External lights of caravan

[Fellwalker]

Hi All
I'm here again looking for some advice from fellow caravanners regarding the external rear lights of our caravan. After doing a check at the weekend with the caravan coupled up to the car we noticed the main lights on the rear of the caravan were not working. Brake lights and indicator on both sides were working and the little side lights on the front of the van were also working. However we could not get the main lights to come on. After taking the whole light cluster off and fiddling with the connections they were intermittently coming on then not. A friend of our put some silver foil against the connections to make a better contact which has seemed to work. My question is, is there anything we can do to improve the connection as i fear that when travelling we may lose our main lights again , a whole new light cluster is about £80 each after looking around I don't think you can just buy the inner unit that the bulbs and connections are attached to. Hope I've made myself clear, oh and the 12 pin sockets on the car have been checked to be working perfectly .Thanks in advance

 

[Sproket]

I had a similar problem a few years ago ...

The problem is the plating on the terminals corrode ... hmy:

I cleaned all of the spade connectors on the light fitting with some fine emery paper and put new female connectors on every wire connection, I then used some silicon grease as i reconnected the the fittings back to the lights, it took a couple of hours at the most to do the job.... it was soon sorted and safe to be back on the road ...

 

[knight-1]

Hi Nicola, Ultimately it does sound like a faulty connection and not a broken wire. I also came across a simular problem with my Puck, but it wasn't the connections on the light cluster. It was one of the pins on the 12-pin socket that had been "pinched". At a glance you would never see it unless you look hard at the gap slots of each pin. I was pulling my hair out, :blink: I changed the 12-pin plug on the van, dismanttled the light clusters; even bench tested the light clusters until I discovered I was looking in the wrong place. Worth checking! If it is in your case the light cluster connections; Sprocket has given the perfect cost effective solution!
I now always carry in the van "for rear light fail emergencies" a pair of high intensity multi-mode bicycle lights. These if needed just affix to the van manoeuvring handles via strong rubber bands as supplied.

 

[Gafferbill]

.....to add to what Sprocket said also lightly buff the bulb terminals themselves with emery cloth.
By that I mean the blobs of solder on the bulbs themselves.......a film of oxidation can build up and this is a poor conductor of electricity.
Bear in mind also that a lot of caravans only have one earth wire to each rear light cluster.....that cluster will likely have 5 positive feeds to the various bulbs.
In other words some caravans were built with insufficient earthing!
Thus the slightest hindrance to a good connection in such caravans often means the bulb fails to work.

 

[ProfJohnL]

.....
In other words some caravans were built with insufficient earthing!
Thus the slightest hindrance to a good connection in such caravans often means the bulb fails to work.

Hello Gaffer,
I can't agree with your statement above.

If you are assuming that each bulb requires its own zero volt wire of the same gauge as its positive , then you are mistaken. UK caravans are required to use a minimum of 1.5mm2 csa cable, which have a current capacity of up to 15A. That far exceeds to total load of all caravan road lighting lamps operating concurrently.

 

[Fellwalker]

Thanks for all the advice guys

 

[Gafferbill]

Hello Gaffer,
I can't agree with your statement above.

If you are assuming that each bulb requires its own zero volt wire of the same gauge as its positive , then you are mistaken. UK caravans are required to use a minimum of 1.5mm2 csa cable, which have a current capacity of up to 15A. That far exceeds to total load of all caravan road lighting lamps operating concurrently.

No Prof.......my Dad taught me never to make an assumption

What I meant by 'insufficient earthing' was that in the rigours of everyday use, it is better to have more than one earth wire and then the bulbs give less problems. Voltage drop and resistance problems are now non existent since I wired in a second earth wire to each rear light cluster on my caravan.
Many caravans have rear lighting where the bulbs interact...mine did.
You put the indicator on and the rear position lights react to the voltage drop.
An extra earth wire cured this on my caravan.
Victorian over engineering if you like!

I did write not all caravans have this problem especially ones with LED lighting.