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Old 06-26-2014, 01:38 AM   #1
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THOR #908
Pioneer Radio/cam screen ?

Is this thing wired right?
I just bought a 2013 31L
It has a Pioneer radio that doubles as the display for the rear view camera.
It won't turn off!
I've tried everything, even resorted to reading through the manual.
The only way I've found to turn it off is to kill the battery with the disconnect switch, or if plugged into shore power to disconnect too.

Also, secondary problem is that if I'm driving the coach with the battery off, there is no display for the rear camera!

What am I missing?
Is this thing wired right?

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Old 06-26-2014, 10:59 PM   #2
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THOR #711
I believe I have the same radio. Yes, it operates as you say as far as the battery disconcect switch goes. You can turn it off though without turning the disconnect off. To do so, press the HOME button, press the OFF icon on the screen, then press the MUTE and MODE buttons. That should get you what your wanting to do.
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Old 06-27-2014, 12:55 AM   #3
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Awesome... thank you! I'll give that a try as soon as I'm back to it.

I thought I was going to have to wire in a hard switch to kill the power to it!

I wonder what's wrong with a simple physical power button?????
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Old 06-27-2014, 01:28 AM   #4
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THOR #711
I agree. Imagine,,,, a push button on/off switch. It took a couple hours researching before I found how to turn it off. Found out how on You Tube. The manual wasn't included with the purchase.
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Old 06-27-2014, 01:58 AM   #5
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THOR #908
I should probably ask how to turn it back on, too....?
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Old 06-27-2014, 02:10 AM   #6
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THOR #711
Quite simple to turn on,,, just push the "Mode" button.
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Old 06-27-2014, 12:18 PM   #7
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too funny!

Thank you!!!!!
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Old 06-27-2014, 04:47 PM   #8
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In 2012 or 2013, Thor made a design change to connect the radio to the house batteries rather than the vehicle batteries. My coach, a 2011 still has the radio connected to the vehicle battery.

I suppose it's half-dozen of one or the other. If the radio is connected to the vehicle battery and if you want to listen to the radio when setup at the RV park, then you risk running your vehicle's battery down.

That is why they re-wired the radio to the house battery as the theory is that the radio can then be used at the park and the battery will remain charged via shorepower.

And in the event of a dead battery (caused by the radio), I suppose it is better to have a dead house battery rather than a dead vehicle battery.

Of course, you can use the emergency start switch etc. to start the vehicle in case of a dead vehicle battery... so either way, I don't see a huge problem.

One of my projects for the future is to wire in a switch on the dash so I can switch radio power from the vehicle to house battery.
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Old 06-27-2014, 05:20 PM   #9
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THOR #908
Yep, I see your poinit.... the fact that it's hooked to the house isn't a problem, necessarily..... except to jump in it to move it or a quick drive I realy dont necessariliy want to tun on the house just for the camera..... no biggy as you piointed out....

My bigger problem was that i just couldn't figure out how to turn the thing off!

A switch or a relay would be great, but I'm not sure that that is a project that I'll ever be able to work down my list far enough to make happen....
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Old 08-14-2014, 01:46 AM   #10
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This confirms what a guy at camping world told me today. I have a email in to Pioneer to see if it can be corrected. Why in the world would you wire a camera on the same line with the "memory power" for the radio?
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Old 08-14-2014, 02:04 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dmcostello01 View Post
This confirms what a guy at camping world told me today. I have a email in to Pioneer to see if it can be corrected. Why in the world would you wire a camera on the same line with the "memory power" for the radio?
I don't understand your comment but I'm interested.... what exactly are you trying to do?
So these cameras are powered by the radio memory circuit? What specifically did you ask Pioneer?

I actually have an ongoing problem with my camera and I'm wondering if others have the same and if the solution you're hunting might help me too....
If I leave the camera display on a long time, some times it will blank out white. i found that if I disconnect the camera feed wire under the dash and reconnect, it will reset or something????
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Old 08-14-2014, 02:16 AM   #12
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THOR #531
I am not sure if your camera is active all the time or not, but typically the camera function for these radios are for a backup camera that is powered only when you are backing up. Remember, these are not really RV stereo systems, but rather general purpose car stereos.

Often the camera power comes from a wire from the vehicle to the stereo or directly to the camera that indicates when the vehicle is in reverse gear.

If the rear camera stays on all the time rather than only for backup use, it may be that the camera power wire is not wired the best way it can be.

Thing is, there is no universal standard for this stuff that I am aware of, so there has probably been several different schemes used for the camera power connection.

If the display is turning white, my guess is that the camera is not designed for full time use (backup situations only), and the camera is overheating.

Cameras that are used for general purpose photography commonly have overheating issues when used for video for more than a few minutes, and I suspect the camera installed on your rig may not have a long "on" time before overheating.

Again, when used as a backup camera, it probably works OK, but when used for a rear-ward monitor and is on all the time is maybe when it overheats.

Just my guess.
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Old 08-14-2014, 02:28 AM   #13
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THOR #903
My engine battery was dead after being parked for three weeks. The Camping World guy thought that the camera was not turning off when the engine was off and the key was out. Since the radio draws a little power to keep your favorite stations tuned, it appears the camera is on the same circuit but draws more power. rskrbina above says to shut down the camera. My camera stays on while I'm driving, not just when I'm in reverse. I don't know if it's supposed to do that, but since I tow a trailer, it's nice to see the quads are okay and where the corners of the trailer are.
My camera will go black some times too but it comes back on after I stop. I figured it was a loose wire. I have not had a chance to look
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Old 08-14-2014, 02:29 AM   #14
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Sorry BLW2 I think I missed hitting reply to you to
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Old 08-14-2014, 02:34 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blw2 View Post
I don't understand your comment but I'm interested.... what exactly are you trying to do?
So these cameras are powered by the radio memory circuit? What specifically did you ask Pioneer?

I actually have an ongoing problem with my camera and I'm wondering if others have the same and if the solution you're hunting might help me too....
If I leave the camera display on a long time, some times it will blank out white. i found that if I disconnect the camera feed wire under the dash and reconnect, it will reset or something????
My engine battery was dead after being parked for three weeks. The Camping World guy thought that the camera was not turning off when the engine was off and the key was out. Since the radio draws a little power to keep your favorite stations tuned, it appears the camera is on the same circuit but draws more power. rskrbina above says to shut down the camera. My camera stays on while I'm driving, not just when I'm in reverse. I don't know if it's supposed to do that, but since I tow a trailer, it's nice to see the quads are okay and where the corners of the trailer are.
My camera will go black some times too but it comes back on after I stop. I figured it was a loose wire. I have not had a chance to look
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Old 08-14-2014, 02:00 PM   #16
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THOR #908
Ok, I see what you guys are getting at.
dmcostello01, so you are thinking that your radio is powered by the chassis system?
Mine is most definitely powered by the house battery. If I press the "store" switch to disengage the house battery, the radio will not power up even with the chassis engine running

.... A couple comments based on my experiences so far
When I picked mine up it was not configured to show the camera image in Reverse gear..... it was either on or off, toggled by the icon on the screen.

After goofing around in the settings several different times, & flipping through the manual on my second to the last trip out, i found a way to set it so that reverse gear would toggle camera display. I was happy.
But....
even after rskrbina's very helpful response to my OP about turning the unit off, I'm still not comfortable that it's powering down, as it seems to be just in sleep mode with all lights off.... which is still a good thing to have, so thank you rskrbina!
so
I installed a manual battery disconnect switch to both my chassis and house batteries... well not solely because of the radio, but a factor.
then
on my last trip out, I found that by disconnecting the batteries, i of course killed the memory to the radio which unfortunately wipe dthe setting to toggle the cam in reverese gear, and after two short sessions of flipping through the menus I can't find the blasted thing again! Ugh!!! When i have a little time, I guess I'll have to sit down with the manual again.

Maybe yet another reason to get a solar trickle charger so I can preserve the radio's memory.
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Old 08-14-2014, 02:36 PM   #17
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THOR #903
Pioneer replied
"Thank you for contacting Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc.

The power lead of the camera needs to be connected to a 12 volt controlled by the ignition and what most likely happen was that the power lead of the camera is connected to a 12 volt constant. The Radio has no option to turn off the camera only to turn off the camera option."


So I either add my own cut off switch or take it to CarToys to see if they can fix it.
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Old 08-14-2014, 03:41 PM   #18
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THOR #908
so a different thing with mine, since I'm connected to the house.

One of these days i think I'm going diving in under the dash and trace this thing out. If there is a seperate memory feed I might put this to the chassis battery????

I don't totally have my head wrapped around this thing, but it sems to me that a good approach would be for the main power to the radio to be from the house just as they seem to have it in mine..... except with a true power off switch.... and the power feed to the camera circuit to be from the switched chassis ignition circuit as pioneer told you. I'm assuming that there is a seperate camera power feed based on that email repsonse....
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Old 08-14-2014, 04:54 PM   #19
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THOR #531
Most stereo systems have two 12V power leads. One that is unswitched which keeps the memory circuit alive, and one that is switched to turn the stereo on and off. Typically, the keep alive (which also powers the radio per-se) is wired directly to the 12V buss, and the turn-on/off 12V lead goes to the ignition switch.

Note that both 12V signals must be powered to run the stereo.

However, and this is also very common in boats... RV and boat manufacturers more often than not simply wire both 12V leads (unswitched and switched) together and to the 12V buss. This is because there is a lot of times when you want to run the stereo system when at the campsite or on the water (boat) without running the engine.

If you want the stereo to turn off, then you will probably want to separate the two 12V leads and connect one to the ignition and one to the battery circuit. I think the standard aftermarket color code is Yellow for the constant power 12V lead and Red for the switched lead... but don't take my word for it without checking as my memory is not as sharp as it once was.

Otherwise, you will probably want to put in a switch to control the power.

I plan on doing this at some point as my stereo system is connected to the coach battery. In later years, the stereo system was connected to the house battery so you won't drain down the coach battery when running the stereo at the campsite. It is one of my future projects.

One thing you might think about doing is to install a relay in your camera power circuit, and hook the coil of the relay up to the ignition switch. That way, the camera power is disabled whenever the engine is off. If you do this, make sure you put in a clamping diode (reverse bias) across the relay coil as these days, vehicle electronics are sensitive and you don't want to fry something.

Otherwise, I know amazon sells things like this that might work:

http://www.amazon.com/Intelligent-Vi...+camera+switch

It is a 3 way switch for your camera that takes the turn signal output and selects the camera to be displayed based on the turn signal. I did not do the research but you might be able to find one that just turns the camera on and off - if you don't want to mess with a relay and diode setup.

Just random ideas from someone with too much time on their hands.
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Old 03-31-2015, 05:38 PM   #20
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THOR #1477
Having just purchased a Four Winds 31L too, I also have this same Pioneer system in the dash. Like the OP, I was having issues trying to figure out to turn the darned thing off. :-) one thing I still have not figured out is the "auto-dimming" feature when the vehicle headlights are turned on....


With the lights turned off the display screen is pretty good. But, if I turn on the lights the screen automatically dims down. I've driven with my headlights on at all times in every vehicle I drive for the last 30+ years.... but, with this thing the screen is nearly invisible during daylight hours when dimmed down.


Does anyone know of a way to "disable" this auto-dimming feature?
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