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Old 11-15-2010, 09:49 AM   #1
JWN
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I took delivery of an ordered new Cruiser model CF30ES in July, 2010. Have taken 4 extended weekend trips with it and it has met or exceeded our expectations, except for one thing.

The Jensen AM band portion of the radio has severe interference when the unit is plugged into shore power. I like to listen to sports and talk radio and that is usually found only on the AM band. The interference is such that I can’t even hear a 50,000 watt radio station that is 20 miles from my home. The unit was at the dealer twice. They upgraded the converter, checked the wiring, swapped out the radio, tried a different antenna, etc., all with no avail. I tried eliminating the GFI on the AC circuit that covers the rear of the trailer, where the radio is, no help. I found that tripping the circuit breaker that covers the rear 120 volt circuit of the trailer eliminates the interference. The radio and entertainment center are on a slide-out in the rear of the unit. I’ve talked to Randy at CR and he can’t think of any other possible solutions.

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this problem and does anyone have a solution?



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Old 11-15-2010, 10:12 AM   #2
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The good news is you know how to stop it. Is the converter on the breaker for the front of the trailer? If you turn on all the lights you should hear the fan. Does it go off with the breaker?

The easiest thing to test with is a portable AM radio. If it does not get the noise the noise is on the ac line. If it does get the noise, walk around to see if you can localize the source. Most likely things are motors (fans) of florescent lights and inverters.

Good luck Ralph
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Old 11-15-2010, 02:29 PM   #3
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I have a Jensen unit in my 2010 Cruiser. It has the worst AM radio I have ever seen. Even when on battery power it will not pick up any stations unless they are less than 20 miles away. When on battery I get a lot of interferance when the gas refrigerator turns on. Same with the gas water heater. Basically the Jensen is a piece of junk. I am looking for a replacement.
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Old 11-16-2010, 12:02 AM   #4
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Our 5er has the "Coby" radio and DVD player. The radio has never been usable since day one.
We have never used the DVD player, so I have no idea if it works or not. The radio is the BIG source of irritation for us. Had the dealership address it once to no avail. Now I 'm considering an external antenna and, a different radio. The Lance truck camper we had previously had an excellent radio. So if I ever get my duff in gear, I will check out getting one of those.

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Old 11-16-2010, 01:17 AM   #5
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I to like the am band but am unable to use my Jenson when hooked up to shore power.I have a 2010 and when its hooked up to a generator or running off batteries it works fine. I posted the same question a couple months ago and would love a solution.
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Old 11-16-2010, 02:35 AM   #6
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You may wish to look into an RF filter for the unit. Talk to a geek at Radio Shack.

You can also improve AM reception with a decent antenna. I've talked to people who use their TV batwing antenna and they say it works fine and does not hurt TV reception. I guess one would tie into the batwing at the connector on the wall. I don't know for sure because I am not a geek at Radio Shack.


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Old 11-16-2010, 03:14 AM   #7
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I will tell you a secret, Geeks at Radio Shack don't exist anymore. They are just the folks that will work for the cheapest pay. Radio is quite dumbed down. Just had an experience with Radio Shack flunkies and a soldering iron and I made the mistake of thinking they knew what they were talking about. Cost me the gas and time to swap out what they said will work.



What you can do is the the Radio Shack kids do is show you their products, or do an online lookup and you will see that they have 2 products that show up under RF filter. All you can do is try them.



As I posted before on another sub-forum here on the site, we have one of the Jensen units and it turns itself on by itself.Others have the same issue.



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Old 11-16-2010, 04:40 AM   #8
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To All who have responded so far,



Ralph & Donna: The converter was tried on both the front & back breakers, didn't matter, same interference. Will try the portable radio in the Spring, because unit was put to bed for the winter. Problem is that interference is there with nothing running in the 5er, no lights, fans, pump, TV, etc.

Randy at CR said to check out the speaker wires. They run in a loom near where the AC enters the slide - out. Could try this by disconnecting the unit's speakers & connecting extra speakers directly to the radio. If noise goes away, then it's interference caused by the speaker wires & AC wires too close together. Will have to waite'till spring.



JEB: What type of RF filter and where would it be installed, 12 volt imput, speaker wires, or what??? Presently using omni directional combination external TV & radio antenna. Works OK on battery power.



DRCOOK: Will check out the RF filters, thanks.
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Old 11-16-2010, 08:52 AM   #9
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JEB: What type of RF filter and where would it be installed, 12 volt

imput, speaker wires, or what??? Presently using omni directional

combination external TV & radio antenna. Works OK on battery power.


When it was working on battery power, did you have any 120V A/C appliances running in the fiver? If so, I would suggest that it isn't a case of speaker wires too close to AC power loom or it would be there regardless of what was powering up the radio unit.

However, if it was working on battery and you had nothing drawing 120V AC, you might want to turn something like the overhead fan on when it's working well and see if that turns it to crap (you want to have an electric motor running because they cause the problem in most cases - even the fan in the converter). Try to turn something on in both the front and rear of the trailer. If the radio doesn't go to hell when this stuff is turned on, it would pretty much eliminate 120V RF interference. The RF filter would be installed on whatever wires are picking up the problem. Once we know that, we can tell where to install it. Other than this, I don't know what to tell you - I am rapidly reaching the extent of my pay grade.




Edited by: jeb
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Old 11-16-2010, 09:46 AM   #10
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We also have and have had severe radio interference on Am radio. With our previous TT the interference camewhen the gas refrigerator turned on using battery power. I researched the problem on other RV forums a couple of years ago. People said it can be caused by the stereo being on the same circuit as other appliances and when the appliance kicks in severe interference happens.



Their solutionwas something called a ferrite choke. I purchased one and installed it - very easy installation, it clips over the power wire as close to the stereo as possible. This choke worked very well, my guess is that it reduced the interference 90-95 percent. Radio Shack sells these - they are inexpensive.



Our 2010 Zinger 19RD has the same thing. I will be installing a choke this winter. A winter project as the Jensen stereo's wiring is enclosed and not easily accessible.



I don't know if this is the solution for other people's radio interference, it sure worked for our previous TT.
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Old 11-16-2010, 10:20 AM   #11
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Years ago during the dark ages when they first started putting altenaters on cars we use to get static and a whining noise while driving If I recall the fix was two fold one was to add a resistor (Might have been a filter, but we called it a resistor) in the power line, and the other was shielding the antenna lead. Mind you this was back in 1962. Keep in mine that the reverb and rear seat speakers were big back then, and the reverb looked like a door spring in a can

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Old 11-16-2010, 10:50 AM   #12
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I have the same problem at home with various radios and in the 5er..

My solution- Stream radio off the internet or via a Smartphone. Crystal Clear, better selection with the possibility of listening to at home stations.

At home I use a Aluratek wireless internet radio receiver to the whole receiver / speakers, in the 5er my smartphone either direct connected with a Ipod connector or FM radio transmitter (about $12 @Wallyworld in the car radio section).


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Old 12-02-2010, 05:38 AM   #13
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To All Who Replied,



Thanks for all the suggestions. Where we use the 5'er we don't always have internet, I don't have a smart phone, it's lucky I have a cell phone and in some areas we don't havecell service.

The best suggestion is the ferris choke. I've done a little research and have seen where that might solve the problem. My question is what frequency range of the ferrite rod filter do I use and where would I install it? Again the interference is only there when the rear AC circuit is on. It doesn't come from the Air Conditioner, Fridge, or any other electrical device which have all been eliminated.

Thanks for the help in advance.

JWN
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Old 12-02-2010, 08:45 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JWN
To All Who Replied,



Thanks for all the suggestions. Where we use the 5'er we don't always have internet, I don't have a smart phone, it's lucky I have a cell phone and in some areas we don't havecell service.

The best suggestion is the ferris choke. I've done a little research and have seen where that might solve the problem. My question is what frequency range of the ferrite rod filter do I use and where would I install it? Again the interference is only there when the rear AC circuit is on. It doesn't come from the Air Conditioner, Fridge, or any other electrical device which have all been eliminated.

Thanks for the help in advance.

JWN
Noise and interference is only part of the problem most of us have had with AM reception with the Jensen units. Sensitivity or the ability to receive stations more than 25 miles away is my major complaint. In short they have a very poor almost usless am receiver in their units. A ferris choke will do nothing to help the low sensitivty.
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Old 12-02-2010, 10:29 AM   #15
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rcflyer,

When my 5'er is on battery only power or the rear 120 volt circuit breaker is off, the AM portion of the Jensen radio is OK, not great, but OK. The sensitivity of the radio is proportional to the power of the AM station which can range from 250 watts to 50,000 watts. I know the ferris choke will not help the sensitivity but it may help the 120 volt AC noise I hear in the AM radio.

Thanks,

JWN
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Old 12-02-2010, 03:10 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JWN
rcflyer,

When my 5'er is on battery only power or the rear 120 volt circuit breaker is off, the AM portion of the Jensen radio is OK, not great, but OK. The sensitivity of the radio is proportional to the power of the AM station which can range from 250 watts to 50,000 watts. I know the ferris choke will not help the sensitivity but it may help the 120 volt AC noise I hear in the AM radio.

Thanks,

JWN
Simple test to confirm what I am talking about with sensitivity. Compair the stations you can receive with the radio in your truck and the quality of the reception. With my 05 chevy I can receive close to50 stations to the Jension 4 or 5 stations. The signal quality of the chevy is much better.
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