Silent Speaker

[cbr046]

Front left speaker went dead.  Found a discontinuity between one of the speaker leads and the speaker, except the break is in the ceiling.  How can I get access?  Do I have a mouse in the house? 😮

 

What I can't figure out is how to get inside the ceiling, or how to remove the front wood panel (where satellite receiver was) or the black plastic box that holds the disc player. 

Or is my best option to fish a new wire from speaker hole to the corner post? 

Biggest question is cause of open connection?  The black wire at the post turns to blue at the speaker so there's a splice / connection in there somewhere, probably to connect LF speaker wire to other speakers.

Also, the speaker and housing got dropped.  If anyone has a spare that will keep me from robbing one from the back of the coach (2003 Endeavor) . . . . .

TIA,

- bob

 

 

 

 

[Scotty Hutto]

40 minutes ago, cbr046 said:

Also, the speaker and housing got dropped.  If anyone has a spare that will keep me from robbing one from the back of the coach (2003 Endeavor) . . . . .

TIA,

- bob

Bob, 

one place to check… mine has a 10 or 12 pin connector behind the receiver (mine was tucked in a hole in the black plastic box)  on my system, sometimes the pins don’t fully engage.

Probably a long shot, but easier than pulling wire.  IF you have to pull wire, be aware it’s not a straight, clear shot from the speaker to the front cap. There’s an aluminum support that runs across the coach right at the point where the front cap attaches to the roof (ask me how I know…)  There are a few gaps to fish a wire through, but finding them blindly is slow work.  An inexpensive endoscope was very useful in my endeavors. Here’s the one I used: https://depstech.com/collections/wifi-endoscopes  I’ve gotten many times my $40 worth out of it 😁  you would also be able to see evidence of any uninvited guests… 🐀 

I have five extra speakers… Send me an email at scott AT monacoers.org and we can work out details on how to get it to you. 

[DavidL]

If you don't have continuity between one end of the wire and the other, pull a new cable.

Securely tape a new wire AND a pull string to the old.  Give the old wire a tug back and forth to see if it's lashed down or pinched somewhere that might prevent it from being used as a pull string.  If it feels free, then pull the new bundle in and connect.

The key is to make a smooth "nose" on the bundle where you tape the old to the new.  Tape back about a foot so there is lots of friction between the old and new cables so you don't loose the new half way across.  But you are doing a relatively small number of feet.

The pull string is for future proofing.

 

If wire won't pull free, then you can poke the wire into the cabinet towards the cabinet face interior and run the wire under the ceiling, in the cabinet.

Edited June 2, 2022 by DavidL

[Guest Ray Davis]

Bob,  I see you have an 03 Endeavor I have an 03 Windsor.  My Windsor has a box in that side cabinet over the drivers head, it's a River Pak speaker switching device that is controled by a switch near the radio.  It switches the speakers from dash radio to TV.  Some Monacos are not equiped with this, but if yours is that's where I would start.. That also may be where the wire changes colors.

[cbr046]

51 minutes ago, Scotty Hutto said:

one place to check… mine has a 10 or 12 pin connector behind the receiver (mine was tucked in a hole in the black plastic box)  on my system, sometimes the pins don’t fully engage.

be aware it’s not a straight, clear shot from the speaker to the front cap. 

An inexpensive endoscope was very useful in my endeavors. Here’s the one I used: https://depstech.com/collections/wifi-endoscopes 

Our Endeavor and Diplomat are supposedly sister coaches, but no such connector in the black box.  Maybe behind.  It might be Monday before I can get back in there (too hot) and pull the TV for a look-see behind the black box.  @Ray Davis no such speaker switch on the dash or switcher in the overhead. 

Not a straight shot?  Possible pesky varmints?  Might need an endoscope 😉  Turns out Depstech has a new model with side camera (can go down a bore and look at bore walls simultaneously), 4.3" color monitor, no android / iOS app to deal with and records with 32MB uSD card . . . and only twice the price.  For an extra $3 you can get orange buttons LOL.  Pretty snazzy.  https://www.amazon.com/DEPSTECH-Industrial-Inspection-Waterproof-Semi-Rigid/dp/B0928Q3T42

I can't count how many times I've laid on my back peering into the exhaust port of a 2 stroke.  I hope this isn't what my urologist used last month. 

@DavidL I can't pull a wire through as there's a splice / connection above the roof line, inside the ceiling.  Black at the corner post and blue at the speaker.  The best I can hope for is pulling a new jumper wire to bypass the broken connection.  Maybe through the cabinet as you suggest. 👍

But I like fixing original problems vs band-aiding around them. 

- bob

[DavidL]

Is there by chance a speaker selector switch that might be the real issue?  ie: Front / vs. Back speakers.  When you say that there is a "connection" inbetween...that's the first thing that comes to mind as there shouldn't be any connections mid ceiling on one speaker wire pair.

[lake49068]

Chased a similar problem and if you have the River Park box, start there.  Had a bad pin connector...solved with a small brad (nail) to take up the slack at the pin.

[cbr046]

  

On 6/2/2022 at 4:08 PM, DavidL said:

Is there by chance a speaker selector switch that might be the real issue?  ie: Front / vs. Back speakers.  When you say that there is a "connection" inbetween...that's the first thing that comes to mind as there shouldn't be any connections mid ceiling on one speaker wire pair.

There's 8 speakers in the ceiling.  Even a 4ch system would have doubled up connections.  No switch, unless it's buried inside the ceiling. 

Yes, there is an aluminum bulkhead support across the ceiling while heading toward the front cap.  Thanks for the suggestion of feeding into the side cabinet and using that to chase a new wire up front.  Not as elegant but it will do. 

 

I got to test out the "new improved" endoscope last night (Depstech DS300).  There's a lot of fiberglass insulation in the ceiling cavity that makes "seeing" difficult, plus the camera is on a semi-rigid cable.  Too hard to follow the speaker wire.  Tried it in some other areas . . . . pretty snazzy.  I can take videos or stills with the built in 32GB SD card, there's a 2nd camera in the head for looking sideways (or both on a split screen).  Sweet tool or toy?  I can't decide.  Biggest issue is getting the camera pointed and pushing cable while holding the monitor. 

 

I "might" have seen ONE mouse do-do, or a piece of trash.  No other sign of varmints. 

 

- bob

 

 

Edited June 5, 2022 by cbr046

[Georgia Mike]

When I first got our Dynasty the bedroom tv worked fine but after a few months it stopped receiving a signal from the antenna. Nothing had been worked on in the coach. I used a wire toner tracer to find the route of the cable and it stopped in the ceiling in the bathroom so I assumed that was where the break was. I couldn’t get to it so I ended up running a new coax to the tv. I think a wire tracer is a good thing to have when trying to figure out how wires run when you have problems especially when you have gremlins in the walls.