Stereo only works when microwave runs - Montana Owners Club

Montana_1515 · 07-05-2004, 06:18 PM

we have had our montana for about a year. It is an 03 3280rl. The stereo has worked fine until now. The stereo will not work unless the microwave or the air cond is running. I checked the power to the stereo and it is on. I pluged a drill into the outlet and it works just fine. Then I took an extension cord and pluged the stereo in to several other outlets and it does the same thing no matter what outlet it is pluged into. I know this makes no sense. I have had 2 years of ind. elec. training but I am at a loss. How can there be power but it still wont work,then you turn on the microwave or air and the front panel of the stereo starts flashing and then it will work. If you turn them off it stops working.

Montana_1577 · 07-05-2004, 06:23 PM

Sounds as though you need an exorcism performed! that's the wierdest thing I've ever heard. I'll study on it for a spell and maybe get back with a theory.

Montana_1577 · 07-05-2004, 06:28 PM

Ok...(short study spell). I know that the a/c and microwave pull the most amps into the unit. There may be a short that the surge of amps overcomes and allows the stereo to play but there's still a problem. The drill shouldn't have worked and you should be throwing breakers like crazy.

Montana_1515 · 07-06-2004, 04:48 AM

I dont have trouble with anything else in the trailer. I am going to run an extetion cord to the outlet on the front of our house to bypass all the trailer wireing and see if the stereo will work that way. I would say it might be a bad ground if it was d.c. but with ac it either would work or not work. It makes no sense at all to me even after sleeping on it, I have no clue.

Montana_1515 · 07-06-2004, 05:15 AM

Well I ran the extension cord to the outlet on the front of the house. The stereo would not work, while it was pluged in I tried the mic and the air, it still would not work. I tried the drill in the outlet on the house and it worked fine. I pluged the stereo back into its outlet in the trailer and tried to run it . nothing! then I turned on the air. nothing! then I turned the mic on and the stereo came to life,then when I turned it off the stereo died too. If anyone has a clue let me know.

sreigle · 07-06-2004, 08:21 AM

This is a longshot. I remember seeing circuits in a home where the electrical connection has both a 'straight thru' connection and wires going off to the appliance/outlet. I may be showing my electrical ignorance but if the straight thru part of that connection were bad or came undone, then you'd have no juice going through to the stereo. But if you turned on that appliance, juice would go on through the appliance and out to the stereo? You electrical savvy folks out there jump in and debunk this thought if it's all wrong.

Montana_1515 · 07-06-2004, 08:27 AM

Well I think it has something to do with the voltage. I took my digital volt meter and here is what I am finding.
voltage at the house 122.4v
voltage at stereo outlet 121.4v
voltage at stereo with microwave running 116.8v
My only guess at this piont is that there is an over voltage device in the stereo and that it is being tripped by the voltage being too high Even though the voltage is within safe peramaters. I dont think there is a way to fix this problem without it costing more than the stereo is worth.

Flastro · 07-06-2004, 09:07 AM

That's an interesting one, maybe if you could find some kind of inline resistor (adapter) limiting it to 120 Volt max, might be just enough to get you by.

Merv · 07-06-2004, 02:12 PM

hi
have you tried taking a light bulb and testing outlets for power?
i would take a bulb and plug it into individual outlets and see if they work.
do this with a 2 prong plug, not a 3 prong.
it could be possible that you have a bad neutral somewhere along the line. possibly the nuetral (white) wire has came loose somewhere and when the 3 prong microwave is turned on the ground and nuetral connect, completing the circuit for the sterio again.
you probably know this already but with AC the ground and nuetral (White) are basically the same. and the black is the Hot wire.
let us know what you find.
you are right, this is baffling
Merv

Montana_461 · 07-09-2004, 11:18 AM

I think Merv might be on to this. You sound like you are good at electrical things...Check to see if a neutral line came loose in the panel. I was at a state campground this last weekend and my air and water heater would not work. It was a loose wire on the 50 amp breaker. Granted I am one of the few that will rip apart the panel at a campground. I don't endorse this. As there is always live electrical connections there.

Be warned, in the trailer, neutral and ground are NOT tied together. This is true for sub-panels in a house too. It should only be tied together in the mail panel and/or meter socket.

I had a strange problem with my radio too. When ever I would plug in to an outlet with GFCI protection, I would trip it. This took me months to figure out. I finally wired a trailer plug in the garage so I could charge the batteries. I finally went to a campground where that 30 AMP was a GFCI breaker. So I had to find out what the problem was. After much research, the RCA radio was the culprit. If I would unplug the radio, no tripping. As soon as I plugged it in, snap. That one had me confused for a few hours.

Good luck with the radio.

NJ Hillbilly · 07-09-2004, 12:41 PM

When I started at the top reading this a bad neutral came to mind. As I read through it looks more likely to be the culprit. Try checking the voltage from hot to neutral and from hot to ground and see if there is any difference. Check it when nothing is on and check when everything is on and see if there is a difference. The overvoltage protection sounds way too high tech for these dimestore stereo's.

John

Montana_1515 · 07-10-2004, 08:25 AM

I did the light bulb check at the time I tried the drill in the outlets. There is not a bad ground, I pluged it into an outlet on my house and it did the same thing. Everything else works fine including a new dvd, stereo that I bought. It has to be in the stereo, I have an idea but i have not tried it yet,I am going to put a 1.05 ohm resister it the stereo line and see if it works. If it doesn`t I will throw the stereo out and chalk it up to cheep quality merchandise.

lightningjack11 · 07-10-2004, 10:59 AM

lifer,

Since it won't work when you plug it in to a household plug from the house, I would think the problem is in the Stereo. Maybe the lead in if you can ohm it out.

If I were working on it the first thing I would do is get the thing working on your house plug before messing with the wiring in the trailer.

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