fitting car radio to caravan

[izzeybear1]

I am in the process of fitting a car rdaio to my carvan. I have two questions
1 The fitting instructions say that a strap should be used at the back of the radio to give a secure earth to the vehicle body. As this is not possible can I rely on the normal negative lead to the battery to give me a good earth.
2 The fitting instructions state that I should not connect the speaker negative wires together and that they should go to the individual speaker. I have a pair of computer speakers with 8ohm impedence which should be ample for my needs They are joined by two leads that are in turn together in a small jack plug which I am reluctant to break into as the leads are miniscule. I cannot split them so I intend to use a jack plug socket to connect the speakers to the radio but as the socket has only three connections,one for left speaker one for right speaker and the negative return, this will entail joining the negative leads from the radio. Will I b#==$^ any thing by joining the negative wires

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Izzey,
The caravans wiring should provide a good enough -ve connection (I've never had a problem using it) With regard It may depend on the model of radio in use but from your description it seems your proposed solution should be ok. I am slightly concerned about another aspect of what you tell us, Quite a few computer speakers have amplifiers built into them, and either run off batteries, or they have their own internal mains power conections these are called Active speakers. Some of these may not work well with your car radio. You need to be using passive speakers. The other point to make is car audio systems normally use 4 Ohm speakers. 8 Ohm units will work quite safely but they will restrict the full power capability of the radio. a trip to your local car audio dealership sold find you some fully compatible speakers.

 

[otherclive]

I fitted a new Sony unit into the van last year and as Prof John as said it worked fine using the vans negative cable.The van alraedy had passive Sony speakers fitted so it was justa matter of reconnecting the wires from the speakers to the new radio.

 

[JTQ]

Not answering a question you asked but a point I found important to be aware of is the importance of replicating the car's ignition switch.
My van came with the two positive feeds fed from the same unswitched supply. This was a mistake as it drained the battery very rapidly even when switched off. The cure was that one feed needed to be externally switched, as it would if fed via the cars ignition switch. The other fed was left unswitched.