Loose connection?

[Ben Emar]

Hello all

Have a Benimar Mileo 202, 7 years old 29000 miles, which has six small orange running lights three each side at skirt level, noticed the middle and rear lights not working on the right side, all the others nice and bright, so thought it was just a bulb change but no, they are LED units @£24 each, had to alter the connections a little but fitted the new units to find they still do not work, so has anyone had this issue and fixed it, to save me getting under the 'van and trying to trace the wiring to them which is all wrapped in black with just a little area showing at each light. Have experienced poor connection in wiring with previous Fiats leading me to think this might be a similar issue but finding where they are connected is a proper task.

Be nice if someone says look here! but this a bit tongue in cheek so just putting it out there.

Cheers DD

[Keithl]

I may be wrong but there should be a small connection point somewhere around the base of the drivers side 'B' pillar, ie just behind the drivers seat. It may be hidden by a plastic door or even a piece of trim. It will contain fuses for the additional lights and fridge supply, etc.

[Ben Emar]

Thank you for that , will check if same as, doubt it is a fuse as one of the three is working but depending on the way its wired could be a dodgy connection, worth a look before rolling around on the floor under the 'van.

Cheers

DD

[Keithl]

Withholding material information! As one is working that pretty much rules out the junction box.

Have you connected the new lights with the correct polarity? LED's are polarity sensitive whereas old fashioned bulbs were not.

[Derek Uzzell]

DD

I believe the LED side-marker light Benimar used would be this JOKON unit (that should be available for around £12)

This type of LED light-unit is not immortal, but it would be unusual for two of the three side-marker lights on the right side of your motorhome to both suddenly cease illuminating. You explained that you had needed to modify the replacement lights' connectors and (as Keith has advised) LED lights are often polarity sensitive. It would definitely be worth checking whether the replacement lights will illuminate if you swap their wires over, but I suspect that doing this will make no difference.

You've said that, of the 3 side-marker lights on your Benimar's right side, the light unit below the fuel-filler was (and is) illuminating OK. 

I'm guessing that there will not be three individual cables (one for each marker light) running from a single 12V power source, so the problem may lie with the wiring near the frontmost light unit. I think you will need to get under the motorhome and closely inspect the loom (starting near the frontmost light and working rearwards) and this may require removal of the loom's insulation.

[Robinhood]

12 hours ago, Keithl said:

I may be wrong but there should be a small connection point somewhere around the base of the drivers side 'B' pillar, ie just behind the drivers seat. It may be hidden by a plastic door or even a piece of trim. It will contain fuses for the additional lights and fridge supply, etc.

The Fiat supplied "converters interface" as above provides only a signal for operation of the side markers through a 12v feed and relay system which must be installed by the convertor. (Vans with Schaudt electronics oftene us an AD01 adapter - other methods are available). The converter could have installed this relay system virtually anywhere (my AD01 is under the driver's seat).

Given the symptoms, the most likely cause is still a wiring fault (live or earth), but the AD01, for instance, provides four separate outputs for position lights (though they are all protected through a single fuse). Tracing wiring might not be a simple job. 

[Keithl]

And I realised after my post late last night you had said that two of the three on the right side were not working but I failed to read into that that one was actually still working, my apologies.

So my first suggestion is still to check the polarity of the new LED units and if that doesn't work you will need to crawl underneath and follow the wires.

[Ben Emar]

Hi all

They are exactly the lights on the 'van and I thought I had a good look at several sites for replacements but never found them at that price, never mind I did get them anyway.

The original lights had a black and white wire which goes into a fully sealed little block under the floor, the new ones came with the black and white lead but had spade connectors on them, so I just cut the connectors off and used cable joiners to attach to the existing black and white wires, pretty confidant of the polarity and the solidity of the connections.

The fact that the two that didn't work still didn't work after replacement lead me to believe the 'van wiring is at fault, just wondered if anyone had had a similar issue before I start rolling around on the floor in the cold with the painstaking job of unpicking all the insulation etc as suggested by Derek earlier.

I think at my age now I was looking for any easy 'out' instead of hard labour and avoiding the dealers because I do have more time than money, so will wait a little while for weather improvement and get on with job.

Will be frustrated to find the new units aren't needed after all though.

Thanks for everyone comments and help.

DD

[BruceM]

If I were approaching this issue I think I’d strip the cable near one of the non working lights – which you’ve already done to connect the new ones, and then check for a voltage with a multimeter. If there’s the correct voltage then the new light units probably have incorrect polarity (there’s no guarantee that the old lights have the same wiring colour coding as the new ones). If there is no voltage then you at least know that you’re definitely looking at a power supply issue.

 

If it’s a wiring issue I’d wonder if the side marker lights are daisy-chained. If so then if the first lost power then the second and third would also. If just the second lost power then just the second and third would. If so it would give a clue as to where to start looking for the cause of the wiring issue.

[david lloyd]

Have you checked the old lights with a 12v feed? Should immediately tell you if they are faulty and also which is the correct polarity.

David