Thor Forums

[EA37TS]

During my shakedown cruise during the last 2 weeks my radio kept loosing power when traveling over rough surface roads.

Today I decided to take the top of the dash off and see if I could determine what was causing the problem. What I found is there is no support under the mounting sleeve for the radio. I also found the rear support lug did not go through the appropriate hole on the rear radio support molded onto the dash center panel. Basically the radio was being held in place by 4 small tabs on the mounting sleeve. It is a wonder the weight of the radio did not crack or break the center panel of the dash. To rectify this issue I cut a piece a 3/4 x 2 x 6 plywood and placed it under the radio's mounting sleeve for supporting the weight of the radio. I also made sure the rear support lug was positioned correctly in the rear support arm.

I also found (in my opinion) a wiring nightmare. There are mixed gauge wires connected together. For example there is an inline fuse block using ~ 20 gauge wire connected to another wire which is ~ 12 gauge and the connection is made with an inline 12 gauge crimped wire connector. I plan on breaking out the soldering iron and heat shrink in the very near future.

While I had the top panel of the dash removed I decided to feed through my Sirius antenna lead and I connected and audio video cable to the rear ports of the radio for use with the Sirius radio.

I also found that Thor did not install the Bluetooth microphone for use with a cell phone. I found the audio video cable I used for the Sirius radio and the Bluetooth microphone in the goodie bag that was in the coach when delivered. I connected the Bluetooth microphone and now need to find a good mounting location with the least amount of noise that could cause problems.

I decided to keep the dash panel off overnight. Tomorrow I want to hardwire the Sirius radio to a power source, possibly piggyback off the light connections, and then install the Sirius mount using some bolts and lock nuts. Also, I am going to break out the zip ties to secure all of the loose wires and wiring harnesses.

Unfortunately I won't know if I corrected the radio problem until my next trip scheduled for April.