TV Turns On By Itself and House Battery Not Charging

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joco

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Joined
Nov 8, 2005
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5
We just got a new RV - Fleetwood Southwind - and along with some other problems, the front TV turns itself on when the engine or the generator is turned off.? ????? It is an RCA TV.? Friends of ours just recently got a new RV - National Dolphin - and their front TV also turns itself on when the engine is turned off.? I don't know if it is an RCA.? Theirs has been at the dealer's for a couple of weeks for various things, but this problem is baffling the techs.? Anyone have any thoughts on this?

I don't think this is related, but we are not getting a trickle charge when plugged into shore power.? I checked to make certain the converter is plugged in and that the plug pulls 120.? The auxiliary battery just keeps draining but does recharge when the engine is on.? We'll be taking it back to the dealer soon, with our short list.? Our long list will be the cosmetics which we're not all that concerned about right now.? Also, we have a solar panel which I know nothing about, but since that is supposed to provide a trickle charge, I'm wondering if it could be in the equation.

Joan
 
There's a legal requirement to interlock the front TV with the ignition switch. So, for example, if the TV is on and you then turn on the ignition switch, the TV will turn off. If you then switch the ignition off, the TV comes back on. Are you sure the TV is off before you turn the ignition on?
 
Yes, I'm sure the TV is off before turning ignition on.? If we're not plugged into shore power or the generator is not on, everything is okay.? But the minute we plug into shore power the TV goes on even though it was off prior to plugging in.? If I start the engine while plugged in, the TV turns on when I turn the engine off.  Is this possibly that the TV and ignition interlock is set up incorrectly?

 
joco said:
Is this possibly that the TV and ignition interlock is set up incorrectly?

Yes, it's possible that something is incorrectly wired. But, without seeing the schematic diagrams for your coach, I have no idea what might be miswired. But, given the fact that your TV responds to the ignition switch, it sure sounds like the interlock (aka lockout) relay is either faulty or miswired.

FWIW a relay on our coach was miswired which caused some unexpected results when the generator and engine were both running. The only way I was able to get it correctly diagnosed and fixed was to have a factory tech look at it.
 
Thanks, Tom.  We're scheduled to go back to the dealer this month.  If they can't fix our problems, then it will be a trip to the factory.  Might be the quickest route in the long run.  -Joan
 
joco said:
We just got a new RV - Fleetwood Southwind - and along with some other problems, the front TV turns itself on when the engine or the generator is turned off.  ???  It is an RCA TV.  Friends of ours just recently got a new RV - National Dolphin - and their front TV also turns itself on when the engine is turned off.  I don't know if it is an RCA.  Theirs has been at the dealer's for a couple of weeks for various things, but this problem is baffling the techs.  Anyone have any thoughts on this?

There are, for the purpose of this discussion, two different types of Televisions. (and in theory a 3rd)

One has a power fail off feature.  That is you unplug it, and plug it back in, it comes back in "off" or "Standby" mode

I have this type of television in my livingroom here at home,, also in my RV,both ends

The second type comes back from a power fail in the same state it was in when power failed,, That is if it's off when the lights go off (and nobody touches it) it will be off when power returns... ON, it's ON

I have that kind of TV in front of my just now

(The third kind would have the interlock inside the TV itself and would likely respond as type 2, that is come back on when the interlock interunlocks)

Now: most TV interlocks simply cut power to the TV, thus if you have a 2 it will come back on

In addition to theTV somewhere in your rig there is (most likely) an inverter or inverter/charger. look for a controlpanel with a switch marked "inverter" or "Charger"

Disabling the Inverter will prevent the TV from coming on... You may have the charger disabled.

I have two chargers on my rig... One Prosine 2000, one Intellapower.  Great devices
 
John In Detroit said:
Disabling the Inverter will prevent the TV from coming on.

That doesn't explain or eliminate what might be "wrong". It also doesn't explain why the TV responds to the ignition switch. I have an inverter on our coach, it's always enabled (shore power and generator power switch it out of circuit) and everything works as it should. The TV does not come on when the ignition switch is turned off unless the TV was on before the ignition switch was turned on.
 
Tom I always assumed that the front TV had to be tied to the ignition switch, but it's not in my Vectra. The TV plays very well going down the road as I discovered while trying to trouble shoot my in-motion sat antenna.
 
I can't recall if the interlock is a federal requirement or a CA rule. I know, for example, that CA has some rule prohibiting a screen visible to the driver, although that doesn't explain how they can put in-dash GPS screens in cars sold in CA. OTOH your interlock may not be working as designed. FWIW my owners manual says it's interlocked.
 
Tom said:
I can't recall if the interlock is a federal requirement or a CA rule. I know, for example, that CA has some rule prohibiting a screen visible to the driver, although that doesn't explain how they can put in-dash GPS screens in cars sold in CA. OTOH your interlock may not be working as designed. FWIW my owners manual says it's interlocked.

It is, far as I know, a state  by state law, and the law is written to allow "Video Dash" systems, rear view monitors and the like... It's one of the better written laws as it leaves very little ambugity,at least the michigan version that is

I have a copy on the old laptop  Haven't loaded it on to this one yet
 
John In Detroit said:
It is, far as I know, a state by state law, and the law is written to allow "Video Dash" systems, rear view monitors and the like

Looks like you're right John. Here's California's code which pretty says what you wrote.
 
Back to the TV problem...
John has a good point about the design and set-up of the TV itself.  A modern TV is never truly "off" while it has power at its wall plug and some of them monitor the power state and have options as to what to do when power is lost/regained, as John describes. 

I suggest that Joco  looks through the TV's own set-up screens to see if there is any option that sounds like it has anything to do with power state and on/off actions. And check the tv onwer manual too.

There might conceivably be a relationship between the tv problem and the lack of battery charging. If the batteries are not charging off the internal (house) charging system, then any inverter will not be running EXCEPT when there is an external source of DC. Turing the engine on closes the relay oto the alternator and provides 12V power to the house and the inverter. That in turns makes ac power available to the tv, but the screen should not turn on because of the ignition interlock. Turniog the engine off negates the interlock and would allow the tv to come on, if it wanted to do so.  This doesn't explain everything that joco is seeing, but it might be part of the interactions that are causing these wierd symptoms.  The charger needs to be fixed anyway, so I would get that taken care of immediately and see if it has any effect on the tv problem.  Might change the symptoms, even if it doesn't totally fix it.
 
The charging problem is fixed. ::)  We were on the phone off and on several times with our dealer (Beaudry in Tucson) and finally it was suggested that maybe we did not have the 50 amp cord in properly.  It is a marine type plug, requiring one to turn it to lock it in place.  Wellllll,  :-[ that was the problem.  The "hole" for the plug is located back in a rather small cubicle and it is very awkward to plug in and turn it.  I evidently did not turn it enough this one time although previously I had.  I've had years upon years of using this type of plug and have never had this kind of difficulty.  Maybe, with use, it will become easier to do.

The charge problem did not fix the TV problem.  We'll discuss this with the techs in person at the end of this month and I'll come back here and let you all know the outcome.  Actually, if it means taking out the TV to check the wiring, etc., I might just opt to live with it.  We'll see what the techs have to say.

While I'm at dumb newbie type of things, I'll tell you about one more thing.  :-\  We got home from our local service place where we had gone to see if our drop of 6 inches was adequate for towing.  (It was not and we bought an 8 nch drop.)  We pulled the rig in and then tried to take the key out of the ignition.  We could not take the key out of the ignition. 

We read and tried all the suggestions in the manual, but nothing worked.  Then, a friend called regarding other things and we told him our dilemma.  He said, "Oh yeah, I had that happen to me. All you have to do is to very firmly put the gear in Park.  Sometimes, on a new rig, it doesn't know that it is in Park and it won't allow you to take the key out."  Soooooo, we tried it and it worked.  I think I'll write that in our manual just in case it happens again when we have forgotten the solution.

Joan
 
Glad you got the charging problem fixed and that it was not serious such as a bad charger.  Thanks for letting us know what you found out.
 
I suggest that Joco  looks through the TV's own set-up screens to see if there is any option that sounds like it has anything to do with power state and on/off actions. And check the tv onwer manual too.

Thanks, RV Roamer, I followed your advice which was also the advice from my dealer and I finally found something that worked.  It was not what I was looking for or what I expected, but it is what worked.  ::)

Under Menu - Preferences - there is something called FPA which refers to Front Panel Access (Control) and it was set to off.  Once I set it to ON, my TV now does not turn on all by itself.  The purpose of this setting is so that the TV can only be turned on using the remote and not by using the buttons on the front panel.  It is there in the child control section of the manual for my particular TV.  I wasn't thinking about trying to control a child - just my TV.

Thanks for all the swell responses.  You guys are the greatest!  ;D

Joan
 

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