electrical problem

[milliemop]

When I apply my brakes the caravan's side lights come on?--I connected the car to my neighbour's trailer board and all was as it should be, so the fault must be on the van's lighting system. Anybody experienced this problem?

 

[WatsonJohnG]

It sounds like a poor earth .

I would clean all the terminals on the lights and give a squirt of Tri-Flow or WD on the metal

Check the terminals in the 12N plug as well

 

[rob_jax]

Sorry Rob, no.

Easy Solution:

Remove the rear lens covers and take the brake / side light bulb out. If it's a combined bulb - the type with 2 filaments - just make sure that the bulb was put in the right way round - it is possible to put them in "upside down"

Hard Solution:

If you have separate bulbs for the brake and side lights, then it's diagnostic time:

I assume you have the "12N+S" 7 pin plug and sockets on both the van and the car? and not a 13 pin car socket and an adaptor to the van?

The reason I ask is that a number of the 13 pin to 12N+S have been reported as being faulty or incorrectly wired.

So now it's time for a careful inspection of the 12N plug and socket:

1. Download a wiring diagram for the 12N socket from the Internet - if you need a link go to our Eriba site - http://www.eriba-amiga.co.uk/otr_towbar.htm - this has a diagram of the pins and the wire colours

2. If you have a digital voltmeter, then check that 12V appears between pin 6 and 3 on the car socket when a friend presses the brake pedal.

If you don't have a voltmeter - then Maplin, or Tchibo, or Aldi have perfectly good meters for under

 

[laurieW]

Hello Rob. The rear light assembly has a single wire connected to the carcass of the lamp. All the bulbs on that side are connected to this wire.If this wire becomes detached or is of poor connection, then the lamps will try to earth through the feed wire of an adjacent lamp...hence you could have two different lamps illuminated at the same time(both dim). In other words: high resistance contact or "bad earth.Common fault.

 

[laurieW]

Hello Rob. The rear light assembly has a single wire connected to the carcass of the lamp. All the bulbs on that side are connected to this wire.If this wire becomes detached or is of poor connection, then the lamps will try to earth through the feed wire of an adjacent lamp...hence you could have two different lamps illuminated at the same time(both dim). In other words: high resistance contact or "bad earth.Common fault.

I should have said "single earth wire", usually white.

 

[CliveV]

Just a quickie!

All above are absolutely correct - Having checked all the wiring on mine a year ago - I had the same problem - I ran a tempory earth and problem went away.

Replaced the earth wire - which LOOKED fine with another and made sure of good connections and all has been ok.

So all my time checking all the other wires was a complete waste.

Check the earth first - everytime