Radio and water pump

[Stormy Weather]

Need some electrical help. I have a '73 Tradewind and replaced the old 8 track player with a CD/radio and now whenever the player is on at the same time the water pump is switched on the player turns off and on again everytime the pump comes on to pressurize the lines. I'm sure this is something that one of you electrical gurus can help me solve. Help!

[NevadaGeo]

They might be on the same line. Try hooking the CD to another circuit to see if that helps. Digital gizmo's can get finaky about changes in voltage, and a water pump would do that.

[Splitrock]

The radio is likely on the right circuit. The pump is probably wired wrong.

[Stormy Weather]

I'm sure they're on the same circuit but what is causing the intermittent delay in power to the CD? Sure it because the pump is using all the power, but why? I don't understand the whole amperage, voltage, etc. technology well enough to trouble shoot. Do I need a bigger battery? Is my old univolt causing this behavior? Is it because a pump can only have a dedicated circuit? More curiously, did this happen with the old 8 track player that was hooked to the same circuit as the pump? Questions questions questions...

[azflycaster]

A loose connection in the circut could be causing the problem as well. Make sure that the connection to the circuit on the 12 volt distribution is clean and tight as well as the fuse for this circuit. You should also check that you have a good 12 volt and ground connection at the radio.

[Mexray]

Noisy water pumps are one of the 'joys' of RV life!

Many try to turn up the radio to drown out the water pump's noise...

Your water pump has 'learned' how to defeat your 'attack' on it's noise!

...In reality, your new stereo installation is probably on the same circuit as the Water Pump, and the stereo is sensitive to a reduction in voltage during those times the higher amp water pump is running...

As others have mentioned, check all your 12 volt circuits carefully - clean, bright, and tight connections - remove the fuses and reinstall to assure good connections...

One other factor is the pump itself - the water pump's 'motor' is a 12 volt DC motor with carbon brushes that wear against the motor's armature over time - if your water pump is an older model, it may be trying to draw excessive amperage due to its old, worn condition....just a thought

[Stormy Weather]

Thanks everyone for your comments, recommendations, advice, and humor! I went out to the trailer, and was going to start checking out all the 12 volt connections and the fuses, because that seemed to make sense to me, and thought that I would narrow down the problem by reproducing it with either the battery power, shore power, or generator power, or any combination. Also wanted to validate it with the 'source' from the player (CD, radio, auxilary (ipod)). So cranked on the radio, turned in the water pump, ran some water, the pump came on...the radio stayed on! Did the same with a Patsy Cline CD, same thing. Cranked up a little Dave Mathews on my iPod, same results. Ran through the same tests on all 3 power sources. Same results! What the hell!? So started thinking what has changed from when I had the trailer out over the weekend, other than the elevation between American Fork Canyon, and my home....hmmm. A new battery! Why didn't I think of that in the first place I don't know, but I did pick up a new battery yesterday because the old group 29 Interstate was over 3 years old on a 30 month warranty, and wouldn't hold a charge. SO, based on a somewhat reasonable process of elimination I'm chalking up the radio/waterpump delimma to a weak battery. I hope all this makes sense to someone other than myself.