No power to Sony radio

[mutcth]

We're working through the glitches, er, opportunities posed by our new-to-us 2007 Safari SE.

Yesterday the stereo worked. Turned off the battery using the switch by the door and towed the trailer home. Turned the battery disconnect back on, repowering the trailer. But there's no power to the radio. Pushing buttons on the head unit does nothing but cause frustration.

Any thoughts as to a cure?

Thanks
Tom

[Kamiak]

Is the unit essentially a car stereo? Does it have a removable faceplate, i.e., one that pops out when you push a button? If so, it may be like mine where sometimes those contacts aren't quite right, impacting power to the unit. Mine loses power to the illuminated dial, but otherwise the unit continues to work (I just can't see what I'm doing without shining a flashlight on the face). If I pop the faceplate out, wipe the contacts, and reinsert, it often (not always) solves the problem for awhile.

Alternatively, it may be the inline fuse connected to the power cord in back.

[HowieE]

First thing would be to remove the unit and check for power at the feed wire. May be a blown fuse in the wire or may be a blown fuse in the 12 volt panel.

I have to ask. Why did you turn the batteries off before towing?

[Gene]

Tom,

Congratulations on finding a new trailer. Sorry to hear of your frustration.

1. Do other 12 v. accessories work?

1.a. If not, check battery disconnect switch and wiring from battery (we had to have that switch replaced when the trailer was new).

1.b. If so, check wiring to radio as Howie posts above.

2. Check fuses as above.

3. If you have the same Sony car radio we do, the button to open the faceplate is on the upper right—try it and then clean contacts.

4. Go back to engineering school and take EE instead of what you did take.

But, enjoy the trailer. Are you keeping the Minuet?

Gene

[mutcth]

Howie, no real connection with turning it off before towing. After all, that would have shut off the frig. Can't really figure a good reason why, come to think of it.

Fuse panel all fine. Rubbed contacts on face plate, but will find an eraser to do that better. Next stop - scary rats nest of wires behind the unit.

Of course, we have much more important tasks with the trailer to do first, but this is bugging us. Wife wants to listen to The Archers downloads while arranging the new trailer.

Thanks Gene. We're selling the Argosy - spent all morning cleaning it for photos.

Tom

[mutcth]

And now it works. Fuses were all fine.

I was doing a CD-changer-ectimy - wiggling around all of the wiring made the stereo power on. Guess something in the rats nest of wires isn't plugged in all the way.

And the water pump that kept running healed itself too. (Must have finally gotten the air out of the lines.) Now if only the Marathons would change themselves, a rear Fantastic Vent would install itself, and the frig fan would swap itself out, all of the trailer gremlins and I would be on great terms!

Tom

[Gene]

It looks like you have a self healing trailer. It is just taking one thing at a time. It's probably checking prices on new wheels, tires and a fan.

Gene

[mutcth]

My plan is to order the parts and just sit them next to the trailer. I expect that in a few days they'll all self-install themselves.

Tom

[Jim J]

I ahve had a similar problem and discovered the first thing to try is this because it is easy. My Sony CDX F 5500 that came with the Airstream has a small reset button behind the control panel. Flip the panel down and look for the reset button and then push it. Then flip the panel up and try the source button to see if the display comes on and cycles through your source options.

[mutcth]

Thanks. It started working again after jiggling a few wires. (Reset alone didn't do it.) It's been fine since.

Tom

[Gene]

Somehow the Sony radio infection spreads—on our last trip the TV sounds wouldn't come through the Sony system although the radio and DVD player worked. I turned up the volume on the TV after I could fix it easily and forgot about it. I'll have to follow my own advice soon.

Gene

[mutcth]

Don't feel bad Gene - the fresh water tank leak infection spread too. My tank needs to be pulled out to fix its drippy connection (likely a crimp ring on the pump hose.) That's not happening until the end of the camping season...

Tom

[Gene]

Tom, I'll be interested to hear about that when the time comes. I guess a PEX crimper is needed.

When I was looking into the cavity and saw all those crimped PEX lines, I was wondering what I would do if I had to fix one. First I'd cut off half of my hand to fit the rest in there and maybe replace the crimp ring with a Sharkbite fitting. Or, I could take the trailer to a hospital and tell them to perform robotic surgery on it.

Gene