Ghost Radio

[FishAR]

The radio in my outside entertainment center, sirius/am/fm/cd/dvd player just turns itself on now.

I'll go out and open the hatch and turn it off, later go out and it will be on again.
Almost 6 months in Florida and it didn't do this but now that it's in my driveway it is.
Thought maybe a tv remote but I'm 30 ft from it in the house and I don't remember if the radio even comes with a remote.

Time to dig into the owner manual again I suppose.

[cbr046]

Maybe your neighbor has a similar remote? 

- bob

[Tom Cherry]

1 hour ago, FishAR said:

The radio in my outside entertainment center, sirius/am/fm/cd/dvd player just turns itself on now.

I'll go out and open the hatch and turn it off, later go out and it will be on again.
Almost 6 months in Florida and it didn't do this but now that it's in my driveway it is.
Thought maybe a tv remote but I'm 30 ft from it in the house and I don't remember if the radio even comes with a remote.

Time to dig into the owner manual again I suppose.

Couple of suggestions for you.  You have the same multiplexed lighting system as mine.  Find the 3 modules - Intellitec - in the bathroom.  One is marked with the words OUTPUT or RELAY.  The other two are identical.  The output relay is strictly an ON/OFF Control it has your roof fans, pump and Fluorescent light fixtures.  Look at the fuses and the light numbers.  You need to pull the fuses for all the fluorescent lights.  There will be 3 or 4  Kitchen, Bedroom, middle hall and maybe toilet room……I have a 40…so find all of yours and turn on. Pull fuses until they are all off.  Then see if your ghost returns.  The ballasts tend to go bad and will emit an RFI signal.  They have played havoc with thermostats.  If that fixes it…then you have a dilemma.  Find the problem ballast and take down that fixture and replace it with an LED one or drill out the rivets and pull the ballast and convert to 12VDC LED tubes or cut off the pigtail on the fixture, add a foot or so of wire and drill a hole in the  top and bottom and snake the new wires THROUGH the fixture and use the tube sockets and wire it up or put in LED strips.  

We had a thread last year that I started.  I converted mine using 12 VDC tubes, but switched back as the ballasts were not electronic.  I actually found the original vendor and verified.  Out of curiosity, I tried to find an exact fit fixture.  I could not….but there may be one out there.  Thus, I have a plan should a fixture ballast fail.

NOW, the simplest solution might be to chase down the wiring on the radio pigtails.  Red is usually main power.  Yellow (memory on the Magnadyne) is the preset station memory. Thus the radio will be in standby.  There is the ground (black) and 4 wires for the 2 speakers.  MAYBE an Illumination light wire also.  If you put a simple toggle switch near the radio and switch the RED, IT AIN’T GONNA COME ON…

There may be a simple solution that someone will post.  I can tell you from personal experience as well as reading and helping others that chasing down an RFI Ghost is a matter of luck and a dogged perseverance.  I had a light in the toilet room that would come on randomly.  It took a year or more with consulting with M & M RV Electronics, the Intellitec Tech Support and two really sharp individuals here to finally isolate my issue and fix it.  I have a fairly good electrical and electronics background from 2 years as a EE in college and over 55 years of “playing” with electronic circuits….plus 35 years in process engineering and Maintenance management and being involved in the design and repair of many electronically controlled machines.  It stumped me, but we finally isolated the problem and replaced a switch with a “who knows what turns me on….but it happens ….very erratically” complex.  So, manually having to power on the radio would be a solution that I would choose, unless I was in the mood for another “Ghost Busters” sequel…

Hope this helps…if it is NOT a faulty ballast, pull all the AC & DC phone or electronics chargers and see if it persists….even a short in them can trigger an issue..

Good Luck. Keep us informed.

[Chuck B 2004 Windsor]

There are generally 2 difference types of remotes.  Line of sight or RF (radio frequency).  Most RF remotes have dip switch settings in the remote used to talk to the device they control.  That way one remote can only talk to a device it intends to control without controlling other devices within a given area or distance.   Example, 2 different TV's within a given area.  

I was parked close to another RV that had the same TV that I had.  My TV would change channels, turn on, and turn off by itself.  Looking out my window I realized that when the person in the other RV was using his remote, it would effect my TV.  I changed the dip switch setting on my equipment to stop the interference.  

Then the fun began.  Looking out my window, I could see the person in the other RV trying to watch TV.  I would change my dip switch settings to match his.  I played havoc on his watching TV.  You get the drift.  

You probably were parked close to another RV.  More than likely he programed his device with his remote to turn off and on at specific times. That programing also changed the times on your device.  

Time to consult your manual to erase the times.