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Topic: Electrical issue

danherts

11/7/2016 at 8:37pm
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Recently purchased a 2000 Herald St Legar and had a worrying incident on the way home.

The guy I bought the caravan off threw in a brand new 13 to 7 pin adapter, he connected it all up for me. (Caravan is 13 pin. Car has black and grey 7 pin.)

As soon as in got in the car there was a horrible smell, I assumed as it was an industrial area it was someone grinding steel or something. I also noticed that although the headlights were off, the headlight dash light was on.

About a mile later white smoke started coming from the dashboard, I stopped and unhooked the electrics and eventually had the car quickly checked over by an auto electrician before it being deemed safe to get me the 100 or so miles home. I left the grey plug unhooked just in case.

The black 7 pin connector has worked fine previously for my trailer and worked fine on the way home, I have since connected the grey connector and left the car running and there is no further smoke, although I can't verify the fridge is working and no fuse has blown, I also have no leisure battery to charge. The car no longer shows the dash headlight light with the lights off and caravan connected.

You can't connect these adapters up incorrectly can you? The only thing amiss that I noticed was the wiring was caught in the overun brake mechanism but I cut away the sheath and all internal wiring looked okay.

So, anyone any idea what could have happened?

tonyv8power

12/7/2016 at 8:58am
Location: Herts. UK
Outfit: Bailley Cartagena. Land Rover Discover

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Hi Dan
This does not sound good and I suspect the one of the connectors is mis wired.

I see you are in Herts.......TowbFabs in Apsley fit my tow bars and they have a test board that tests all the circuitry is correct.
suggest a phone call then a visit to test your wiring.
Good luck

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danherts

12/7/2016 at 1:16pm
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Thanks Tony. The guy I seen rigged it up to a test board and found nothing, though due to me being in a rush didn't do any more thorough testing which he said would involve me leaving the car in (and being stranded in Norfolk).

The wiring on the caravan plug checks out, at least as far as the colours being in the right places. I'm going to get a multimeter to the 12s socket when I get a chance. I was hoping the headlight dash light being on might have been a clue for someone to narrow it down or whether misaligning the pins could have been a possibility.

I had another look this morning, and looking at the 13 pin plug on the caravan, the entire centre ring of plastic holding the pins including the ridge that locates it in the socket spins seperately to the outer piece with the three cutouts for the lugs of the socket to locate into, if that makes sense? I was also able to spin it and make the ridge go out of alignment with the pins. Surely that shouldn't happen but whether you could actually fit it incorrectly I don't know.

DaveCoaches

12/7/2016 at 3:14pm
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You say you don't have a leisure battery. If the terminals are rattling around in the battery box, they could make contact and short out. I would expect there to be a fuse on the car somewhere for this, but it will be a highly rated fuse, >= 30 amps.

danherts

12/7/2016 at 3:42pm
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Thanks Dave, I did wonder if that could have been the case though they weren't touching when I checked, entirely possible they were when it was moving though of course.

Do installers usually add a fuse in the fuse box or could it be hiding anywhere? Still haven't had a chance to get a look at it with the downpours today.

DaveCoaches

12/7/2016 at 3:48pm
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The location of the fuse depends on who wired the electrics and whether they used a dedicated wiring harness or a split charging relay. The first place to look would be for an inline fuse near the battery. Failing that, try the fuse box if that fails it's a case of tracing the 12s grey cable back.

tonyv8power

12/7/2016 at 4:25pm
Location: Herts. UK
Outfit: Bailley Cartagena. Land Rover Discover

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Hello, re your comment 13 pin plug spinning, I have also a 13 pin socket and it should come with a seperate gizmo that you attach to the socket and turn.........this gets the pins into the correct position for connecting to the car socket........so align the pins with said gizmo, push in the plug to the car socket, then quarter turn and its locked in.

danherts

12/7/2016 at 8:56pm
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Hi Tony, sorry I didn't explain it too well. I have the outer bit that you turn, just it doesn't keep it's orientation with regards to the pins which can spin independently.

danherts

12/7/2016 at 9:04pm
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So I done some digging about, found the fuses which weren't blown and then followed the electrics back from the sockets into the car.

What melted was the switch charge relay. which is good in a way because it hopefully means the car wiring is still intact. The relay is a PCT Volton and is supposed to be protected by a 16A fuse however a 25A fuse was fitted.

I'm assuming now Dave is right as surely the only way for that amount of current to go through there in the absence of a leisure battery and providing it is wired correctly is for the battery clamps to have made contact in the caravan?

So first job is to replace the relay, there seem to be two types of varying cost. The one in the car doesn't seem to have a connection to the alternator so I'm hoping this one that is way cheaper than the rest will do the job http://www.towsure.com/self-switching-smart-split-charge-relay-for-towbar-electrics, can anyone advise?

DaveCoaches

13/7/2016 at 9:22am
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I've fitted a couple of split charging relays. Most rather than connect to the alternator detect the alternator by measuring the battery voltage which increases when it is being charged. While in theory this is good, I have had them that don't switch off reliably and flatten the battery over night.

The last one I fitted connected to the ignition switch and turns on with the ignition. It's a compromise as if you leave the ignition on, the fridge will flattened the battery quite quickly, but it doesn't risk a poor voltage sensor leaving the relay energised 24/7 which over a weekend has flattened my battery without the caravan connected.

There was nothing in the price of I recall correctly, you should get either type for around £20.

danherts

13/7/2016 at 10:09am
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Thanks Dave, I have ordered one with an adjustable sensor and will see how it goes.

I think the more expensive ones I kept coming across are more for vans that have to run beacons etc and want a higher charge current.

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