Spare Bulb Kit for Fiat Ducato 2012 motorhome

[rah]

I am going to France in my motorhome soon and I am aware that it is a legal requirement in France to carry a spare bulb kit. I already have a spare bulb kit for my previous motorhome which was an Elddis Autoquest 115 on a Peugeot Boxer chassis manufactured in 2009. Can anyone advise me please if the Peugeot Boxer 2009 and Fiat Ducato 2012 bulbs are identical or do I need to purchase a new kit for my Fiat Ducato.

[Derek Uzzell]

Welcome to the Out&AboutLive forums.

 

It is not (and - to the best of my knowledge - never has been) a legal requirement for motorists in France to carry a spare bulb kit.

 

Having said that, it has been generally advised that spare bulbs should be carried while travelling in France, together with the necessary tools and the knowledge of how the replacement bulbs should be fitted. The logic behind this advice was that, should the French police stop you for a lighting-equipment offence, they might well insist that your vehicle remain immobile until the failed bulb be replaced. So, if you have a replacement bulb (and can fit it) you may still be fined for the lighting offence but - having replaced the bulb - will be permitted to proceed. The snag with any ‘bulb replacement law’ nowadays is that many modern vehicles either do not have conventional bulbs, or bulb replacement is a major task requiring a lot of time and/or workshop facilities.

 

The AA and RAC websites both carry webpages showing the equipment requirements when travelling in EU countries. You’ll see from the RAC version

 

http://www.racshop.co.uk/travel-touring/driving-in-europe/driving-in-europe-help-and-advice.html

 

that (apparently) Belgium, Spain and Portugal still have a legal requirement that spare bulbs be carried, whereas this is merely a recommendation elsewhere. I note that the RAC data are incorrect when it comes to carrying a first-aid kit. This not a legal requirement for motorists visiting France, as advised in the AA’s more reliable checklist

 

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/touring_tips/compulsory_equipment.pdf

 

Where the base-vehicle’s lights are concerned, there may be a difference between the main-beam headlamp bulb used in your 2009 Boxer and the equivalent bulb used in a 2012 Ducato if the latter has daytime running lights (DRLs), with the 2009 Boxer having a H1 bulb and the 2012 Ducato (with DRLs) having a H15 bulb. Your Ducato handbook will contain a section showing which bulb types are used and you can compare this with what’s in your bulb kit.

 

You haven’t provided make/model details of your 2012 vehicle, but the conversion of the base-vehicle (or the type of motorhome involved) can well result in differences in bulb fitment. For example your present motorhome might be a panel-van conversion with completely different rear lights to those Elddis fitted to the 2009 Autoquest range.

[rah]

Many thanks for the advice and information which I will follow up on.

 

Just to clear up a couple of points which I didn't mention/clarify and for which I apologise:

1. My current motorhome is a coach-built Marquis Lifestyle 664 (Same as Swift Escape 664 but Marquis's own brand).

2. It does not have daytime running lights

3. We will be in Spain for a couple of days so from what you say it is a legal requirement foir the spare bulbs to be carried there.

[Derek Uzzell]

You may have noticed that I said (based on the RAC’s listing) that "(apparently) Belgium, Spain and Portugal still have a legal requirement that spare bulbs be carried”.

 

I can’t say I was convinced this was necessarily true nowadays and the RAC’s more comprehensive country-specific driving advice suggests that - for Belgium, Spain and Portugal - only Portugal still demands that spare bulbs be carried. The RAC webpage for Spain says

 

"*Lights (It is no longer compulsory for vehicles to carry a set of spare bulbs and the tools to fit them)"

 

http://www.rac.co.uk/driving-abroad/spain

 

If you are going to carry spare bulbs with the intention of changing them yourself should the need arise, you would be wise to a) familiarise yourself with the “CHANGING A BULB” section in your Ducato handbook, b) confirm which Ducato lights mentioned in the handbook will be relevant to your Lifestyle 664 and which will have been fitted by Swift during the conversion process and c) try to establish whether you’d need bulbs not mentioned in the Ducato handbook. (If you are lucky the Swift handbook may help with ‘c’.) With motorhomes it’s not always obvious how to gain access to light bulbs, and if that’s the case with your vehicle you might want to experiment with a bulb-change at leisure at home rather than under pressure abroad.

[Billggski]

It's good advice to try these minor repairs at home in good weather, but sure as dammit it will be dark and raining when you need to do it for real. (But we never do practice them).

My favourite is fitting snow chains, I only had to do it once for real, up above Montgenevre in a snow storm.

Despite actually having tried it at home it was impossible to fit them, so when we saw an Italian army convoy coming up the road we all leapt in and followed it. Amazingly BMW's and similar cars overtook us on the hairpins. And survived.

[Derek Uzzell]

Billggski - 2015-05-29 8:23 PM

 

...(But we never do practice them)...

 

 

Speak for yourself. ;-)

[sakofox]

I searched for a set on ebay( fiat Ducato) and I found a set with spare fuse about £10,

Example search:

PEUGEOT 807 H1+H7 Emergency Replacement Bulb Fuse set spare KIT 12v CAR

Search for this and then see their shop and search for your vehicle.

[Billggski]

What you won't find in these kits are the small bulbs for the little orange side lights, I had to buy these separately, and, of course, one has just failed. They are push in like Christmas tree light bulbs.