Installing a stereo into a mark three tvan

[weonatvan]

Yeah tell me about it!!!!!!!!!

Yep, hope to be blowing over 20 months of dust off soon with a run to the BRB, with long term plans of not letting anymore than a couple of months dust settling on it. [emoji102]

My excuse is that I've been rebuilding/reincarnating a tug from the ground up and finding time outside work has taken its toll but it's nearly all done now. [emoji41].





"You don't know what you don't know"

Cheers dave

[Eelezy]

I finished installing the speakers yesterday. I also located the two wiring plugs for the head unit as Mal said...of course they do not match the plugs on my fusion unit...I will need to get two male plugs to match the tvan female ones, the match them up. Not such a hard job...interestingly, the tvan plug only has three wires in the T -shaped supply female plug. I assume there is a always live wire to ensure the radio keeps its memory settings? I looked at patrol dudes wiring diagram and see there are two active wires...so it should be easy to test which is always live. Am I also correct in assuming that, if you switch off the radio main plug on the tvan power panel , the radio will still receive power for memory function retention?
Chris
Oh..any idea how much Track charges for the radio housing for a Mark three?...most likely it will scare me enough to build my own...but interested anyway!

[Young Nomads]

I built a box to house the radio, some USB chargers and a small storage area that can hold either CD's or DVD's.

I don't have drawn up plans for the box for the radio.    I made it by making a cardboard template for the front and back panel, then measuring and cutting to size some 8mm craft wood.

The infills between the front and back where cut to make a tight fit.

The box itself is screwed at either end of the front panel and has a bracket on the back that screws into an existing screw hole on the top of the cable channel.

As far as the TVan itself, I only had to modify the end of cable channel to allow the cables to come out into the box.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Mal

Nice job with the Radio box!
Love the lizard. We have a travelling "pet" too. Her name is Alice.
Cheers
Robyn

[mal1958]

Hi Robyn,
We have a lizard too.  Ours hid in the Billy in our old camper for close to 15 years.  So when we got the Tvan, I thought it time for it to come out to play.  It just happily sits on the side of the Tvan below the radio.

Hi Chris,
The three wires in the power lead are +12v switched, +12v always on and earth.  I don't remember the colours for the different +12v supplies, but I recall there is a wiring diagram that shows them.

Cheers
Mal
Ps: Down at Waratah Bay enjoying our Tvan for the rest of the week..

[Frankrhona]

I thought I may add a note on choosing a stereo with a good AM/FM radio.
I was unhappy with the reception on my Nissan radio whenever we were some distance from the transmission tower. I replaced it with a Pioneer brand with similar results. I then did some research and decided to purchase an Axis AX1203BT with among other attributes an "Xtreme Long Range Tuner" and Australian made! http://www.audioxtra.com.au/html/s02_article/article_view.asp?art_id=1979&nav_cat_id=145&nav_top_id=55
Coupled with an M3W antenna from MobileOne and the result is like chalk and cheese. http://www.mobileone.com.au/antennas/4b_amfm.html
We can travel for miles over the hill away from a radio transmitter and still get reception. Very happy, but yet to tested for a weather report in the center of the Simpson!

[Stubbsy2]

I've been following this thread with a lot of interest and have finally finished my own installation. An Axis AX 1500BT combined with a MobileOne M2W antenna was my final decision and works well under the patio. I have the TT half box on the draw bar which has a medium duty antenna mount, I'm using this for now but expect it will eventually fatigue and fail. Thanks to all that have shared there installations, you made my project that bit easier.

Ian.

[JJ7488]

Hi
Can anyone kindly tell me the length of the antenna that Tvan normally supply?

Thanks
JP

[Cruiser 105Tvan]

The old but very good, fibreglass whip already fitted to earlier Tvan.'s like my 2009 model.

Available from Autobarn, Brand 'Aerpro', part no. AP48B

It can be vertical or flat surface mounted.
Adjusted for position by the Ball mount.
Single section of fibreglass whip is 144cm. long.
Later models are fitted with a rubber ducky type antenna about 400mm long.