Fuse 8 - Cigar lighters, Mirrors, radio - battery discharge

[Alifriendee]

Something is discharging my leisure battery and by process of elimination I've traced it to the circuit with fuse 8 on it.

I took the radio off this circuit as I thought it was the most likely culprit but no it's something else.

Mirrors and the front and rear cigar lighters are running off it. The battery loses most of it's charge within 24 hours.

Obviously I have nothing plugged into the cigar lighters while running this test so I'm puzzled.

Is it possible the mirrors are contributing to this problem? We've had the Bongo for two years and it's never been very good at retaining it's charge on the LB. We fitted a replacement leisure battery 12 months ago and I replaced a suspect charging relay with a Williton kit last Summer. The nearside mirror has never worked remotely since we bought the vehicle and the mirrors don't fold back remotely either but I can hear something trying when I press the button. The drivers side mirror can be adjusted from the switch.

Otherwise it's something in the wiring for the cigar lighters.

Any ideas most welcome.

[321Away]

do you have an 110v inverter in the rear ns panel? they rae connected to that circuit

Julian

[Alifriendee]

Nope. Not unless that came as standard with the vehicle as to be honest I've never taken that panel off. We have a fairly basic conversion.

Martin when selling us his wonderful Williton kit made up an additional live feed to go to our Zig unit from which we control our water pump, an extra cigar lighter and our coolbox. This supply comes directly off the LB covered by a 30amp fuse so it's very easy to isolate it. The LB still discharges with this circuit out of the loop.

[321Away]

do you have just a normal lighter type socket in the back? if its an inverter its a little black unit with a flip open lid

Julian

[jaylee]

Something is discharging my leisure battery and by process of elimination I've traced it to the circuit with fuse 8 on it.

I took the radio off this circuit as I thought it was the most likely culprit but no it's something else.

Mirrors and the front and rear cigar lighters are running off it. The battery loses most of it's charge within 24 hours.

Obviously I have nothing plugged into the cigar lighters while running this test so I'm puzzled.

Is it possible the mirrors are contributing to this problem? We've had the Bongo for two years and it's never been very good at retaining it's charge on the LB. We fitted a replacement leisure battery 12 months ago and I replaced a suspect charging relay with a Williton kit last Summer. The nearside mirror has never worked remotely since we bought the vehicle and the mirrors don't fold back remotely either but I can hear something trying when I press the button. The drivers side mirror can be adjusted from the switch.

Otherwise it's something in the wiring for the cigar lighters.

Any ideas most welcome.

Do you actually have the mirror fold feature switch on the adjuster unit??

[Alifriendee]

The one in the back is a normal lighter socket without a cover, located at the back of the nearside armrest panel. It looks like an "afterfit" and it has never liked taking much load as it won't run an electric pump we use for blowing up the mattresses whereas the front cigar socket works with the pump just fine.

[Alifriendee]

"Do you actually have the mirror fold feature switch on the adjuster unit??"

Yes we do if you mean by the adjuster unit the mirror control switch. It's a Ford Freda so the spec might be slightly different.

There is a mirror control switch with a right or left selection slider, an up/down/side to side button and then below it a switch to fold the mirrors in and out (at least that is what it appears to be as when I press it it tries to do something resembling a folding in noise but it's never actually worked).

[jaylee]

Yes We do. Perhaps I should explain it's a Ford Freda so the spec might be slightly different.

There is a mirror control switch with a right or left selection slider, an up/down/side to side button and then below it a switch to fold the mirrors in and out.

OK, this could be one idea of the drain???

Is it possible the mirrors are contributing to this problem? We've had the Bongo for two years and it's never been very good at retaining it's charge on the LB. We fitted a replacement leisure battery 12 months ago and I replaced a suspect charging relay with a Williton kit last Summer. The nearside mirror has never worked remotely since we bought the vehicle and the mirrors don't fold back remotely either but I can hear something trying when I press the button. The drivers side mirror can be adjusted from the switch.


Any ideas most welcome.

Try disconnecting the offending mirror...? White connector behind & below the blue one, at the tip of the pliers in the pic..
I fancy the shut off switch in the actual mirror that stops the currant to the motor when completing the movement maybe shot!?? (Pictured below, thanks to MikeonB4C.)

[Alifriendee]

OK thanks. I'll try that when I get home from work and report back.

Many thanks.

If it is shot is a replacement switch readily available?

[jaylee]

Try disconnecting the offending mirror...? White connector behind & below the blue one, at the tip of the pliers in the pic..
I fancy the shut off switch in the actual mirror that stops the currant to the motor when completing the movement maybe shot!?? (Pictured below, thanks to MikeonB4C.)

Or the mechanism that switches it when the mirror has completed travel??

[jaylee]

OK thanks. I'll try that when I get home from work and report back.

Many thanks.

If it is shot is a replacement switch readily available?

Its quite possible you have a snapped spindle too...?

This is what happened to mine! (Back of the switch in the first pic, bottom right.)





I am only guessing on yours....

Is the mirror slightly floppy?

[Alifriendee]

I will check the spindles. Yes they are slightly floppy, meaning you can move them back and forwards a few degrees.

We rented a Bongo for a weekend before we bought one to see if we liked it and interestingly the hire company were at pains to ask us not to fold the mirrors back manually as they said "it could snap the spindle". They didn't even mention coolant water levels!

I expect if ours are snapped it happened before we bought the vehicle. It doesn't look like a simple fix.

[jaylee]

It's not! & I tried.. 4 times! I got lucky with the price of a replacement in the end...

In fairness, you would probably still hear the mirror motor & remaining intact gear/cog mechanism running... (Especially on an LB.)
I disconnected one of the wires to the motor during the interim of sourcing a mirror, so i could still adjust the mirror glass..
There was about an inch or so's play in the mirror housing at speed, which bugged the hell outa me..!

If your mirror is not locking out fully, it may well cause the drain due to the switch in-line to the motor which shuts it off awaiting the dash switched feed that sends it in the opposite direction??

[Alifriendee]

Many thanks for all your advice.

Is there a way I can disconnect the mirror switch and thus take away the problem without removing the door card?

I saw the dreaded black goo on one of MikeonB4C's photos!

[jaylee]

Yep, take the end cap off the drivers side of the dash.. (The reversed D shape panel with the quarter-light vent.) & you should have access to just be able to unplug the connector at the back of the mirror switch...!? (Or at least remove the switch to bring forward of the dash to access the connector at the back, without breaking the 2 switch mounting clips.)

http://lushprojects.com/bongopartsmk2/c ... mgno=.html Part 64-911B.