Caravan Lights

[Neil_5041165]

I noticed that on the last trip away my reversing lights were not working on the caravan (2003 Aviondale Dart 515 / 4). I took it in for service last week and asked for this to be checked.

On picking the caravan up today the service sheet said all lights working OK. In the dealers car park i did the usual checks before pulling out onto the road and found that i had no lights on the caravan at all !!

Back inside to the dealer and to be fair within minutes it was hooked up to another car and all was proved to be working correctly. So the deduction is that i have an electirical problem with the car end of the connection.

The car is a 2003 Rover 75 diesel does any one have any thoughts as to where i should start to look for problems. The dealer couldn't help me on a Sunday but was kind enough to let me leave the van there until i get the car sorted out this week. Iam not electrically minded, can't see it, can't smell it , don't trust it !!!

 

[Lol1]

It sounds like they may just need a good clean, not just the ones on your car but the caravans too. If you are feeling brave you could also unscrew the socket just to make sure all is well inside. Could be a few connections have come adrift or corroded.

 

[antrimboy]

The common denominator here is the earth wire/connection.See here http://www.volvoclub.org.uk/towbar_electrics.shtml

Check pin 3 on your car's black socket (the 12N socket) for clenliness, and make sure it's making a good connection with pin 3 on your caravan plug.If all's well, it would then appear as though the wire to that pin, on the car, is possibly broken, and the most likely place for that to happen is immediately behind the pin itself.

 

[WatsonJohnG]

The reversing light works off pin 1 in the 12S plug but as Eddie says the earth return for reverse and all the road lights is through pin 3 white wire in the 12N plug.

As Eddie has said check the white wire earth pin 3 in the socket on the car as well as the earth from it to the car body.

 

[MikeP]

Also check the in-line fuses. My "box of tricks" that feeds power to the lights etc has a fuse. Your fuses could be anywhere, but you are most likely to have one or two at the front from where the 12V supply is taken (possibly glovebox area) and one at the back near all the wiring junctions.

In strictness you shouldn't just replace a blown fuse - you should investigate the cause. Easier said than done.

 

[antrimboy]

Here's a handy gadget to help you sort out problems with your lights

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Caravan-or-Trailer-Tester-Test-lights-wiring-easily_W0QQitemZ330078308428QQihZ014QQcategoryZ
There's a telephone number down the page, which I'm sure you could ring and order if you're not signed up to eBay.

 

[antrimboy]

Here's a handy gadget to help you sort out problems with your lights

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Caravan-or-Trailer-Tester-Test-lights-wiring-easily_W0QQitemZ330078308428QQihZ014QQcategoryZ
There's a telephone number down the page, which I'm sure you could ring and order if you're not signed up to eBay.

On second thoughts Neil, this wouldn't really help you all that much. It would just tell you what you already know-that your lights don't work. Sorry.

 

[Steve L]

Eddie has the answer I think. With absolutely no lights working at all at the caravan, but the car working fine, one could suspect the earth connection. Perhaps not at the socket though, but at the actual earthing connection from the socket to the car's earth system.

Often people just drill a hole, wrap the earth wires round a self tapping screw and call that a connection. Trouble is, after a damp autumn the screw corrodes and the connection is compromised.

Start by first of all putting the earth wires into a proper solderable eye terminal. Then drill a 6mm hole in a dry area of the boot where the wires aren't going to get snagged. Scrape away the paint around the hole to give full metal to metal contact for the terminal. put a nut, bolt and washers through both terminal and hole, then tighten up. Smear come grease/vasaline over the connection to protect from corrosion.

Finally run a spur wire from this to the wiring loom in the car to inter connect the car's earth wiring.

Finally I'd sport a new tow bar socket.

Total cost less than a tenner.

Tools:- Electric soldering iron, cored solder, a 6mm eye terminal, 6mm x 20mm long bolt nut and two washers (zinc plated), some wire 3mm dia for earth, new car socket, and a few basic hand tools.

Time:- 2Hrs.

Steve.

 

[WatsonJohnG]

Steve that sounds like the kind of job I do except that I have run a heavy cable from the battery -ve post as well!!

You reminded me to say SCOTCHLOCKS

Neil if you find any of these quick fix blue squeeze on connectors then follow Steve's advice and make soldered connections

What I also do is to strip about 1cm+ of cable,bend the wire back on itself and twist to form a spike before crimping on a female bullet connector.

The car wiring 12N/S is then connected with a male bullet connector which gives a much better connection than Scotchlocks and when you come to swap cars you can just unplug the bullets and transfer the wiring.

 

[Neil_5041165]

Thank you all for your much appreciated assistance.

I have had a look and there is very little i can do by the looks of it.I'm simply not eletrically competent so I've booked it into Tanfield Towbars in Peterborough tomorrow for them to sort it out. They are the people that fitted it originally.

Over whelmed by every ones responses.

thank you

 

[cris_408518]

Apart from very valid comments on the likes of Scotchlok's having used very many tow vehicles over many years you should note the following. The cars sockets that your caravan/trailer plug into are under the car with the cables entering from the back into cable shrouds that are often far from water tight and prone to filling with water.

From experience most tow bar fitters want the job in and out in a flash hence the use of the corrosion prone Scotchlok and double sided tape to hold relays in position.

We only use Alluminium bodied Hella type sockets and the cable ends are carefully tightened on every pin and coated with a water proofing protective spray. The back plates are sealed as is the cable entry point with the cable being well secured and not left flapping under the car as we've seen many tow bar fitters seem to leave them and we to us bullet connectors as John suggests. A regular dose of WD40 on the pins in the car socket and on the caravan plugs helps, again good quality water tight caravan plugs are well worth fitting. The male pins on the plugs have split ends and if you regularly gently use a small thin blade screwdriver to maintain the splits gap, your electrics will work better. Check that the fitters have secured any extra relays with something better than double sided tape.

If you look at even the fanciest of newish caravans you can often see water inside them either as the seals are next to useless or there is a condensation problem. The metal plates that carry the current and hold the bulbs are often cheap and nasty and not realy ideal to act as sprung tabs behind the light bulbs end contact pins.Carefully drilled holes at the bottom rear of the lights bodies will let water drain and prevent condensation on any caravan or trailer light. And a good spray on the bulbs contacts will prevent bulbs not working.

 

[BigAl1]

Neil

Will you tell us what the fault turns out to be and you have done the best thing to get someone to sort it out for you if you are not "electrically minded" 'cause you could have made matters worse and more expensive to fix.

PS For what its worth, I don't think it is a earthing problem because if it were, you would have your caravan lighting up like Blackpool. IE the indicators would come on when you pressed the brake or the front side lamps lighting up instead of the indicators. and visa versa.

All the best

Al

 

[Neil_5041165]

well it took all of two minutes for the towbar specialist to sort it out and it was a rusty fuse.

No charge !

Well done Tanfield Towbars of Peterborough. A well deserved packet of biscuits for you !

 

[cris_408518]

That's good Neil.

But as posted above, Corrosion is a common cause of trailer and caravan lighting probs. Use of WD40 or another electrical protective spray will prevent it happening again!

 

[Neil_5041165]

Yep thats good advice and i will give both halves of the equation a good spray when i come to hook them up at the weekend

 

[CarolineSimon]

Hi Neil,

Glad you got it sorted.

Our tow car has just had to be completely rewired, it had towing electrics on when we bought it but we soon discovered that the caravan fridge never worked whilst towing, thought it was an earth problem, had the van checked out whilst it was serviced & that was fine so it had to be the car.

Hubby decided too much bother so I booked it in to Midland Magneto in Nottingham.

What they found was a right nightmare, some muppet had wired it all with Scotchblock things so they said it was such a mess it needed redoing from scratch and were surprised it worked at all!

As I had my two little ones with me & it would take couple of hours they had it back in the next day, they completly stripped out the old stuff & sockets & left them in the boot so I could see what they had done, and then put in a complete new wiring system which had soldered connections & a new european 13pin socket (at our request)

It took longer than they said but as they had quoted me a price in the beginning they were really fair & charged that original price so it was quite a bargain.

Mum & children friendly too.

 

[JeremyClarksson]

If you have got or can borrow a trailer board it is very useful as an aid to fault finding.

I have used one in the past and it is much easier particularly if working on the problem solo.

 

[Neil_5041165]

any I went back to the caravan dealer today and was confident of being able to drive away with my caravan this time.

We hooked it up and as i was locking the jockey wheeel clamp tight the whole lot snapped off in my hand !!! Oh bother !!

After a bit of fiddling about the dealer got the remnant of the threaded section out and got a new one from the shop

 

[Rubix]

Further to Garry's comment, I made a little box with LEDs on it with a long lead so I can sit in my car and test all my lights whilst the box is on my lap. It was cheaper to make than buying a trailer board but does help establish if the fault is with your lights on your 'van or trailer, or the wiring of the electrics froom the 12N or S sockets.

I was going to ask the question "are you sure it's the towing electrics and not an earth problem on your car", as that of course could have given you a similar fault, but you must have known that.

We have all folowed cars that have flashing brake lights or indicators that light up when they brake. Today I followed someone whose brake lights were on permanantely, most helpful.

 

[RonD]

Rubix's idea is good but bear in mind a LED only needs a tiny current to light to full brightness (typically 0.01 Amp) so a very dirty 12N pin would still pass enough current to light your LED but not pass enough to light a road light (needing at least 2Amps)

 

[WatsonJohnG]

If you don't have the expertise or time to make one then Towsure have them ready made

http://www.towsure.com/product.asp?p=2793
I used to use a trailer board with a fog lamp indicator but bought one of the above when they were on offer.

I made one to test the 12S sockets and a board to plug the caravan 12S and 12N in to check out the van electrics.

It keeps me off the streets

 

[Rubix]

Ron,

You make a very good point, I suppose my box (I'll sell them for