Club 80-90 Forums

'86 1.9 petrol hitop autosleeper

Ok I have a cheapy halfords stereo fitted by the previous owner (Sendai) It wasnt working there for a bit and I wanted to resolve it. After reading on here I knew that there isnt a lot of room behind the stero slot so took it out to have a look.

Sorted loose connections and seemed to be better. Looks like the buttons are lighting up but nothing else works? Checked checked and rechecked only works for a second or two then reverts to only buttons alight.

I realised that the stereo is working off the leisure battery and I know my leisure battery has seen better days. (The previous owner also fitted the two volt meters as per wiki)

This continued all afternoon till I started the van and the stereo worked fine? Switched off engine worked for a minute or so and then it stopped returning to the illuminated buttons only?? Coincidentally this happened at the point when the voltage hit 10volts exactly?

So my question is - Is it possible that the stereo has some sort of cut off mechanism when the voltage drops past a certain point. (as with the propex) this is the only conclusion that I have come to. I am quite sure that there is no way it was wired through the ignition etc. it did work fine before with no key in ignition and no engine running??

Any ideas much appreciated

It sounds like your leisure battery is no good, the radio requires 12volts to run, when the engine is running it is getting the 12volts because the leisure battery is being charged by the alternator, but once the engines stopped and because the leisure battery isn't holding its charge the radio stops working as it should. The lights stay on probably because they don't require the 12v.

My radio was doing this until I replaced the leisure battery

10 Volts = you need a new leisure battery

Thanks, I know my leisure battery is a dud, but has anyone heard of stereos having a cut off mechanism when voltage gets to a certain level? That's the bit that got me all day. I assumed that the stereo would work as the voltage dropped, just quieter!

The shopping for a new battery will begin. Also looking into fitting a charger that works with the hookup like a westfalia to keep the new one good

pi quattro wrote: has anyone heard of stereos having a cut off mechanism when voltage gets to a certain level? That's the bit that got me all day. I assumed that the stereo would work as the voltage dropped, just quieter!

It's not done deliberately, it is just the way the stereos internal voltage regulation circuits work. Like the voltage regulator (chip) that provides 10V for the fuel and temp gauges, if the input voltage drops below what is known as the "threshold" it simply stops working. Older "non digital" stereos (string tuning) would not do this, they would just go quieter and start to distort the sound.

Very well put ghost, thank you!