Two newb questions

G

gordon gibson

New member
Oct 3, 2012
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Hello all,

The Moneypit runs - finally. I put about 500 miles on it last week and all the mechanicals seem to be running well. Elkhart here I come!!!

Now its time to have a bit of a go at the interior. The driver and passenger ceiling lights aren't working, and I thought this would be a quick fix -
the bulbs in each are blown. Of course the bulbs are a bit strange - not sure I've anything similar at the local parts store. But just to make
sure the there weren't any further problems, I measured voltage at the bulb sockets. Yep - there's current......but my VOM reads 18.5 volts. I
unplugged shore power, same thing - 18.5 volts. How do you get 18.5 volts from 2 6-volt golf cart batteries?

Second question: I put a Sony double DIN radio in - 55 watts of power per channel for 4 channels. I have the standard 3.5" front speakers in the
panel with the above-mentioned lights, and a pair of 5 x 7.5" speakers in approx 2 cubic foot boxes in the living compartment about 6 feet back. I
was planning to upgrade the drivers in these in the hopes of improving the sound somewhat. Any good suggestions for the 3.5" cockpit speakers?

Thanks

Gordon
--
Gordon Gibson
1976 23" Norris Upfit
Montreal West, Quebec, Canada
 
Unless it was changed by a PO, the OEM wiring to the driver's and passenger ceiling lights comes from the engine battery, no the house battery.
Yes 18.5V is way high. Do you have a charger connected to the engine battery? Check the voltage at the engine battery. Something is wrong.. or your
voltmeter is faulty.

--
Bruce Hislop
ON Canada
77PB, 455 Dick P. rebuilt, DynamicEFI EBL EFI & ESC.
Hubler 1 ton front end
http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=29001
My Staff says I never listen to them, or something like that
 
Bruce
No charger connected. The house and engine batteries are connected by a combiner though. I'll check the VOM tomorrow, but it was fine a week ago.
Thanks
Gordon
--
Gordon Gibson
1976 23" Norris Upfit
Montreal West, Quebec, Canada
 
Maybe somehow your chassis battery positive is connected to the junction between the two 6 volt batteries.
--
Terry Kelpien

ASE Master Technician

73 Glacier 260

Smithfield, Va.
 
That would give you 18.6 volts and the ground connection for one of the 6 volt batteries would have to be disconnected.
--
Terry Kelpien

ASE Master Technician

73 Glacier 260

Smithfield, Va.
 
> That would give you 18.6 volts and the ground connection for one of the 6 volt batteries would have to be disconnected.

I like that thought.

I have been trying to come up with a failure scenario with no alternator or converter running. My only explanation was the meter is bad.

Your guess is a good one.

Maybe he should check the cabling on all batteries (house and engine) for proper connections.
--
Ken Burton - N9KB
76 Palm Beach
Hebron, Indiana
 
Gordon,
There was a pretty good thread on stereos a few days ago.
Alpine has a round 4inch speaker that should fit in there. About $50 US on Amazon. Crutchfield also has 4x6 inch speakers that will fit but you will
have to mod the panel insert.
My panel insert is cracking at the corners, so im going to get a thin piece of wood and cut it to fit and make that my overhead panel insert. Then I'm
going to try to get a pair of Alpine 5x7 speakers to fit into the wood. If the Alpine is too wide, then I'm going with a 4x6.
Then there's the light........applied has screw on lights.
Good luck,
Scott
--
Scott Nutter
1978 Royale Center Kitchen, Patterson 455, switch pitch tranny, 3.21 final drive, Quad bags, tankless water heater.
Houston, Texas
 
Gordon,
I just got back from the GMC, and measured again. The 5x7's won't work..............too wide.

So I think the widest you can put in the overhead is a 4x6 or round 4inch speaker..

Scott.
--
Scott Nutter
1978 Royale Center Kitchen, Patterson 455, switch pitch tranny, 3.21 final drive, Quad bags, tankless water heater.
Houston, Texas
 
I put 2 modern 4" speakers, 4 holes have to be drilled in the plastic to secure them and they look fine.
--
Eric & Ree '74 ex-Sequoia (parts) '75 Eleganza (TB, exhaust x-over blocking plates, Manny reaction arms and discs, 3"exhaust rear muffler, aux vacuum,
fuel tank sealing, rebuilt senders and new rubber, propane hot water heater.) Alexandria, Ontario, Canada
 
How embarassing....
Two shorted segments in the digital VOM's readout and a 13 turns into an 18 (when plugged into shore power the chassis and house batteries are
reading aboutg 13.4 volts. Next time I will be a bit more careful before claiming that the sky is falling.

But I guess one stupid guestion fosters another. The switch controlling the light above the passenger and driver is three position - center, up and
down. I assumed center would be off - and there is no voltage to the bulb socket in this position, so I guess that is right. In one of the two "on"
positions I see coach battery voltage, and in the other, 0 volts. So what exactly is this second "on" position for?

In terms of the speakers, I am trying to keep the front cap unmolested just in case I want to sell to a purist on down the road. SO I found some Polk
4" 2-way drivers to replace the 3.5" ones. Better...but not by a lot. Saw the Bounds video, but he didn't mention a brand for his replacement drivers
(although $25 each sounds like a great deal - half the price of the Polks). So I will beef up the 5 x 7" two way drivers in the add-on cabinets in
the front living compartment to hopefully add a little more bottom.

Thanks to all.

Gordon
--
Gordon Gibson
1976 23" Norris Upfit
Montreal West, Quebec, Canada
 
Gordon,

The cockpit overhead lights can be either ON, OFF, or AUTO-EntryDoor.

Ken H.

On Sun, Jul 30, 2017 at 8:28 PM, Gordon Gibson
wrote:

> How embarassing....
> Two shorted segments in the digital VOM's readout and a 13 turns into an
> 18 (when plugged into shore power the chassis and house batteries are
> reading aboutg 13.4 volts. Next time I will be a bit more careful before
> claiming that the sky is falling.
>
> But I guess one stupid guestion fosters another. The switch controlling
> the light above the passenger and driver is three position - center, up and
> down. I assumed center would be off - and there is no voltage to the bulb
> socket in this position, so I guess that is right. In one of the two "on"
> positions I see coach battery voltage, and in the other, 0 volts. So what
> exactly is this second "on" position for?
>
> In terms of the speakers, I am trying to keep the front cap unmolested
> just in case I want to sell to a purist on down the road. SO I found some
> Polk
> 4" 2-way drivers to replace the 3.5" ones. Better...but not by a lot. Saw
> the Bounds video, but he didn't mention a brand for his replacement drivers
> (although $25 each sounds like a great deal - half the price of the
> Polks). So I will beef up the 5 x 7" two way drivers in the add-on
> cabinets in
> the front living compartment to hopefully add a little more bottom.
>
> Thanks to all.
>
> Gordon
> --
> Gordon Gibson
> 1976 23" Norris Upfit
> Montreal West, Quebec, Canada
>
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> http://list.gmcnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gmclist_list.gmcnet.org
>
 
The headlight switch when rotated turns on the courtesy lights in the other away from center position.
Try Crutchfield or Retrosound for sourcing car speakers. No matter what you put up n the 3.5"overheads they are fatiguing due to position and size.
--
John Lebetski
Woodstock, IL
77 Eleganza II
 
In some GMCs the light comes on when the door is opened. I believe that was earlier models.
On my 1977 when the light switch is in one of the on positions the headlight switch (which controls dimming of the dash lights) will turn on the overhead lights if the headlight switch is rotated all the way.

Emery Stora
77 Kingsley
Frederick, CO

>
> How embarassing....
> Two shorted segments in the digital VOM's readout and a 13 turns into an 18 (when plugged into shore power the chassis and house batteries are
> reading aboutg 13.4 volts. Next time I will be a bit more careful before claiming that the sky is falling.
>
> But I guess one stupid guestion fosters another. The switch controlling the light above the passenger and driver is three position - center, up and
> down. I assumed center would be off - and there is no voltage to the bulb socket in this position, so I guess that is right. In one of the two "on"
> positions I see coach battery voltage, and in the other, 0 volts. So what exactly is this second "on" position for?
>
> In terms of the speakers, I am trying to keep the front cap unmolested just in case I want to sell to a purist on down the road. SO I found some Polk
> 4" 2-way drivers to replace the 3.5" ones. Better...but not by a lot. Saw the Bounds video, but he didn't mention a brand for his replacement drivers
> (although $25 each sounds like a great deal - half the price of the Polks). So I will beef up the 5 x 7" two way drivers in the add-on cabinets in
> the front living compartment to hopefully add a little more bottom.
>
> Thanks to all.
>
> Gordon
> --
> Gordon Gibson
> 1976 23" Norris Upfit
> Montreal West, Quebec, Canada
>
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> http://list.gmcnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gmclist_list.gmcnet.org
 
Hi
Gordon, I’ve been reading all the comments regarding speakers. I recently made a major upgrade to my system. And offer to pass on my struggle (I mean information learned). Please read this with reservation, I’ve found because of production changes and wild POs changes, things can vary greatly. This is just what I did. Although I was once told I didn’t do it because I didn’t offer pics.

I spent a lot time on research in person and on line to try to find a substitute speaker for the cockpit. With the mounting points and shallow depth I cant see how anything larger the a 3.5 inch will fit. 3 inch are non existent. No on a 4 inch. Keep the factory look. It’s a better way, usually takes more time and money to return to original when you’ve tired of the look later, looks integrated into the couch, and I think represents a greater value in the long term. In San Diego we have a supplier named Fry’s Electronics ( outpost.com). You can order online and they can provide a quality high power speaker that fits both your cockpit size and the rear compartment 4x6 with the use of a speaker mounting board. All out of sight with no visible sign of chopping the interior. Stealth is the way to go.

The seat pedestals make a great place for 6 x 9 multi driver speakers for fill. They can be full range but I prefer disabling the tweeter and crossing over at least 60 hz. The cockpit speakers should be crossed-over at 180 hz. They are too small for anything else and are used for stage presence imaging . Then dedicate one of the lower storage compartments for subwoofer drivers. Add quality amps and a little tuning and you are done.

The rest of my mods were electronics ( amps, double din, wifi, Bluetooth, gps, etc,etc)

Good luck with what ever you chose.
Rod Utterback
1973 canyonlands 26 ft mucho mods
Escondido, Ca.

From: Gordon Gibson
Sent: Sunday, July 30, 2017 6:45 PM
To: gmclist
Subject: Re: [GMCnet] Two newb questions

Aaaah - makes a lot of sense. Thanks.
Gordon
--
Gordon Gibson
1976 23" Norris Upfit
Montreal West, Quebec, Canada

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Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
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I am going to make this long story very short. (If you want to hear the long version, feel free to buy me beer at the next rally.)

I have not heard real well for years, but I can still appreciate music.

The radio was dead when we got the coach.
I got a new radio and then realized that the existing speakers were A:Grounded at one side and B:Junk when they were new.
I ran wire and got two new 3.5" Alpine coaxials.
Not only could we each only hear one side but what we could hear was terrible.
I made a temporary mount and put the pair of Tri-ax 4x6s there. The one side that each of us could hear sounded better. But it still sucked.
I scored the last pair of Tri-ax like the first in town and made up the four mounting plates you can see in the picture.
http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/speakers/p35249-where-i-put-new-speakers.html

I thought the little lights in the sides were useless from the get-go.

Yes, you do have to damage the head liner, but it works great.

Matt
--
Matt & Mary Colie - '73 Glacier 23 - Members GMCMI, GMCGL, GMCES
Electronically Controlled Quiet Engine Cooling Fan
OE Rear Drum Brakes with Applied Control Arms
SE Michigan - Twixt A2 and Detroit
 
And the 4x6 speakers that Matt used can still be bought at crutchfields.

Pioneer TS-A4676R. 4"x6" 3 way speakers. $79.99. Gets 5 out 5 stars.
--
Scott Nutter
1978 Royale Center Kitchen, Patterson 455, switch pitch tranny, 3.21 final drive, Quad bags, tankless water heater.
Houston, Texas
 
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