Axis/Vegas Mods...1,2,3 Go. - Page 4

JamieGeek · 12-07-2014, 04:22 PM

Just visited the camper (we keep it at a storage lot about 3 miles away from our house so that I can visit it and give it a hug frequently!

) and yeah none of that above works. You can't override the trigger via the methods I gave above. You can do it, though, but the method takes a bit--it may be easier to install a switch.
Here is what you can do for now: Turn on radio (vol down again etc.) press and hold the CAM button until settings shows up. On our camper CAM 1 = rear, CAM 2 = left, CAM 3 = right. The settings screen will let you change things for each camera. The options are: Normal, Mirrored, and Skipped. If you set CAM 1 to Skipped it will show CAM 2 in reverse until you set CAM 1 back to normal (or mirrored if you will). It will never show video for a CAM set to skipped so make sure you set it back to normal to see that camera.

On another subject: The chassis battery was pretty much dead and I was just there on Friday running the engines. So far I haven't had a chance to check the current draw from the battery with a meter yet but I have a good idea what is causing it (as everyone else has mentioned on here). The Jensen radio. Even with the coach battery set to "store" (which disables the display on the Jensen) it still keeps time and is thus getting a "keep alive" 12V from somewhere. For an experiment I pulled it out of the dash and disconnected it (our owners packet came with two U shaped removal "tools". You can see them in this pic:

). I pulled the large plug on the lower drivers side (looking at it as if it was installed). (I tested to make sure: plugging that back in showed a time of 12:00am--got it.).
So while its in storage I'm leaving it like you see above to remind me to plug it back in when we go use it.

groswald · 12-07-2014, 07:20 PM

Jamie,

Please keep us informed. I'm on the same search.

I just checked the Jensen schematic and it shows 3 power connections

Pin B4 +12 volts ACC switched
Pin B5 ground
Pin B7 + 12 volts battery

I would assume B4 is +12 out for accessories you want to switch on and off with the system. B5 and B7 should be the two connected to the house batteries. I know mine won't work with the battery switch in storage mode, but I didn't think to check the clock.

There are three pins: B1, B2, and B8 that are listed as "No connection". Maybe one of them is actually connected to the chassis battery to maintain the clock?

Randy

JamieGeek · 12-07-2014, 07:27 PM

The wiring diagram in the installation manual isn't too clear. I would bet that pin B4 is an input and is connected to the house/coach battery. Likewise I'd bet that B7 is connected to the chassis battery.

FW28z · 12-07-2014, 08:25 PM

Typically stereos have two 12V inputs. One which is on all the time (which in the case of the Jensen would be B7) and the other connected to the ignition switch (B4 for the Jensen).

The way it typically works is that the stereo is (allowed to be) turned on and off with B7 having 12V on it from the ignition/acc switch, while B4 is on all the time as a keep-alive voltage for the clock and memory.

That way, the stereo turns off (with the keep alive voltage remaining on) whenever you turn off the ignition switch.

Often in boats, what happens is that the two 12V lines are tied together so that you have to turn the stereo off with the on/off knob or the stereo will remain on - draining the battery. This is done because many people like to listen to the stereo on a boat without the engine running (as most boat ignition switches do not have an acc position).

How Thor does it? Who knows.

JamieGeek · 12-07-2014, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FW28z

Typically stereos have two 12V inputs. One which is on all the time (which in the case of the Jensen would be B7) and the other connected to the ignition switch (B4 for the Jensen).

Correct: The "keep alive" 12V lets the clock stay on time in-between "key cycles" (at least for a typical auto installation, and for the Axis installation as long as the chassis battery lasts! LOL).

groswald · 12-08-2014, 02:06 AM

Jamie an fw28 z,

I'm sure you're both right. One more mod for the list - add a "storage" switch to the stereo.

Randy

FW28z · 12-08-2014, 04:49 AM

I installed such a switch for my last boat.

JamieGeek · 12-08-2014, 12:18 PM

Or just cut the chassis battery wire and tie it into the coach battery wire. Then the "Use"/"Store" button on "Store" will completely depower the radio (This will most likely be the route I take).

FW28z · 12-08-2014, 12:37 PM

Repowering the stereo to the house battery is one of my future projects as well. Just have not gotten around to it. Funny, when I retired, I thought I'd have all this time on my hands... but just the opposite.

Doing nothing is a full time job!

Anyway, at least on my rig, the house battery already appears under the dash (emergency start switch) as well as at the solenoid in the engine compartment.

I am not sure which place I want to connect it to. It would be easier to connect it to the switch, but depending on the wire size and length, it may not be sufficient to power the stereo without dropping the voltage.

For certain, I could hook it to the house side of the emergency solenoid, but then I'd have to fuse it at that point - which might not be that hard to do and is likely the source I will use.

Either way, beats running a wire all the way back to the house batteries.

I would assume you also have an emergency start switch in your dash.

Odd though that your rigs stereos are powered by the engine battery. In 2013 Thor changed the wiring scheme on the Class Cs from being powered by the engine battery to being powered by the house battery, so why they still wired the Axis coaches using the old method is odd.

JamieGeek · 12-08-2014, 12:53 PM

Yes we have the emergency start switch in the dash. In fact it is easily accessible below the radio. I doubt I'll wire into that. The connector on the back of the radio has both (see above discussion about B4 and B7) thus I'll likely just cut B7 and jumper that to B4 (either by crimping the two together, cutting both and then using a wire nut to tie them all together, or solder. I've successfully used wire nuts on car stereo's in the past--even on a 4x4 that went off-roading a lot--so I'm not worried about the wires coming apart). Thinking about it: The simplest way would be to cut both wires, strip 3 of the ends, wire-nut them together and finally wrap with electrical tape.

FW28z · 12-08-2014, 01:07 PM

That would work, but it might mean resetting the stereo each time you de-powered it. May not be much more than resetting the clock though.

I did find that on my boat, we had shorepower so we never run the battery down during the season, so the switch for de-powering the radio was only used for winter storage as showerpower remained connected to the boat when we were gone for a few days.

But I came up with a really crazy idea for the boat (my natural tendency is to over-do things), and use a small battery, perhaps an alarm panel battery, and dedicate the keep-alive to that.

However, it complicates things as the keep-alive is also the main (high current) power line for the stereo, whereas the switched wire is a small current wire turning the stereo from active to standby.

So I would have needed to make a provision to switch the stereo with a relay to the main power source whenever it is turned on. That main power source could then also recharge the keep-alive battery.

Again, a wild scheme to be sure, but I have been known to do such things.

JamieGeek · 12-08-2014, 02:39 PM

yeah I don't need that much scheming, LOL. As far as I know the keep alive only keeps the clock time (I don't know if all the other settings are also stored with keep alive or stored in flash memory). In our case it doesn't matter as we don't set any of the radio station presets (its so noisy in there we don't even bother with radio while driving down the road). In most cases when we're camping we are out of range of the home stations anyway so even if we used presets we would be resetting them all the time.
About the only thing I really use that radio for is the 3 camera displays.

groswald · 12-08-2014, 03:19 PM

I was thinking about a single-throw, triple-pole switch. That way I can switch the radio, the UltraGauge, and the courtesy light all at once. The only question being can I find a sort-of-matching TPST automotive rocker switch?

Randy

JamieGeek · 12-08-2014, 03:39 PM

Well you could just wire up a SPST to some relays to give you n-poles.
They look a lot like this guy:
Full Size Rocker Switches - 1/4'' Tabs - ON-OFF SPST - WiringProducts

aa9zz · 12-08-2014, 05:33 PM

I hope Thor is reading this thread. They would get some great ideas to make future customers very happy. I am sure they would also increase the the number of customers in the future.

JamieGeek · 12-08-2014, 09:46 PM

So back to the battery issue: Stopped by the Axis a bit over 24 hours later: Dead chassis battery again--at least dead enough it couldn't start the engine or even light anything up on the dash. Given that I've only run both engines about 20 minutes at a time with it sitting there I doubt the chassis battery has been fully charged since September. This is with the Jensen disconnected. Thus I'm sure there is more to this than just the Jensen (the chassis itself does have some modules that consume a little power even with the key off).
Thus now I'm thinking of installing a top post battery disconnect, something like this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Post-Battery-M.../dp/B001N729FS
Since the battery (at least the posts) are easily accessible from the front of the coach it would be easy to open it, reach in and turn on/off the battery. Looks like it will be a 10 minute install too--maybe 20 since the negative post is further from the front.
The good news to all this is that the coach battery remains fully charged and can easily start the genny.

FW28z · 12-08-2014, 10:10 PM

Or if you are using the same circuit, a SPST could switch all three devices at once.

aa9zz · 12-08-2014, 10:52 PM

Is it possible that you have a bad battery? My Axis has been sitting for five weeks. The coach batteries have been shut off and the starting battery is at full charge.

Phil

JamieGeek · 12-08-2014, 11:25 PM

That is a possibility, but both myself and groswald having bad batteries? We purchased our unit new in February and it sat in the same storage lot from Feb through April in some of the nastiest winter weather we've seen around here in a while and I didn't have any issues with either battery.

JamieGeek · 12-10-2014, 12:50 PM

Stopped by CampingWorld yesterday and picked up one of these:
Nature Power Solar Battery Maintainers and Trickle Chargers - 6-watt - RDK Products 40014 - Solar Panels - Camping World
Its only 6 watts so I'm not expecting much but perhaps it will be enough to stem the tide so to speak. This morning when I plugged it in and laid it out on the dash in front of the "curtain" the chassis battery had 8 volts (12 after I started and ran the engine for a few minutes).
We'll see.

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