Car Stereo in Trailer

Hi All,

I lamented on this group a year ago on the disappointment I had with the stereo installed in my new travel trailer.  It is a bookshelf style home stereo by Panasonic that is a very nice unit, but is AC only.  Not very helpful when you rarely camp in places that have electricity.  There were some suggestions about using an inverter, etc. but I decided to buy a small radio that ran off 12v and leave the unit alone.  Anyhow, it has recently stopped working (most likely due to getting bounced around in an RV), so instead of having it repaired, I am tossing around the idea of adding a car audio type deck.  I am not sure why RV manufacturers don?t use these in the first place.  They are small, 12v and if someone doesn?t like the one that came with the RV, they can easily change it for another one.

Anyhow, not being very familiar with installing car decks, I am not sure what I might need to install it in the trailer.  The hole in the cabinet (from the old stereo)  is much larger than needed, so I would likely install a board behind the hole, stained to match the cabinet.  Obviously I would need to cut a hole in it for the car audio deck.  I do not know what would be needed behind the board to support the deck.  I do have 12 v nearby, so that should be OK.  Speaker wire will also be there from the old stereo.  I will likely need some kind of antenna connector too.

Just wondering if anyone out there has done this and can recommend a way to mount the unit.

Many thanks,

Darryl

Installation of a car stereo in a Trailer or motor home is straight forward.

You need a face plate, which you already figured out,  This is a panel that fills the opening where the old radio was and which has holes cut in it for the new radio.. You need speakers (normally 4 now days but 2 will do) and a place to put 'em.

Then you need to router power

now for the radio itself

These radios have two (or 3) different mounting schemes and for a trailer I would strongly suggest method #2

Method 1 is "Shaft mount"  You remove a nut from the volume and tuning shaft, if any, stick in the hole replace nut, Not too common on today's push button radios.

Method 2 is "Snap in" the modern equivlent of shaft mount

Method 3 is "3 point" take either 1 or 2 and add a support at the rear of the radio, This is nothign more than an "L": bracket

I would suggest mounting the radio so that it's on a shelf and if there is no rear mount studk bend an "L" so that the radio, when in place slides under the bend (make the "L"  bracket into a 'Z" bracket (only all angles 90degrees)

And that's about it.

Suggestion #2 is a 12 volt DC AM/FM/FM/CD/LINE IN radio

Check out one of these if you can find it Memorex Radio Radio Shack also sold this under their label.. The one I have runs on 12 volt and does not seem to mind my MH's battery at all.

Our old popup had a car stereo mounted right by the entrance area, speakers under the dinette and below the bed. Worked great for that application.

Car stereos are simple to install. Beyond what John listed, the only other concerns are wire routing for power, ground, and speakers... all that should be easy, but maybe a little time consuming.

Bob

The really nice thing about using a car stereo vs an "RV" stereo, is that there are a lot of very nice car receivers on the market that aren't very expensive.  A nice Pioneer AM/FM CD & MP3 player can be had at Wal-Mart for well under $100.  Another $75 or so will get you two good sets of speakers.  About 10 hours of music will fit on one MP3 CD.

When the factory unit quit in our fifth wheel, I made a faceplate to cover the opening...and then cut out a section to mount a DIN sized car stereo.  I had a Blaupunkt receiver I had pulled out of my '84 Corvette when I upgraded that worked perfectly, so I used it.  I particularly liked that it had an auxiliary input built in....which I used for XM satellite radio.

All of the wiring in my case was already there, but wiring one is simple.  Power, ground, antenna, and 4 speakers.  Generally, there are two power leads.  One that is constant 12V to keep memory of presets and the clock, and another that is "key-on" that powers up the unit.  If you store your RV a lot and are concerned it will run the battery down, you can tie them together and switch them....you'll just have to redo the presets and clock every time you shut the switch off.

Speakers can be mounted in the walls, cabinets, or ceiling.  Wiring can be hidden a multitude of ways. 

Definitely go the car stereo route. 

Thanks for the advice gents.  It installed very easily and sounds great.  Just in case anyone is curious, the unit draws about 1 amp while on and at a low volume.  Moderate to high volume uses about 1.5 amps.

Darryl