Indicator Lights

[John_374349691]

About a year ago I bought a Swift Challenger and tow it with a 2006 Ford Focus. The unit worked fine. In October I changed the car to another Focus exactly the same and had the tow bar and electrics moved from the old car to the new car professionally. The first time I went to take the caravan away the indicators wouldn't work. You could hear the relay cut in but then all the indicator lights on both the car and the caravan would flash briefly and then stop working. Disconnect the caravan and the car is fine. My first thought was that the tow bar electrics had not been fitted correctly but when I made up a test board and tried it works fine. I also tested the caravan indicators off a 12 volt supply and they all seem ok. I think the problem is that the additional resistance of the wiring and the lights is proving too much for the car indicator relay. I tried changing the socket on the van and this has improved matters a bit in that now the indicators work but you have to turn them on twice before they will work each time.

To complicate matters the caravan is stored at home which is very convenient but it does mean that to test the indicators and lights I need a 15 foot extension cable which I'm sure isn't helping but I do want to be able to test the van before taking it out onto the road as its quite a job getting it out of the garden.

I don't really want to start changing the cars electrical system as its still under warranty and so would prefer to 'fix' the problem using the caravan. It occurred to me that if I rigged up a relay that activated on the signal from the car but drew its power from the caravan battery this should solve the problem. Has anyone got any ideas how this might be done?

 

[laurieW]

Hello John. I am not familiar with thr Focus, but: some vehicles require a different flasher unit in order to power the extra load of the van, or require a special "by-pass relay" to "trick" the existing flasher unit that all is OK.

Your new Focus may have a different wiring system than previous models (can-bus wiring). Is there a mention of this in car handbook?

 

[John_374349691]

Hi Laurie. Thanks for the reply. I don't think that they have changed the wiring as it's still the same model (the new one came out shortly after). I think it is a load problem. There is nothing in the handbook but then the handbook is a bit limited. The by-pass relay sounds like a good idea. I'll phone around to see if I can get one for the Focus. I suppose I could try the dealer but to be honest I don't hold out much hope there particularly as I happen to know that they outsource the tow bar fitting to the same people that I used.

 

[antrimboy]

Have you asked the tow-bar fitter about this? I'm sure you wouldn't have been the first to have this problem if the Focus's relay was the problem.

 

[Del_374232870]

Have you had a heavy duty flasher unit fitted to the new focus. On some cars the flasher unit is sufficient for a solo car but requires a heavy duty flasher unit to cope with the extra flashers on the caravan, I had this problem a few years ago when I had the tow bar and wiring transferred but the fitter forgot to swap the flasher unit.

 

[John_374349691]

Thanks for your replies Eddie and Del.

Eddie

Yes I did talk to the tow bar fitter and it was they that suggested changing the caravan socket. They don't seem to want to know about the problem though and I can't very easily demonstrate as the indicators all work fine when the car is connected to a towing board.

Del

I hadn't thought about this. It had occurred to me that a heavy duty flasher might solve the problem but the not that the fitter could have forgotten to take the old one off. Actually, the more I think of it, the more this sounds like it might be the potential solution. After all the same kit should work on two identical cars. Definitely worth following up.

Thanks again for every ones comments.

 

[howiet]

Thanks for your replies Eddie and Del.

Eddie

Yes I did talk to the tow bar fitter and it was they that suggested changing the caravan socket. They don't seem to want to know about the problem though and I can't very easily demonstrate as the indicators all work fine when the car is connected to a towing board.

Del

I hadn't thought about this. It had occurred to me that a heavy duty flasher might solve the problem but the not that the fitter could have forgotten to take the old one off. Actually, the more I think of it, the more this sounds like it might be the potential solution. After all the same kit should work on two identical cars. Definitely worth following up.

Thanks again for every ones comments.

hi i might be barking up the wrong tree but i had a problem with car and caravan conection but it only affected one indicator i took it back to the towbar fitter and on his test equipment it worked fine he advised me to slightly ease the offending pin out wider making a better contact when pushed together hey presto it worked fine. h