Replaced the terrible and broken stereo in my camper with a new car headunit.

[lugoismad]

The stereo that came with my camper is terrible. The amp built into it was terrible. It had aux in and we used it for the TV, I use a raspberryPi in the camper as a HTPC, a computer monitor as the monitor, and the stereo as the sound source for movies and such from the RaspberryPi.

Anyways, stereo was terrible. If you turned it all the way up it barely got loud enough to hear dialogue. No less jam to some tunes on the outside speakers.



Removed. Here is the mess I'm dealing with.



Decided instead of trying to tap into that mess of wires, I'd cut the harness off the back of the old stereo and start from there.

I used a 12"x12" sheet of black lexan I bought on amazon to mount the new headunit to, to fill in the gap from the old stereo. Its easy to cut with a jigsaw, just go slow and take it easy.




New headunit mounted.



Its just the $20 one that walmart sells. All I really wanted was radio and aux in. This doesn't have a CD player, its just a receiver. But, I don't really own any CD's. Since it has bluetooth built in, I can connect to my phone and play Pandora or other music apps over it.


Here is the harness I cut off the old stereo, and the harness for the new one.



I soldered them together and used heatshrink tubing.



a little electrical tape over the amp on line, since I'm not using that and don't want it to short.



Then just wrap it up in some tape, solder joints can crack if they move around a lot, so you don't want them vibrating a bunch of anything.



Test fit.

Had to do some cutting to make the new stereo fit, it was wider than the old one.

I got a little happy with the jig saw.




And installed.



Works fantastic! Gets loud enough to cause the stock speakers to distort pretty bad. That might be my next upgrade, to install some new 6" speakers.

[Restcure]

Nice job! Thanks for the tips!

[DreiHunde]

Great upgrade! Thanks for sharing!

[kamper00]

solder and heat shrink..nice to see someone wiring correctly! (as opposed to wire nuts :O )

[Springerdad]

Originally Posted by kamper00

solder and heat shrink..nice to see someone wiring correctly! (as opposed to wire nuts :O )

x2.

Great job!! Thanks for sharing.

[MtBiker]

Distortion may not be just the old stock speakers. Overdriving the amp in the radio will also cause distortion. Even a small add-on amp can solve that problem.

[lugoismad]

Originally Posted by MtBiker

Distortion may not be just the old stock speakers. Overdriving the amp in the radio will also cause distortion. Even a small add-on amp can solve that problem.

Good to know. However, this gets PLENTY loud before it starts to distort.

[lugoismad]

Originally Posted by kamper00

solder and heat shrink..nice to see someone wiring correctly! (as opposed to wire nuts :O )

I spent 2 years in electrical engineering before switching to a programming degree, so I'm very comfortable working on AC and DC electrical stuff.

[palmetto rogue]

Have you noticed any difference in reception on AM/FM.

[lugoismad]

Originally Posted by palmetto rogue

Have you noticed any difference in reception on AM/FM.

Nope. Antenna plugged right into it. I was able to pick up all the FM stations in my area with no issue. Didn't check AM.

[Scrub175]

Silly question, I see the harness wire colors from the new stereo and camper old stereo didn't appear to match. Did you match the wires based on corresponding harness pin position?

[lugoismad]

Originally Posted by Scrub175

Silly question, I see the harness wire colors from the new stereo and camper old stereo didn't appear to match. Did you match the wires based on corresponding harness pin position?

No. There was a wiring diagram on the back of the old stereo, and the new stereo harness came with a diagram.

So I matched purpose to purpose. eg, front left speaker on one harness might be yellow & yellow/black, but on the new harness purple and purple/black.

[Scrub175]

Sweet. Makes perfect sense. Thank you. Awesome work too!

[KyDan]

Nice job!

A couple of thoughts--
did you consider a double DIN size radio?? I just replaced the
factory radio in my 04 Silverado with a double DIN JVC and I love the
large face! Old eyes and fumble fingers work better on the larger size.

In my last 2 trailers I've had to remove factory speakers and vacuum
construction debris out of the backs of them. Then I stuff a doughnut ring
of fiber fill or fiber glass around the opening to prevent more junk from
migrating into the speakers when we're bouncing down the road.
This vacuum job made an amazing difference in the sound!

Happy Camping!

[lugoismad]

Originally Posted by KyDan

Nice job!

A couple of thoughts--
did you consider a double DIN size radio?? I just replaced the
factory radio in my 04 Silverado with a double DIN JVC and I love the
large face! Old eyes and fumble fingers work better on the larger size.

In my last 2 trailers I've had to remove factory speakers and vacuum
construction debris out of the backs of them. Then I stuff a doughnut ring
of fiber fill or fiber glass around the opening to prevent more junk from
migrating into the speakers when we're bouncing down the road.
This vacuum job made an amazing difference in the sound!

Happy Camping!

I did, actually! I originally ordered a double din Android based headunit. I thought that would be really neat, since it can run android apps like Pandora, however that ended up falling through, it was a scammer selling on amazon.

Oh well. I just went to walmart and bought the cheap headunit, it does all I really need it to do.

[KyDan]

Remove a couple of your ceiling speakers and check them. I would be
surprised if you don't find junk in the backs of them.

[lugoismad]

Originally Posted by KyDan

Remove a couple of your ceiling speakers and check them. I would be
surprised if you don't find junk in the backs of them.

Thank you for the advice, I will do that.