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

[Alifriendee]

Brilliant. I've removed that panel before so know how it unclips.

Many thanks.

[jaylee]

Good! Cuz i just found the panel on Lushy P for you.. (my previous post.) Switch clips are top & bottom from memory?!!

[borntobag]

Before you start pulling things apart anymore, are you sure something is actually draining the battery and why has it just started to happen?
Or is the batterys integrity a bit suspect, if its an oldish one and is being constantly drained and charged is it still capable of retaining its charge?

Just a thought.

[Alifriendee]

When we bought the bongo 24 months ago it was a "northern" version with twin vehicle batteries fitted in parallel.

We decided we wanted the interior lights etc. working without the need to have the key in the ignition so took it to our local bongo specialist who got out their pliers, hacked the wiring, installed a leisure battery and a Ryder relay. It took us a while to realise the job was flawed in many ways.

In the two years we have owned the vehicle the LB has never retained it's charge very well. Firstly I got the battery replaced under warranty. Made no difference. Then I removed the Ryder relay (after it failed on a rainy day in Switzerland last Summer) and replaced with a Williton unit. The Bongo doesn't sit for too many days without use but it's not our everyday vehicle.

With some good advice from Martin (of Williton fame as he's local to us) I undid the wiring nonsense. Such a shame they cut so many of the wires to the rear of the fusebox in the way they did. It was a fiddle getting everything back as it should. (An example of the illogical approach they took was cutting the wire for Fuse 5 and wiring the horn to the LB. Why they did this I have no idea).

Now it's all simple. Radio (but memory backup connected to car battery), all three interior lights, mirrors (by default), standard cigar lighters x2, electric blinds, Zig unit with third lighter socket, water pump and coolbox all able to run from LB.

Most of our camping trips have electric hookup so the lack of life isn't too problematic but solving the loss of charge problem became more important when I realised we're about to sit in a field in Somerset again with no hookup available for three days.

Last year on the same trip we lost virtually all our charge from both batteries but did manage to start the engine. We drove home and progressively every single warning light on the dash started to flash away like mad and after a while the speedo and rev counter needles also dropped onto their pins. Glad it was a diesel and daylight as we got home just fine. What a wonderful vehicle it is.

Took a look to see if I could spot the problem. The Bongo had been in for an MOT and a service the week before we left and they did some other work replacing some of the water pipes. I found the wiring clip to the alternator had been removed and not pushed fully back in by the garage so we had been driving ever since with no alternator connected. Politely rang the garage (a different garage to the relay mob) and asked them to explain, but hey! it's just one of those things.

[Alifriendee]

Progress report.

I had left the lb on charge all day with my CTEK charger so it was fully charged when I got home.

I disconnected the mirror lead behind the switch and replaced the fuse making the circuit live again.

Went in for my dinner and went back out to find the lb voltage had dropped quite a lot.

Last night I left the fuse out all night and the battery had hardly dropped at all.

So it's not the mirrors.

All that's left are the two cigar lighter sockets so I will now check their wiring and perhaps replace them.

I'm pretty sure there is nothing else running on the Fuse 8 circuit.

[Jaws]

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

I had much the same problem and traced it to this.

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.

It might be that this is a modification: original panel has 12v lighter socket below a 110v outlet with an inverter hidden away behind. From what you say the mods may have left a hidden inverter sapping your power. Seriously suggest you look behind the rear passenger side trim for an inverter box. This can be done by standing at the rear and pulling away the trim panel by hooking your fingers in where the rear seat belt passes behind the panel. Pop off clips. Look down behind the panel and see if there is a metal box mounted there just behind the lighter socket position.

[Alifriendee]

Good advice. I'll take a look.

[Alifriendee]

Well I've pulled the panel back and lo behold a black box with a fan on the top.

There's a lead going into it at the bottom which then comes back out again into the cigar lighter and spare leads for what I presume was the 2nd socket (now missing) for the 110v socket.

I'm about to just pull the lead out of the bottom of the inverter but that leaves the existing 12v socket with no power. I'll have a look to see if I can use the supply to the inverter to relocate it to the 12v socket.

I'll post a photo later.

Any comments most welcome.

[jaylee]

You never know whats lurking under the skin of these vehicles...!

I have an inverter that plugs into the actual lighter socket for charging the phone, Like this..


But i wouldn't use it without the engine running.. (On a trip.)


Looks like you got to the root of the cause... Sorry about the "goose chase" with the mirror..

[Alifriendee]

the inverter



the cable



The black connector I unplugged from the bottom of the inverter. The white connector is just that - a connector. The end comprises an L shaped connector that was plugged into the 12v cigar lighter socket. The loose wires (three) were presumably connected to the 110v socket when it was present.

I presume the two wires leading into the black socket (blue with brown dashes and black with brown dashes) are a 12v supply that I could cut and reconnect to the 12v cigar lighter to get that working again?

[Alifriendee]

No goose chase regarding the mirrors - it's reminded me to sort them out anyway!

[Alifriendee]

also lurking in the rear panel was this





I'm pretty sure it's not connected to our cool box so I'm puzzled. More investigation required another day, but any ideas what it is?

[jaylee]

the inverter



the cable



The black connector I unplugged from the bottom of the inverter. The white connector is just that - a connector. The end comprises an L shaped connector that was plugged into the 12v cigar lighter socket. The loose wires (three) were presumably connected to the 110v socket when it was present.

I presume the two wires leading into the black socket (blue with brown dashes and black with brown dashes) are a 12v supply that I could cut and reconnect to the 12v cigar lighter to get that working again?

Fair few scotch locks on the tail light loom in the first pic? Have you a tow bar fitted??

Should do.. The corresponding wires should be in the loom sheath/cover before the black connector for what was the inverter? I think without being there myself!

[jaylee]

The loom bit just poking out from behind the trim...!

[Alifriendee]

Yes we do have a towbar fitted and it has two sockets.

It hadn't occurred to me but you must be right that all these scotchlock connectors are for it. I'll follow the route soon and have a look.

I'm now wondering if the orange box has anything to do with the towbar electrics?