Club 80-90 Forums

Hello again peeps,

I have a slightly puzzling wiring issue as shown in diagram I have made.

12v Lights work
Sub Pump works

12v outlet lights up but doesn't work?

and when i plug a device ie, charger into 12 outlet, the light on the pump switch lights up.

Any ideas which wires are wrong?

Where is the the earth for the sockets and why is the sockets connected to terminal three of the water pump switch?

Where did you get the diagram from?

There also appears to be live to chassis on the right between fused splitter and water pump splitter!

Firstly, your picture of the 'Rocker Switch Example' on the right of your drawing is absolutely correct;
The switch has 3 pins - one is the 12volt power in, one is a connection to ground, and one is the 'Acc' output.
When you switch the switch to 'On', the switch lights up by powering its bulb using the 12volt power pin and grounding through the ground pin, it then also sends 12volts down the 'Acc' wire to power whatever you want the switch to power;

So ........ have a look at this;



I've renamed the pins on your 3 switches with the pin 'names' - i.e. P=12volt power, G=ground, A=Acc
So looking at the diagram;
a) Each switch gets 12volts into its 'P' pin from your 'Multi Connector' which is connected to the Leisure battery.
b) Each switch is grounded to the chassis via its 'G' pin.
c) Each switch has its 'Acc' pin connected to the item it 'turns on' (i.e. the 12V outlets, the lights, the pump)
d) Each powered item (i.e. the 12V outlets, the lights, the pump) is also grounded to chassis to complete the circuit.

I've also made an assumption that the thing you had named as 'Splitter' is actually a connector to the pump and that this connector provides power and ground connections to the pump (as shown in my diagram, named as 'connector').

Finally - the item you have named as 'Fused Splitter' is the split charge relay that connects the Main Battery to the Leisure battery when the engine is running; The relay is triggered via the wire you have marked as 'Unknown' (which is usually connected to the Alternator signal wire so that the relay is triggered when the Alternator starts producing power i.e. when the engine is running)

Also, finally finally - you should probably have a fuse on each of the 3 power lines that go from your multi connector to each of the switches; and/or have a fuse at the Leisure battery on the wire to that multi-connector. That way the system is safe if you get any shorts/overloads.

Hope that helps/makes sense?

thanks v much for the responses guys.
BigHerb I made the diagram from what I can see has been done before I got the van bud.

MidLife, WOW, such a great reply.
thank you v much for that info & instruction. Will follow your diagram for sure. Thank you good sir.

Hey again MidLifeCrisis,
I followed your diagram thank you, however I could only get the 12v outlet to work by making this circuit.
I don't see why this way would work as your diagram makes more sense. any idea why?

Midlifes diagram should work.
The problem could be the switches or they are wired the wrong way round.
Wire it the way in ML's diagram, disconnect the wires from the switch and join the input and output wires (a & p) together the socket should now work without the switch. If it does the switches are your problem.

Yep - what 'Bigherb' says ^^^^
It should work unless I have mistaken something in your original drawing?
Can you take a pic(s) of your setup and post them here?

Hey guys,
My last post was a little confusing. After following your diagram, the tap/pump works, the 12v lights work, and now the 12v outlet works. woop woop

I took this photo, just don't understand why the 2nd wire from outlet (named acc.???) which I would of thought would be a ground only works when it is in either of the other 2 acc.'s.

Im very happy it all works and thank you ever so much for your help.

That circuit should not work for the 12v outlet!?!?
If I was you I would try to figure out what is going on as there is a chance that there is something weird happening (i.e. maybe the outlet is finding a ground via the pump somehow) which could end up damaging something.

Does the 12v outlet work if you switch on the 12v outlet and the pump? I would guess that it might not as you would be driving 12v into both wires to the outlet?

Odd isn't it. Yea i'm not too comfortable with not knowing the circuitry is 100%.

Yes the tap/pump and 12v outlet only work one at a time, turning one on turns the other off and vice versa.

I have re-connected the circuit and the 3 way to chassis/ground wasn't contacting enough.

Now it is secure, however all three switches are now lit constantly, so I assume they're drawing constant power from somewhere?

Thought the switches were the wrong way round so reconnected circuit changing acc. to ground pins but then nothing happens. So put it back to last diagram.

And still the only contact that works to complete the 12v outlet is to attach to another Acc.

Pump only has 2 wires from it to a connector. which then goes to pump acc switch and one to chassis as diagram.

Confusing?!?

You would be better off disconnecting it all and start with one circuit at a time, making sure that worked then add the next one.

What He Said ^^^^^^^^^

The first circuit I'd try out is the 'Rocker Switch Example' that you have on the right of your picture.
Try that circuit as my guess is that the switch pins aren't in the order that we think that they are - hence why you are getting this 'confusing' behaviour. It can almost only be the switches that are wrong as everything else is pretty much a known entity.

If you can make up that circuit and get that working then at least you'll have a baseline to proceed from.

From the example switch diagram.
It looks like I don't have anything going to the negative terminal on the leisure battery.

Will do guys... thank you both very much for all your help. Gentleman & a scholar.

Also seeing a guy 'peter fletcher' a vw mechanic/enthusiast recommended in a 80-90 forum on Wednesday so will get him to take a peek aswell.

thanks again