Checking the caravan lights
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- Checking the lights on a caravan is an important task to complete prior to setting off. In this video I share how to complete a comprehensive lights check making sure each bulb is working correctly.
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Your productions are clearly going bigger and bigger, wardrobe changes and haircut whilst on location, your crew work very hard to make you look good. Cheers matey
Some more excellent advice that can be overlooked. I always checked mine but it is quite obvious the majority of caravanners don't. Perhaps this will point out to others 🤔 that safety is paramount.
On the topic of road lights (and others generally) I can well recommend the use of Dielectric Grease (otherwise ironically known to those of us of a certain age as 'bulb lubricant') - dielectric grease applied by finger to the inside of bulb holders and the outside of bulb terminals & shank. Also to both insides of the car connector plugs (pins & apertures) as well as anywhere else you just want bulbs to work when hitched up. It stops continuity issues from things like condensation, especially where a caravan may have been stood for months over winter
As an added bonus, when a bulbs 'blows', this stops the failed bulb from 'welding itself' inside the bulb holder & being a pain to remove & replace
Available cheaply online (eBay, etc..) - a few quid for a 50 gram can. About the size of a can of shoe polish. Slips easily into a tool box
That’s a good idea, silicone grease would work just as good
I agree with you Dan. I too had issues that were not picked up on our “switch lights on and shout yeah moment”. I was on the motorway when the light was fading and put my sidelights on. When I went to move lanes I gave a good long signal and then moved out. The car in that lane (which was way back) suddenly sped up and blasted his horn together with the usual hand gestures. I thought I’ve given him long enough to see that I was pulling out - what went wrong? I pulled into the next service area and found that when my sidelights were on my indicator was not flashing. When I turned the sidelights off it worked! I continued the journey switching my sidelights off before indicating and then putting the sidelights back on. It turned out to be a corroded hook up plug on the van. Once changed problem solved. It proves, follow Dan’s advice and all will be well. Thanks Dan.
Well, the cat has done a runner Dan. Been gone since 0900 this morning. She's 18 so I don't hold out much hope. The site staff have been brilliant though. Staying an extra night to see if she comes back. An out of context comment but I know you've been there. Grant.
I like how the video is scripted, well done! In most trailer situations clear communication is masterpeace - we prefer walkie talkies, always reliable. Doing lightcheck alone i prefer just to record a video with mobile from behind and replay it afterwards. What scares me in past often is how ugly these connector pins are. So even having fancy modern led stuff do better the lightcheck on every departure. And as you say, the fancy towcar stuff could be horrible - in my case „things happen“ even the pins ground connected e.g. tow car fog lights hand over.
I have a 2019 Unicorn van and one of the rear light covers always has moisture on the inside. I’ve taken it apart and checked the rubber seal and the lens for any cracks, but all seems OK. Do you have any ideas what I could do? Many thanks for great videos.
So simple, yet an effective way of checking the lights. We to are guilty of just shouting "Yepp".
Hi Dan do you know how to get the marker road lights off at top of the caravan at the rear top left and top right on a Luna you did have a Luna clubman I know you change your caravan thanks
Hi Dan I saw a comment advising the use of Dielectric grease to help with contact points it's very confusing because of the electric part of the name Dielectric or Silicone grease as it's also known is more of an insulator rather than a conductor of current . I have seen other channels on UA-cam proving what I am saying hope this helps things.
Would the light checker do the same job they are a long piece of plastic with caravan plug connectors on you put 9v battery in it checks caravan lighting and other end checks car connectors
Dear sir I own a luna es clubman like you used to own, I am after a curtain to fit into the little cupboard that is beside the dinnet and bunk beds were can I buy one thanks ps love your blogs .
Another good video… another way to do this is to FaceTime the wife whilst she is at the back of the caravan.. she points her camera at the rear of the caravan so I can see what is happening when checking lights.
Hi Dan I rub the contact points till they are shining then the pump works thanks a lot 👍
Good video as ever... always enjoy watching ....just wish they were a bit more cheerrfull lol.. take care Paolo and Roger aka 'The Camp Caravanners'
Simple 8fea idea use the phone. Next time we go away as the driver I won't be shouting out what I'm doing. Cheers
Ps. Not sure I have ever checked the fog lights!!! Or reverse
Great video again Dan. Sam and myself check ours, but I’m usually at the car shouting what I’m turning on & off we’re going to change to your way. Good idea to check with all lights on to check for bad earth etc.
if I’m on my by myself I do a walk around checking all lights, the Brake lights using the leg winder like yourself
I’m a little pedantic about checking lights which arcs back to my HGV days lol
Regards to the family
Take care
Reverse lights are easy to check.
With an automatic I simply turn the ignition on without starting the engine, select reverse and the lights come on. Come to think of it a manual is exactly the same procedure. It is so easy to overcomplicate simple jobs.
In all the automatics I’ve owned, I couldn’t select R with the engine off. Even with the ignition on. That’s 6 different cars / manufacturers- agree it’s a lot easier in a manual though.
Excellent and comprehensive guide. A lot of Vloggers miss out the loading up part.
My Volvo V90 has a lot of gadretry to help with the checks, but I prefer to send my wife out into the rain to do the checks, so I haven't told her about any of that.
Thank you for this. I thought we were checking lights quite conscientously before every journey, but I had never thought about electrical misconnections. Plus, as it turns out (and I feel stupid), I had no idea we had side lights or front corner lights on our little van, nor number plate lights. Now I know! and I'll check them going forward!
Nice one Dan
That’s what me and hazel do we use
walkie-talkie s and I just randomly turn on lights , indicators etc and hazel tells me what she is seeing /working. Good video Dan keep up the good work all the best Mark and Hazel
Great video as always Dan 😊👍🏻 A lot of modern trucks now have a ‘light check’ button on the key fob. Obviously this is very handy when changing trailers regularly, or just for the daily checks. They just cycle the lights over and over until you’ve checked everything out. Interesting that they just put all indicators on together, rather than cycling n/s and o/s, so I guess theoretically you could still be presented with a separate issue with wiring etc as you explained. Probably not a massive issue to put this on cars, and would give people the opportunity to at least check bulbs with little effort.
We always say what we are doing which is good. However last week we plugged in. All lights ok and understood BUT the inside ticker wasn’t sounding…..so the plug was unplugged while the indicator was still on and YES…..the inside ticker sounded!!!!!!!! Our caravan man (yes we have one) just looked at me with mouth wide open. He’d never come across that before. So the car is going to the garage for them to have a look at it as it’s only a year old and used to tow only 4 times!!!!
What a good and timely video highlighting a problem with cabling on some vehicles. Have I missed something though? Did you check each direction indicator individually or just both at the same time with the hazard light function?
I wonder if doing this might miss a potential fault in one or other of the indicator circuits from the indicator stalk.
Great video Dan. We used to shout at each other and most times my wife would be somewhere I couldn’t see her. However, I changed my car when I retired to a new Defender with an Advanced Tow Package. It has loads of features to make towing simple. I can raise the air suspension to help hook up. It also has a button to press which runs through a sequence of light checks for not van and car in a set order. I can do all of this by myself and it can be done from the driver’s seat as well. I can thoroughly recommend this system.
My wife asked if that was your brother helping you check the lights 😂😂😂
Over recent years seen this issue number of times and it tends in the main to be German cars. Don’t know if that’s because cheaper universal wiring used over dedicated for the cars when tow bars fitted or it’s simply a common glitch with them, as it is with Bluetooth on German cars being unreliable to poor.
Another helpful and informative video. Thank you
Great video Dan. Simple and effective. We follow the same guidelines as you. Thanks
Very good advice Dan. But don’t forget the fridge is working on hookup.
Love the videos on the note of brake pedal bringing on the reverse light I got a new car the other day and this has started happening. It didn't happen with old car. Did you ever do a video on that issue as I don't really know what I'm doing to try and fix it!
Hey John, I will do a video on this as its an important lesson on having a tow bar checked over - i didn't and it could have caused an electrical fire.
@@TheTrudgians that would be amazing thank you.
Your twin has shorter hair. 🤣
Yay a Friday hit of trudg!
Biggest problem with old caravans and trailers is corrosion of the bulbs and terminals. The lights will work well enough to think everything is okay but an electrical earth-leak (ground leak) will cause the indicators and brake lights to flash alternately, and somewhat dimly - how often have you seen that? Equally, I found in my classic 'van that the lights will be intermittent. New bulbs renewed a strong electrical contact, even on bulbs that looked okay.