Fitting led lights to caravanl

Submitted: Sunday, Jan 20, 2008 at 23:10

ThreadID: 53730 Views:5892 Replies:4 FollowUps:4

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harry5

Have changed the 4 clearance lights and 2 front marker lights to led. But when i turn lights on they blink when the indicators come on.the caravan (coromal) has upto 5 wires in one light minimum 3.
Should i have chain hooked up or on ground to earth, and what is making the lights blink as i havent (knowingly) touched the indicator wires.As they say a little bit of knowledge is dangerousd

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Reply By: Cruiserman1961 (QLD) - Monday, Jan 21, 2008 at 07:15

Monday, Jan 21, 2008 at 07:15

Good morning Harry,
you are looking at an earth failure on your indicator lights. Open your tail lights and check for dirty, loose or corroded earth connections. Alternately it could be the trailer plug. or damaged wiring under the van.

Cheers, Udo
Good luck!

AnswerID: 282834

Reply By: Member - Dalb (SA) - Monday, Jan 21, 2008 at 10:50

Monday, Jan 21, 2008 at 10:50

Harry5

Sorry I cant help you with your problem, as I am an electrical neanderthal.

However, I have a Coromal Seka 525 and am very concerned about the brightness of the turning lights - they are virtually invisible in sunlight and came close to causing a very serious accident on our first trip.

When you have solved your problem, I would greatly appreciate any advice on how to change my indicator lights to effective leds -especially if it can be done using the existing van light covers.
[email: brian.dalby@awbc.com.au ]

Cheers, Dalb

Cheers, Dalb

Member
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AnswerID: 282867

Follow Up By: steamfire01 - Monday, Jan 21, 2008 at 20:37

Monday, Jan 21, 2008 at 20:37

Hi Dalb
I have a Coromal Princeton and in the rear lights there is provision for reversing lights on each side.
I have re-wired the "reversing lights" that were not connected anyway so that I now have two turning lights on each side. The only thing I had to do was buy a couple of orange globes.
Works for me.
Regards
TJ

FollowupID: 547519

Reply By: goldiedingdangdo - Monday, Jan 21, 2008 at 11:58

Monday, Jan 21, 2008 at 11:58

This may sound OT but what is your tow vehicle. If it is European then you have done nothing wrong but the vehicles computer is sending out a pulse a bit like a marine echo sounder. The computer is sending a check signal to check all lights, globes are not sensitive enough to pick this up as they have sufficient resistance not to illuminate.
If this is the case message me and I'll point you in the right direction to overcome problem. Alternately the earth issue is a likely contender.

Ian

AnswerID: 282878

Reply By: harry5 - Monday, Jan 21, 2008 at 15:59

Monday, Jan 21, 2008 at 15:59

Well have taken van to friend a auto electrician. He tells me it is a big problem when you mix Bulb lights with LED reckons big job to find the bad earth as leds use so little current that the bulb lights will chase the led current. He is going to install the leds which i had installed then removed. Tow vehicle is Pajero 3.2 Diesel/gas. thank you for assistance hope we all learnt something, he is not going to pursue bad earth

AnswerID: 282903

Follow Up By: BMKal - Tuesday, Jan 22, 2008 at 02:25

Tuesday, Jan 22, 2008 at 02:25

Hi Harry.

Don't want to contradict your auto electrician friend - but there is no problem at all in mixing LED globes with conventional globes in a circuit - provided that all the wiring and connections are correct and sound. Have done it many times on all sorts of vehicles and trailers without problem.

I agree with the earlier post that you have a bad earth problem. If this is the case, this needs to be traced and repaired, otherwise you will continue to experience problems no matter what lights you have installed.

Having said that, if you can convert ALL the globes on your trailer to LED, you will be better off.

Cheers .......... BM

FollowupID: 547618

Follow Up By: Member - Mike DID - Tuesday, Jan 22, 2008 at 08:35

Tuesday, Jan 22, 2008 at 08:35

"He tells me it is a big problem when you mix Bulb lights with LED reckons big job to find the bad earth "
- and he claims to be an Auto Electrician !!!!!!!

Pajeros have no Bulb test Pulses and will not have any problems connecting LED bulbs - I've replaced Tail and Brake light bulbs with LEDs with absolutely no side-effects.

FollowupID: 547647

Follow Up By: BMKal - Wednesday, Jan 23, 2008 at 03:59

Wednesday, Jan 23, 2008 at 03:59

While bulb test pulse systems can be good, thay can also be a pain in the butt at times. I had a bullbar fitted to Disco a while back, and because it has another set of park / indicator lights (with bulbs), the trailer test light on the dash now flashes with the indicators all the time. Looking around at the moment for a set of LED park / indicators to replace the ones in the bullbar, as this is the easiest way to fix the problem (reduces the total resistance of the circuit).

On the flip side, both my trailers (garden and camper) now have LED lights only. The camper is OK as there are enough LED's with clearance lights etc to provide enough resistance that the Disco's circuit can "sense" that they are working. The garden trailer however, only has a set of LED tail lights - not enough resistance here, and the Disco will not sense these.

I've fitted the Disco and both trailers with the new LED indicator trailer plugs. These are brilliant. At least if you do have a problem, these will give you a pretty good idea where to start looking.

FollowupID: 547848