In dash radio forgets time

[jsutherl]

Ever since I got my Georgetown the in dash radio forgets the time of day.

There is a switch just below the radio that selects weather the radio runs on the power of the chassis battery or the house battery. The chassis battery selection only worked when the key was on or in the ACC position. This switch also controlled the two cigarette lighter plugs in the dash.

I decided to fix this today.

On pretty much any car stereo there are three power wires.
Black - Ground
Yellow - Positive from Battery (Always on)
Red - Positive from Ignition (Only on when key is on or in ACC)

Either Forest River or the previous owner had tied the Red and Yellow wires together. So whenever the ignition was turned off or the radio switch flipped the radio lost all power and so forgot what time it was. The radio needs 12v on the yellow wire at all times to keep it's clock running.

I got it all rewired. So that Yellow is connected to the House battery and the red to the old radio switch.

Also the two cigarette lighter plugs where connected only by the very thin red wire on the radio via a vampire tap. No wonder I couldn't even power up my laptop from an inverter plugged into one of those plugs. That's fixed now too.

It was quite a mess in there.. Check out the picture below.

[DAISY BOYKIN]

AAAAAAHHHHHH memories from 28 years of being in the two-way, auto stero business.

Very common practice of RV factory installation, short cuts to get it out the door.

All cigar lighters and accessory outlets should be on their own fused lines
direct to the B+ (battery) and a very good ground.

[cfsoistman]

My radio was wired properly but the clock has never kept accurate time. It loses about a minute a day. I reset it every time we travel.

[kenandterry]

I can't be bothered with the clock feature of the in-dash radio. However, I did modify our wall mounted, battery powered clock hanging just over the only door our unit has. While working on it to correct it's constant losing of time, I removed the minute hand completely. Now we have the position of the hour hand, and the second hand ONLY.

Afterall.........when you're RV-ing, knowing that it's somewhere between 2 and 3 o'clock should be enough, without needing the details of exactness. The only time of day that's important is knowing that "it's 5 o'clock somewhere" when it's time for a bevvy or two.

[jsutherl]

I also replaced the hanging analog clock. I replaced it with an analog clock of the same size the sets it's time automatically from the atomic clock. Pretty neat to watch it the first time you turn it on. And it's pretty much always right.

Amazon.com: La Crosse Technology WT-3102B 10-Inch Atomic Analog Clock: Home & Garden