Am/fm stereo in 13ft. Scamp deluxe

[Eric in mich]

Hello all, we are new here.

We are planning on purchasing a 13ft. scamp deluxe model in the next year or so.

I am having trouble finding any info. on a am/fm stereo being installed. (would like to find out sooner than later)

Obviously scamp does not offer it, but i still have a few questions if anyone has had it installed later or done it themselves.
I am a machinist but kind of limited on the electrical know how.


1. Do i need to have scamp run any extra wires and or dedicate a separate fuse to it ahead of time? (can ask scamp i guess)

2. Are there any suggestions as to a good spot for the receiver and speakers? (we are getting the antenna and tv package)

3. How would the rooftop antenna come into play with the stereo and then again, connect etc. ?

I realize there are car/boat stereo installer shops all over and we could go that route if needed but i still would like to hear any feedback on this topic if possible.
thanks in advance.

[AC0GV]

Originally Posted by Eric in mich

1. Do i need to have scamp run any extra wires and or dedicate a separate fuse to it ahead of time? (can ask scamp i guess)
2. Are there any suggestions as to a good spot for the receiver and speakers? (we are getting the antenna and tv package)
3. How would the rooftop antenna come into play with the stereo and then again, connect etc. ?

I ran extra power in for ham radio equipment and tapped into that. I mounted the AM/FM antenna to the back of the awning. The Smallest radio that I found was a boat radio. It had an extra input, so I used that for the TV that is to mall to hear over the sound of the air conditioner.

[John in Santa Cruz]

I just carry a small bluetooth speaker, and stream music off my phone

only radio I listen to is one station here at home, KPIG-FM, and even its not as good as it used to be (half the good DJs have retired, the original program director is dead, etc etc)

[John in Santa Cruz]

as far as adding a car stereo goes... car stereos have two power wires, yellow and red.

the yellow wire is constant power, so you connect that directly to a fused circuit off your main fuse panel (you could tap into a lighting circuit, whatever)

the red wire is switched power on a car, and is normally only powered when the car is on.... if you wire this to always-on power, it will drain your RV battery even when the stereo is off (found this out the hard way), so its best to put this on a toggle switch. so take that same power source you ran to yellow, connect it to the 'pole' of a on/off toggle switch, and connect the 'throw' of the switch to the red wire, mount the switch right next to the stereo.

black wire from stereo goes to ground (negative). blue wires, orange wires, you can tape off so they won't short anything. grey (+) and grey-black (-) goes to the right front speaker, white (+) and white-black (-) goes to the left front speaker. if you're only using two speakers, tape off the purple and green wires so they won't short.

done!

[Eric in mich]

Wow guys. Great info.
a lot to think about. Thanks so much.

Not to keep this thread going any longer but you can not connect any radio thru the rooftop antenna that scamp installs? That only works for tv reception?

[AC0GV]

Originally Posted by Eric in mich

Wow guys. Great info.
a lot to think about. Thanks so much.

Not to keep this thread going any longer but you can not connect any radio thru the rooftop antenna that scamp installs? That only works for tv reception?

Any antenna that works for VHF TV should also work for FM radio, maybe not for AM.

[John in Santa Cruz]

you'll need a coax patch cord with a car stereo plug on the radio side, and an 'F" connector that attaches to the inside of the antenna port on the camper shell.

[David B.]

we do as Jonn does using our iPhone with the Pandora application Bluetooth to JBL wireless speaker. We also have an XM radio face plate that we move from the tow vehicle into the trailer and use the same Bluetooth JBL speaker using a dongle, so we can move the speaker out into our clam shelters, or we simply use a direct wire from the XM radio plugged into the JBL speaker, for times that we don’t have cell service. I had installed a car radio in our first scamp 13 foot trailer by tapping into The light, mounted under the cabinet by the dinette, and simply taping a bipole antenna inside the cabinet for reception. Best of luck with your project.
Dave and Paula

[Markz]

I installed a 2.1 desktop computer speaker system into our camper that ran off of a 110v/12v plug. I just hard wired it into the camper's 12v wiring. I also installed a mini plug in my upper shelf to hook into it either a Bluetooth receiver, Amazon Echo or "emergency" am/fm/sb radio.

Now we enjoy great sound and have options.

[Markz]

Other components of the sound system.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Markz

I installed a 2.1 desktop computer speaker system into our camper that ran off of a 110v/12v plug. I just hard wired it into the camper's 12v wiring.....

careful doing this sort of thing... some 12VDC supplies are regulated 12V and the device may well expect something like 11.5-12.5V with no noise. your camper '12V' can be anywhere up to around 14.2 or 14.4Vwhen the power converter is running and the batteries are fully charged with even higher transients (heater motor or water pump startup/shutdown, for instance) , stuff directly wired to it really should be tolerant of 10-16V or so for safe margins, that is unregulated 12V.

[Markz]

Correct. I ran the electric through a noise filter and I have a 12v 74w dc to dc stabalizer. The system has been running well for 3 years.

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

careful doing this sort of thing... some 12VDC supplies are regulated 12V and the device may well expect something like 11.5-12.5V with no noise. your camper '12V' can be anywhere up to around 14.2 or 14.4Vwhen the power converter is running and the batteries are fully charged with even higher transients (heater motor or water pump startup/shutdown, for instance) , stuff directly wired to it really should be tolerant of 10-16V or so for safe margins, that is unregulated 12V.

[Markz]

This is the voltage stabilizer I used

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Markz

This is the voltage stabilizer I usedAttachment 136279

do you have a link to where you got that? I've been looking for something similar for another use.

[Markz]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

do you have a link to where you got that? I've been looking for something similar for another use.

Here you go John:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/233646170478

[patrick crawford]

here's my audio setup in my 16' casita. i used a car stereo from crutchfield online. those folks were amazingly helpful. i simply wanted to get power to the unit and i knew the gaggle of wires to choose from was way overkill. my tech guy at crutchfield went so far as to draw and e-mail a simplified wiring diagram. i simply picked up the 12v via the wire for the overhead light over the bed. the radio has a lot of input options (usb, mini plug, etc..) had i known then what i do now i would have moved up to a unit with bluetooth. the unit has worked flawlessly since installation 8 years ago.

p@

[Markz]

Looks nice

Originally Posted by patrick crawford

here's my audio setup in my 16' casita. i used a car stereo from crutchfield online. those folks were amazingly helpful. i simply wanted to get power to the unit and i knew the gaggle of wires to choose from was way overkill. my tech guy at crutchfield went so far as to draw and e-mail a simplified wiring diagram. i simply picked up the 12v via the wire for the overhead light over the bed. the radio has a lot of input options (usb, mini plug, etc..) had i known then what i do now i would have moved up to a unit with bluetooth. the unit has worked flawlessly since installation 8 years ago.

p@

[MaxinTenn]

I replaced a dead Sony car stereo in my Casita SD with a Dual car unit that I purchased from Amazon or EBay this Spring. Since the pin outs of the connector were different, I had to cut the wires to the Sony connector, and splice them onto the Dual unit. No big deal.
But the three items I want to convey are this:
1 - The unit only cost $25, with something like 25 Watts per four channels (left, right, front, rear (you don’t have to connect the rear channels if you don’t want them)).
2 - The unit has a USB jack on the front, so you can play mp3s you download from the internet, or your friends share with you (I download old-time radio comedies to listen to in bed).
3 - Instead of providing a cheap remote control, you download the Dual control app on your phone, which uses Bluetooth.

[Gompka]

You can get a bluetooth speaker with am/fm, that way its portable and you can take it inside or outside. Nowadays there are some very good quality portable speakers, that way it saves you work and if you change campers you can take it with you.

[Pat Stipe]

I had an old XM radio laying around the house. It was one of the originals that you could plug into the power port in the car, and you could move it from vehicle to vehicle. I got SiriusXM to turn it back on, and plugged it into the power port in my 74 ECO. I have a couple of old computer speakers on the shelf, and I generally just hook the antenna magnet onto the kitchen support bar. If you have a home kit, the unit pulls out of the housing easily, and you can use it in the house. They can be found on places like EBay and Amazon for a very reasonable price.