Fitting extra light switch to 2017 Lunar ClubmanES

[YorkieF]

Hi All
I've just finished adding a 3 position switch to our 2017 Lunar Clubman ES. The bathroom ceiling light has a nightlight facility but Lunar didn't add extra switches to use this facility. The main pull switch turned off ALL the lights in the bathroom. Originally, the water pump used to turn off the lights when operated but this hasn't happened after they got replaced under warranty. The replacement lights have a different switch fitted to the centre of them.
I used a 3 position switch so that I could turn off the vanity lights or turn on the Lunar night light that I fitted to the base of the wardrobe.

• To get at the wires, make sure the main light switch is off.
• Remove the ceiling light by prising out the white portion of the light using a new stanley knife blade. This then reveals four screws, the ones that you need to remove are the 2 larger ones. The light can then be lowered revealing the wiring.
• There will be 2 pink and blue wires joined together. These need to be separated, one goes the the light switch and the other goes to the vanity light.
• I then ran a wiring rod between the ceiling board and the polystyrene foam in the direction of the wardrobe.
  Drilling a 20mm hole in the ceiling inside the wardrobe. I just drilled enough to get through the ceiling board and no further. I removed the foam with a small scredriver giving access to the rod. I then ran a loop of thinwall wire back to the ceiling light by pulling gently on the rod.
• The red wire then needs to cut and crimped onto the separated pink and blue wires. The other end of the red wire can be fitted to a normal switch or a 3 position switch if the extra night light is needed.
• The earth for the extra night light was attached to the earth in the cupboard overhead light.

I hope this is of use someone as it drove me mad and am glad that I've managed to sort it. We spend a lot off grid and so wanted to be more in control of our 12v usage.

 

[GStockton]

I hope you have used cable of the same grade / current capacity as the existing. Also surprised that you have modified the wiring on a 1 year old van. Anything that goes wrong now with the van, the Dealers will blame you. However its is your van to do as you like.

 

[Anseo]

I hope you have used cable of the same grade / current capacity as the existing. Also surprised that you have modified the wiring on a 1 year old van. Anything that goes wrong now with the van, the Dealers will blame you. However its is your van to do as you like.

Assuming that the OP has carried out a modification that complied with good practice and compliance with electrical installation standards, why would the OP be subject to denial of warranty for anything that goes wrong with the van?

 

[YorkieF]

I hope you have used cable of the same grade / current capacity as the existing. Also surprised that you have modified the wiring on a 1 year old van. Anything that goes wrong now with the van, the Dealers will blame you. However its is your van to do as you like.

11 amp cable so is good for 130 watts, more than enough for 2 LED lights. I would have done the work before but waited until the warranty was nearly up.
Having lived with the caravan for nearly a year, it's about time to make it our own. If the makers thought more about their products and usability, I wouldn't have to resort to doing it. The bathroom lighting circuit was akin to wanting your home bedside light on in the middle of the night but having only one switch to control all the bedrooms lights. Hardly live-able especially with the grandkids getting up in the middle of the night.

 

[Grey13]

Hi A general construction question. In a typical caravan, there is the ceiling bit exposed that we see, comprising of some sort of board like Masonite etc, then am I correct in thinking there is a foam layer between the ceiling and the roof section? By wiring rod, do you mean a solid thinish steel rod that you can force through the foam to reach the hole you have drilled. How did you keep it pressing straight through the foam? Just interested for possible future use.

 

[YorkieF]

Hi A general construction question. In a typical caravan, there is the ceiling bit exposed that we see, comprising of some sort of board like Masonite etc, then am I correct in thinking there is a foam layer between the ceiling and the roof section? By wiring rod, do you mean a solid thinish steel rod that you can force through the foam to reach the hole you have drilled. How did you keep it pressing straight through the foam? Just interested for possible future use.

I'm not sure what Masonite is but in my caravan there is the ceiling board first with expanded foam before the aluminium out skin. if yo're thinking of doing it yourself, the rod that I used is like the one here. Toolstation cable rods

I didn't drill the hole first but fed in the rod from the light fitting end very slowly and carefully, then I measured how far it had gone in, I measured the same distance towards the switch area. I got my wife to wiggle the rod so I could pinpoint where the end was by the noise, then I drilled the hole. There are different degrees of flexibility with the rods that you can buy and you need a fairly stiff one. I had tried a continuous nylon one but that din't work well.
Obviously, you need to make sure that no skylights are going to be in the way and luckily there wasn't any wood either.
When feeding it in, I kept the rod very close to the ceiling and fed it between the foam and ceiling board. If it doesn't easily go in, don't force it.
This is an account of how I did it and cannot guarantee that it would work for any caravan.