Jeep Grand Cherkee towing Electrics

[Brian_5094212]

Have just fitted tow bar and single electrics to a 1996 Grand Cherokee. The car is fitted with bulb failure warnings and faults when the caravan is attached. However it is only the rear vehicle and caravan lights that fail. All other systems I have seen tend to operate left to right and not front to rear. Will fitting a bypass relay solve this problem or can anyone advise a solution.

 

[mcghee]

Fitting a bypass relay will cure your problem, but the problem may just be that the bulbs (most likely in the front caravan road lights) are too high a wattage, and overloading the load sensing relay which powers the car's rear lights.

 

[laurieW]

Brian. The problem could be caused by the numberplate lamp on the van. Some vans only have one, hence one side of van circuit has more bulbs than the other therefore triggering the bulb fail sensor.On the vans that have two numberplate lamps, they are wired one each side.A bypass relay may solve this. Otherwise you could connect the 12n before the bulb fail sensor.

 

[Brian_5094212]

Brian. The problem could be caused by the numberplate lamp on the van. Some vans only have one, hence one side of van circuit has more bulbs than the other therefore triggering the bulb fail sensor.On the vans that have two numberplate lamps, they are wired one each side.A bypass relay may solve this. Otherwise you could connect the 12n before the bulb fail sensor.

Thanks for all your suggestions. I went down the by-pass relay route and all is now ok. I think the problem was only one number plate light on the caravan and this was wired to one side of the lighting circuits causing an imbalance with the bulb failure system.