12v but very little current current to interior lights

[slowcoach]

Hi,

My light fitting above the sink area (driver side) has some strange behaviour. Sometimes its fine, then other times, with nothing changing, the power to the lights drops a lot making the lights dull. still working, but dull (led strips).

I still get the 12v plus to them no prob, so im assuming the current is dropping? Its on the same fuse as the factory courtesy lights (one for slider, and one centre cab area), although they are not affected.

Next stop is to add in a temp 12v line direct from the battery to the light fitting for positive, and then one for negative, to find out which line is bad, but can i assume that the wiring is in tact, but has broken down somewhere behind the headlining??? Ill check the earth crowns again. (i hope its the negative side thats poor..)

What else could cause this?
cheers
john.

[California Dreamin]

I agree....earth on the light but I doubt it goes all the way back to the earth crowns, it's more likely earthed locally (at the light, or through the light switch and then to ground, possibly even the light fitting mounting to chassis.

Martin

[ghost123uk]

the power to the lights drops a lot making the lights dull. still working, but dull (led strips).

Is this more than one LED strip, in say two different light fittings ? If it is just one, it could easily be a faulty LED strip. If there is a duff connection or component on the actual strip it could cause this. Note that if there are two (or more) separate lights that are doing this, then what I just said will not apply

If it happens again, measure the voltage right at the terminals of the led light. If this still reads ~12 volts then it ain't the wiring, (if a current issue occurs, <bad connection> the voltage at the light end would drop).

[slowcoach]

thanks both,

good information. The line is not earthed at the fitting, but goes back into the headlining with quite a thick black earth, together with the positive. I measured the volts at the fitting while it was mis behaving, and its about 7, which with your info, means theres a breakdown in the wire somewhere. ive not had chance to determine which yet though.

quite annoying, as i imagine tracing the wire through the headlining will be very difficult

[ghost123uk]

It's unlikely to be the actual wire, it will be a connection issue at one end, so no need to worry about headlining issues.

If you had to replace the wire, you could pull a whole new one through the headlining using the old one to pull it through. Make sure it ain't going to part company with the new wire though, or you will have a headache (ask me how I know )

[slowcoach]

It's unlikely to be the actual wire, it will be a connection issue at one end, so no need to worry about headlining issues.

ah thats a relief, i hope so. so its a case of continuity testing all the right coloured wires heading back to the fuse box?

i just extended the offending light fitting wiring (it was doing it before i did this though) through the headlining to the back wardrobe for an extra spot lamp, using a heavy hairclip taped to the end and a magnet.. fiddly but it worked.

[ghost123uk]

I just extended the offending light fitting wiring (it was doing it before I did this though) through the headlining to the back wardrobe for an extra spot lamp, using a heavy hairclip taped to the end and a magnet.. fiddly but it worked.

That is an ace idea

[slowcoach]

So to round this thread off, i spent some time in the fuse box trying to identify where the take off is for the light in question and gave up. Its an early fuse box with a lot of piggy back terminals. The main thing id like from a later van i think would be the fuse box!

I ended up taking a new feed from the leisure bat in the back for the extra lights which was no big deal and i guess is better anyway. Just have a redundant line in the head lining now.

Plus side is i have a killer bright spot light over the bed and engine bay now

[Mocki]

Interior lights on the same fuse as the brake lights on early fuse boxes, so just make sure you haven't switched your brake lights over to your leisure battery in the process.....

[slowcoach]

Oh no i didn't touch the fuse box, and isolated the new line..