Indicator trouble advise please

Col Rennie · Veteran Member

Indicator trouble advise please

hako · Guru

You've probably done this but next time it happens try to check if all the indicators are working and are the same brilliance....one may be intermittent. It only takes one bulb to be a bit loose in its socket to give trouble. Also possible is a dual filament bulb to have a sagged filament which sometimes drops and touches the other filament and earths through that.
Red is usually brakes.

Good Luck.

dragonfly1 · Senior Member

It will be either a bad earth wire connection or it requires a resistor in the line

Dragonfly1

Muddy · Veteran Member

Fords have had some problems with their vehicles towing electrics for a while and this is well documented so you may need to talk to them about it if all else doesn't solve the problem.

Have you had the car from new?

Has this happened from day one of you owning the caravan?

Did you tow the caravan with another vehicle previous to the ford and did the same thing happen?

Can you organise for a friend who tows to connect their car up to check to see if that has the same problem? (This will tell you that the problem is with the car)

If your caravan has LED indicators then you may require a ballast resistance to be fitted to kid your car into thinking they are the heavier current drawing incandescent bulbs. If this is your problem you may have no indication on the dashboard of your car that a trailer is fitted perhaps. (Flashing trailer symbol when indicating???)

The large red wire is possibly the feed to your fridge and I would suggest that splaying the pins to improve the connection is the best first meaure to take.

Good luck

Sparkster · Senior Member

On your indicator problem - I agree with hako.

On the burnt pin - don't play around with it.

Confirm that it is the fridge (or other high current circuit).

If it is as suspected, the fridge, move that circuit to an anderson plug which will handle the current and if done correctly heat will not be a problem.

If heat has caused the problem it's too late to clean the pins and splay them as they have already been damaged and annealed and problem will just occur again when you least expect.

Make sure that pin is not used again or replace both plug and socket.

Keith. smile

dogbox · Guru

if you have led lights on trailer you may need to have a resistor patch fitted
a quick flash usually happens when a blinker is not working led lights draw less power so its registering that a light is out just another idea

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

This can be an issue on some modern elect systems as elect is controlled by computer.

Hey Jim · Guru

dogbox wrote:
if you have led lights on trailer you may need to have a resistor patch fitted
a quick flash usually happens when a blinker is not working led lights draw less power so its registering that a light is out just another idea

Well explained Dogbox. You must have been awake in one of my trailer talks, on maintenance many moons ago.

Jim

Sparkster · Senior Member

"Col Rennie wrote:

Intermittently when the indicators are used they dont flash in a normal rhythm but flash at a increased frequency,much much faster.I have cleaned the plugs and expanded the pins in the connector,checked the wires in the connectors Truck and Van."

Col said intermittent problem, from what I've seen the LED problem doesn't appear as intermittent.
Keith

Gus1949 · Senior Member

I have a '64 Ranger and had to purchase an adaptor from Ford that fits between the caravan plug and the plug on the Ranger so that the van lights would work properly (to stop fast flashing and blinking tail lights) I think this is the resistor patch referred to in earlier posts.

Ausmo · Member

X2. Patch is essential on my rig, flashing without.

rockylizard · Guru

Sparkster wrote:
"Col Rennie wrote:
Intermittently when the indicators are used they dont flash in a normal rhythm but flash at a increased frequency,much much faster.I have cleaned the plugs and expanded the pins in the connector,checked the wires in the connectors Truck and Van."

Sparkster wrote:
Col said intermittent problem, from what I've seen the LED problem doesn't appear as intermittent.
Keith

Gday...

I'm a bit with sparkster ... Col did say the problem was intermittent. That doesn't sound like he needs the LED 'adaptor' which solves the 'constant flashing' of LED lights on the van.

Col hasn't been back on since his OP ... so I guess we need to wait and find out if the problem is the 'constant rapid flashing' due to lack of 'adaptor' or an electrical fault causing 'intermittent' problems. confuse

Cheers - John

RustyD · Guru

Got a Ranger that I experience same issue randomly. It's always the left blinker and I just disconnect, dust and plug back securely. Suspect that socket / plug is not touching properly and it's vibrating loose enough to break contact then dust gets in. Fast flashing is a sign of a globe not working, car or van.

Other issue I had was I had to take out 2 of the 4 van brake globes The newer Rangers have a 10Amp circuit breaker. My old Falcon had 20Amp fuse and the van had a total of 16Amps worth of globes and all worked. Had quite a run-in with Ford and the local dealer over that issue until they finally admitted that the external brake lights were protected by a 10Amp circuit breaker. Ford finally sent me the full after-market equipment mounting manual (pdf).

I also tried to replace my brake globes with LEDs. They just flashed which I believe is a sign that the LEDs do not draw enough power. Need to add ballast/resistance I'm told.

Col Rennie · Veteran Member

Hi Guys ,

Sorry for not getting back to you .

Ok Ford have told me it snot their problem as all their tow bars have a built in resister pack and are tested before shipment.

Not that helpful to be honest.

They tell me it could be a bad glob in the the van .

Next I will look at them next week.

I have a very bad feeling about this

iana · Guru

I have a couple of relays between the vehicle and the tow plug, so the towed vehicle is on a different circuit, can plug anything in without it effecting the vehicle electrics. So I don't have these problems, sorry can't help.

Col Rennie · Veteran Member

Hi Guys

Ok I need help again ,the issue is still happening .

Every one tells me I need a resister pack as the led lights in the van do not draw as much power as the Ford expects.

The issue is Ford just tell me its not there issue, and they are not aware of a resister pack. There must be a way to build a resistor pack ,question is how much resistance is required.?

This is driving me nuts and must be dangerous.

I have spoken to other Ranger owners and they are having the same issue intermittently.

Ideas?

rockylizard · Guru

Gday...

There are quite a few on the market Col - you could try this one ...

http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/Product/NARVA-LED-Load-Resistor-12-Volt-21-Watt/287170

I would have thought that if the problem is only happening intermittently then it was something different to needing one of these.

These resolve the problem where the vehicle's system does not 'see' the LED lights on the van. In that case, the van's lights, particularly indicator LEDs, flash continuously.

Anyway, a cheap attempt at solution I guess.

Cheers - John