Car audio questions

[seanR]

My dad has a class C motor home that he drives all over the country.
It has a $15.00 radio in it. The display is a bright green field with black LEDs
for numbers.
There is no way to dim it and at night it is blinding, so he covers it with duct tape and peels it off if he wants to use it.
It also has a pop out "TV" screen for a back up camera that when it comes out and up blocks the heater controls.
It is very piss poor engineering on someone's part.
I would like to get a different radio for him for Xmas.
Can I just get any radio and get a separate screen?
It is a 2008 chevy van chassis so a full size radio will not fit.

 

[DrMoab]

Go to Crutchfield.com and look.

If you enter his vehicle data in you can search by only the stereos that will fit his particular vehicle.

The options are endless out there. Many new stereos have multiple colors for the display. While the brightness is harder to control, changing the color makes a huge difference.

 

[iluv83vettes]

Most aftermarket head units have a wire that controls brightness. It is supposed to be tapped into your dimmer switch.

I assume by "full size radio won't fit" you are talking about a double din. You should be able to get a reasonably priced single din to run the radio stuff and any monitor to hook up the back up camera as long as it has the correct inputs. You might need to get creative with how to mount it though.

 

[scoobyxj]

Sean a 2008 Chevy van chassis should have a double din sized radio opening. All you need is a kit to install it into the opening. Sounds like it's got a super generic radio currently in it that uses a double to single din mount. You should be able to remove the whole thing to add a double din radio. I would also like to guess that it also has an OEM to aftermarket wiring harness adapter already installed as well (being that it's got an aftermarket unit in it now). Being able to put a double din unit in there really opens up your options on the video end. You should have no issues finding a DD headunit that can handle the camera for the back up system. Also you would be able to add GPS navigation, USB, bluetooth, and Sat radio to the equation as well. All in one unit. My advise is to find the unit you want on Crutchfield, and then buy it off Amazon, Ebay, or Sonicelectronix.

 

[seanR]

It is for my dad I guess I going to have to tear it out on the sly and see what it is all about.
Thanks for the advice. Especially the the last piece!

 

[DrMoab]

I just bought a stereo. Looked on Crutchfield then found the same one at Walmart. It cost me $10 less (Amazon was he same price) but when you buy from Crutchfield you get a free harness to match your vehicles factory plug and a free bracket to make it fit. Those would cost you about $15-25 so... Crutchfield still won. The only reason I didn't go with them was I already had the harness and bracket.