CRV to tow Caravan with LED roadlights
We have a Sterling Eccles on order which will be towed by a 2014 Honda CRV 2.2 i-DTEC SE. Does anyone out there tow a caravan with LED roadlights, and did you need a supplementary fuse box to make the lights work correctly please?
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AFAIK, the dealer should have a board to test this out OR you can post on SwiftTalk where someone will probably tell you if they have your vehicle and which, if any device you may need OR Sargent https://sargentltd.co.uk/ make
the VLM devices that match up the car with the lighting system.0 -
I swapped out all the bulbs on my 2009 Bailey to LED and it all works fine with my Land Rover Discovery.
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Depends on the wiring kit fitted, but would imagine that it will need to be upgraded. Need to contact either Honda if it is a genuine fitted kit or your Towbar Centre or Towbar fitter if it is a 3rd party kit. The dedicated 3rd party kits (eg Right Connections)
do need a led upgrade kit.0 -
Thanks for all your replies. Will get it checked by the dealer well in advance of collecting the caravan
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If you contact Swift customer services they will advise you that this is an industry wide problem and that you should contact Sargents Electrical on 01482881655 they have a variety of units dependant on the make of car. These units are fitted to the caravan. Swift insist their caravans are up to industry standard and that the cost of the unit (varies from about £32 to £72) must be paid for by the customer.
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Sargent Electricals also have a website - the unit is a VLM
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Sargent's box of electrickery doesn't work with all makes of car. The led front marker lights on my Coachman pulse every few seconds, all on their own even with my car's lights swtiched off .... it's been suggested that it's due to Mercedes's continual light bulb check
I've asked Sargent about it & they can't help, and it seems that nobody else has heard of such a problem. I just tow with my lights on!
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Below is a copy of the warning in the Merc GLC Handbook concerning the use of a Trailer fitted with LED`s:
Failure check for LEDs
If LED lamps are fitted in the trailer, a malfunction message may appear in the multifunction display even if there is no fault. The reason for the error message may be that the current has fallen below the minimum of 50 mA.
To ensure reliable operation of the failure indicator, each LED chain in the trailer lighting must be guaranteed a minimum current of 50 mA.1 -
It's not uncommon practice to have to install a resistor in parallel on LED's to overcome this problem. I know this from different modifications we carried out on dash board lighting we did some years back when I was still working.
On this subject are you aware that LED exterior lights are not legal if you just swap the filament bulbs for LED's. LED exterior lights are only legal if fitted in a lamp a cluster or lamp body and lens EU marked and designed to work with LED's.
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Similar warning from Land Rover,
When a trailer's electrical connection is made and the vehicle’s direction indicators are used, the trailer's warning indicator will flash in time with the direction indicators. See TRAILER DIRECTION INDICATORS (GREEN).
If when a direction indicator is used the symbol does not flash, the trailer's connection should be checked and appropriate action taken to make sure the trailer's direction indicators are functioning.
Function
Minimum load
Maximum load
Brake lamps
1.75 amps (21 Watt)
5 amps (60 Watt)
Direction indicators*
1.75 amps (21 Watt)
5 amps (60 Watt)*
Side markers/Tail lamps**
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10 amps (120 Watt)**
Reverse lamps
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5 amps (60 Watt)
Fog lamp
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5 amps (60 Watt)
Permanent battery feed
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15 amps (180 Watt)
Ignition feed
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15 amps (180 Watt)
* For each side.** Total for both sides.
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There can be problems with some tow-cars as the trailer directional indicator warning light within the tow-car, can show indicator failure of a connected trailer even though the indicators are working. The reason for this is LED's as you know, draw very little electrical current compared to a standard indicator bulb of 12v/21w which draws 1.75 amps. Many modern tow-car modules (but not all) are designed to function correctly with trailer LED indicators. For those that are not, shunts are required to be fitted to both L & R trailer indicator circuits, having said this, good quality trailer rear light clusters are normally universal i.e. they are manufactured with inbuilt shunts.
PS, When I say, "designed to function correctly" They self detect loadings upon power-up if you know what I mean.
Hope this helps
Colin
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Hi MM,
As yourself and I discussed your said problem last summer, with your car having a common feed supply to it's rear side lights & stop lights i.e. single filament 12v/21w bulb and not a 12v 5/21w double filament bulb for said applications, I still standby my original thoughts that the cars' stop light switch could be at fault, this is of cause dependant upon the method by which your cars tow-module is triggered via the sidelight circuit. Under the circumstances of your fault, if I was still in the trade, this would of been one of the first things I would of checked, but I could be wrong, it's often hard to diagnose such faults without physical hands-on.
Colin
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Thanks for your thoughts Colin. I have asked at various places locally .... caravan/trailer places put the blame on the car but conversely of course, car places imply the fault is on the caravan. I don't know enough about CANbus electrickery to have my own suggestions, but I'd have thought a fault on the brake switch would have upset the ABS/ESP system & put a fault light on
I din't have any problems with the previous caravan with its simple filament bulbs all round.0 -
I will try to explain my thoughts on this, the stoplight switch on your car is two pole with four connections, 2 for cruise control & 2 for stoplight. To date, I have never known a fault upon the stoplight side of said switch to upset the ABS/ESP system (please note I said "to date") as it in theory has no direct link to these circuits.There are a few methods in which your cars' tow-module could be signalled via the cars sidelight circuit in order for it to control the sidelight output to your caravans' sidelights. one way is by monitoring the voltage within the common feed wire to the cars' sidelight & stoplight circuits. To try and explain simply, if it detects zero voltage within said wire, no feed to caravans' side or stop lights. If it detects a voltage of around 5 volts, it will activate the caravans' sidelights. Similarly, if it detects a voltage higher than 5 volts, it will activate the caravans' stoplights. Interestingly, just for the record, if the sidelight circuit is activated prior to the stoplights the sidelights will remain on after the stoplights are terminated. Should there be an intermittent fault within the tow-cars stoplight switch in that it is allowing partial continuity i.e. allowing a small electrical leakage to pass through, which in turn, could allow a low voltage with next to no current to flow, as said, possibly intermittently, although not enough to activate the tow-cars stoplights, this could trigger the tow-module to momentarily switch the caravans' sidelights on & off as it only requires approximately two milliamps to activate the modules' input. So why should this effect LED's and not conventional bulbs? As assumed, this fault appears to be both intermittent and only momentarily, it only takes a split second for an LED to light-up fully, it takes around two seconds for a conventional bulb to light-up fully.
Sorry it's a bit long MM, but I could not fully explain in less words.
Colin
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Strange things happen on a Smart Roadster with a faulty or badly adjusted brake light switch ie ABS/ESP light comes on
It is only the front led markers that pulse .... the rear filament lamps work as you would expect and I've not really pulled the wiring loom to the caravan to pieces enough to know how it's wired up. I know the rear fog to the caravan is via a switch in the side of the 13 pin socket
The car knows when there's a caravan on the back as I can't operate the raise/lower of the suspension, but I have to turn the rear parking sensors off myself.0 -
Just to back up your theory, I had a problem with a Freelander 1 I owned. it would randomly illuminate the HDC (hill decent control) warning and the only way to extinguish was an ignition off/on cycle. It didn't generate any DTC's either so I was pulling my hair out trying to diagnose / cure it.
After a lot of research and reading and fully understanding the HDC system I eventually found a similar fault the same as you suspect but with the throttle idle validation switch.
Because it was randomly giving this floating voltage to the system the car was getting an off idle signal when it was at idle.
Once replaced I never had the problem again.
Ian.
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