Hello,
My GM dedicated 13 pin tow plug does not give a Switched Ignition live to pin 9.
This pin supplies the fridge with power whilst towing, or should do.
Whilst the permenent live feed does work as intended supplying the caravan with a12 volt input.
After a bit of googling still stumped. Some say I need another dedicated add on for the tow socket to work as intended.
Anybody out there with a Vauxhall Vectra C 1.9 cdti who can help?
Thankyou, Navvar-Yes I realise that it is only live when engine is running but nothing at the pin. .
All being well I will test tomorrow again giving it a few more revs for a period.
Regards Vinny
If is definitely wired up correct and you have a smart alternator you often need to put headlights on to get it to kick in. Once fridge is running then switch them off. Same applies if stopping mid journey, do the same again when starting engine
Worth a try my friend. I will try and have a look during the week and do as you suggest.
Wow you do have some years in. Well done.
All the best.
Regards Vinny
When I bought my car (Citroen C4 GP) new, I had the factory option tow bar fitted, but no one could tell me if the electrics were fully wired (couldn't even tell me what socket was going to be fitted!), and it was far from uncommon it seemed for only basic lights wiring to be connected with a tow bar install even with 13 pin sockets.
It was important to me to know for sure, as I wanted the switched 12v for the fridge and the permanent 12v for the caravan ATC. I've a background in electrics/electronics, so it was no great challenge to test the socket myself once I had the car, or at least I thought it was straight forwards, turns out there is some kind of trailer attachment sensing (possibly to do with the integration into the car's electrical management module), which disabled the 12v outputs (can't remember if it was one or both now, it was 3 years ago!) until the trailer is plugged in. It meant that I couldn't simply test individual pins on the socket for 12v output. I didn't have a caravan at the time, so that's as far as I got!
Once I got a caravan and plugged it in, everything worked as it should, so I was happy and didn't bother to investigate further. The tow bar and electrics were from Brink, if that is of any help.
You didn't say if you were investigating a fault with the fridge supply on a caravan, or simply checking out the car socket, if the latter, you may find it's the same as mine and requires the trailer connected before the pin goes live.
Hi Folks, well a bit nearer and thankyou for the suggestions After trying above suggestions with no further advancement I decided to investigate further.
I removed the 13 pin socket from the car rear to enable me to see if the wire at Pin 10 switched live orange was connected. It was.
Then I went into the REC Rear electrical centre to find it if the wire was connected upto the REC (Rear Electrical Centre), it was NOT, so mystery solved no switched live because car was originally wired up for a trailer only for road lights etc. The actual orange was was taped back on the loom.
To test I temporarily used the accessory socket in the boot which is a 30A supply.
The result was as follows. Ignition off permanent live functioning in caravan to charger and van lights water pump etc.
Ignition on and engine running, permanent 12v off but fridge switched live working and powering fridge. Of course the 12v selector switch in caravan eas turned to car. My caravan is a 1997 Bailey Pageant and the tow car a2005 Vauxhall Vectra 1.9 cdti estate with 150 bhp.
So a little nearer.
Can I now use this accessory socket with a suitable inline fuse for fridge?
Do I need to fit a relay or split charger to power both caravan battery charging and the fridge whilst car engine running?
What is the normal scenario for this? Seems to be various options depending on age of caravan. I am pretty sure this caravan has been wired up to post 1998 wiring and a habitation relay controls the switching of internal power..
Ah well retired now so got plenty of time to sort this, unless anybody in the know with these things is local to Deepdale Preston
Much of it is about Battery to Battery charging and Euro 5 and Euro 6 engines and how their alternators function. Take into account that Sterling is trying to get you to purchase his products before you read to much into things, but in general they are good bits of kit,if at a hefty price.
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The caravan should have a habitation relay fitted. This should isolate all caravan 12volt systems except fridge and battery charging. This may be achieved by the car/van selector switch as it's pre 1998. It should cause the following to happen.
Plugged in to car engine running - all isolated except fridge and battery charging.
Plugged in to car engine not running - all caravan 12 volt working from car battery except fridge and caravan battery charging.
Not plugged in to car all 12 volts working except fridge 12 volt.
The car should have some means of not powering the fridge and battery charging when the engine is not running maybe via a voltage operated relay.
We had that model car (2008 model) when we had the tow at fitted there were two options, one gave the normal equivalent of the 7 pin black socket and the second was an extra loom that allowed the fridge etc to work ( equivalent to the 7 pin grey socket). As I recall it was an extra wiring loom that plugged into the car somewhere. A lot of the fitters just wipe up what would be 7 pin kits to the 13 pin socket and don’t think about caravans!
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Topic: Vectra C 13 pin towplug switched live
via mobile 18/10/2020 at 4:19pm
