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The original 8 track AM/FM radio wasn't fully functional. The right audio channel sounded blown though the speaker was fine. The 8 track didn't work. It took a hammer (not joking) to switch from AM to FM. Radio presets didn't work. My left front speaker failed. I managed to find another used but original 10 ohm replacement speaker on ebay. The new one failed shortly after. And that was the straw that broke the camels back.
Time for a new radio and speakers. I was highly conflicted as to whether I should get one with a screen or not. I love originality but the convenience of navigation and a backup camera finally won out.
Installing a new radio wasn't all I had to do. The original radio had a direct connection to the motor battery. That meant it would stay on even with the engine off, which is great when you are parked but I was always terrified of killing my starting battery. Plus new radios are not as easy to turn off as the old one.
I made the new radio run off the house battery, not the starting battery. I opted to make it even more complicated by adding a 3 way dash switch that allows me to turn the radio
- Always on
- Always off
- On when the ignition is on
This gives me the best of all worlds. Normally I leave in position 3. But when we park and want the radio, I set it to 1.
And I didn't just do this for the radio. I added an entirely new fuse box, mounted behind the glove box, whose sole purpose is distributing house battery feeds. I ended up with three circuits so far.
- Radio
- Dash cigarette lighter / power port
- Front dinnette USB charger (60 watt USB C PD)
Flipping that dash switch to off turns all three of these circuits off. It is bad ass and exactly what I wanted. But I did have to go through a few iterations of wiring diagrams to get exactly what I wanted. The final diagram is in the photos below.
While I was making all these changes, I also added a Cobra Power 500 watt power inverter. It is a pure sine wave which is great, but relatively small at only 500 watts. I put it in the back of the RV next to the 110 VAC circuit breaker box. This power inverter has a USB A and USB C port which are ALWAYS hot. I just need to never forget to unplug the load when storing the RV.
That power inverter also supported a remote control panel that itself contained another USB A and USB C outlet. I ran that to the rear dinnette. Again, those USB ports have power even if the inverter is off (i.e. not convertering DC to AC). I put a big sticker on it reminding us that those USB ports are always hot.
Final parts list:
- Boss BCPA8W android auto head unit
- Cobra Power 500W
- Cobra Remote On/Off Controller (CPIALCDG1)
- Tigwin 6 way fuse box
- Genssi MAH-S-112-C-3 12 volt relay
- Cole Hersee 3 way 12 volt switch, 5586-BX (oversized for my use)
- Generic 30 amp inline fuse on house battery line supplying the distribution fuse box
- Generic Chinese backup camera (don't recommend)
- Generic Chinese wireless transmitter/receiver for backup camera (acceptable, not great)
I did have to cut the dash to make the new radio fit which was a bummer. Thankfully for 1977 GMC ran a positive and ground from the head unit to each speaker, no common ground nor any bound front left/rear left speakers.
I have taken my first camping trip with the new setup. Here are my thoughts.
- The Boss BCPA8W head unit is legit. Wireless android auto works great. Physical volume knob is great. USB MP3s work great. Tuner is unreasonably sensitive picking up way more stations than I knew we had in the area. 25 years ago when I was getting into car audio, Boss was a joke. It was Alpine, Kenwood, Pioneer. But this Boss head unit is fantastic. Sound quality is dramatically improved over stock (not hard).
- Having house battery driven USB ports front and rear is perfect. These are in addition to the 110 VAC outlets I got that also have USB ports. We finally have enough ports for everything without using a single wall wart.
- Can't comment on the power inverter, but the remote USB ports it provides work great.
I did install new speakers a couple days later so my review factors these in.
Pictures
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