my house). While a moisture meter is good I still poke at the wood (ice pic or whatever) to make sure there is no dry rot. Main concern is wood swelling and glue coming loose, leading to delamination.

Somebody on here many months ago, plugged up speaker holes with a piece of plastic, then caulked around them, then put speaker covers back on, couldn't tell the difference in his pic's. Seem like a good idea.

[egarant]

jimh425 wrote:
I'm surprised Eagle Cap has wood there. Good luck!

The is the outside fiberglass, then a foam core then the interior paneling.

The side that is wet has a little bit of space between the foam core and outside fiberglass, enough for the water to trickle down. The other side looks to be a tighter seal that prevented (I hope) water from moving down. But it has to go somewhere right?

I'm going to pull out some other screws on the jacks and seams and see if there is any moisture on them.

[jimh406]

I'm surprised Eagle Cap has wood there. Good luck!