FIAT Electrics 2015 Kingham

by Machloop Sat Jul 23, 2016 11:57 am

I'm sure someone out there has sorted this [though perhaps not with a FIAT]. All I need to do is switch over the cigar lighter to enable phone/pad charging when parked up.
And then I will be looking to get the habitation switched over to allow things to work as we go along.

by Paulmold Sat Jul 23, 2016 12:10 pm

I just got the dealer to change one of the two cigarette lighter sockets so it was live all the time.

by inspiredron Sun Jul 24, 2016 12:45 am

But is your Pug CANBUS Paul? These things get more complex with modern vehicles. It could be easier to wire a totally new socket to a permanent connecgion on the fuse box, hopefully with its own 10A fuse. My 2001 Hymer did have a permanently live cigar socket bht it was very shallow and the satnav plug kept losing contact. My solution was to buy a multiway socket that had a lead to its ciggy plug, cut off the plug and wire it in parallel with the existing socket. It worked for me.
Modifying the electrics on new vehicles is a pain in the butt!

by Paulmold Sun Jul 24, 2016 7:59 am

inspiredron wrote:But is your Pug CANBUS Paul?

Probably not. That's probably why AS also rewired the radio to run from the leisure battery. I suppose they can't do that either now and can't get rid of the 20 minute cut-off.

by Rono Sun Jul 24, 2016 12:26 pm

there are always live fuses in the fuse box near the drivers door you just have to use a piggy back fuse and have an adapter for what ever you have e.g. usb 12 volt adapter search for both on ebay/amazon just get the correct size as there are 3 std,mini,or micro sorry can't remember the size i used.
I have done the dash cam from a switched one as well.

by Machloop Sun Jul 24, 2016 12:59 pm

Rono wrote:there are always live fuses in the fuse box near the drivers door you just have to use a piggy back fuse and have an adapter for what ever you have e.g. usb 12 volt adapter search for both on ebay/amazon just get the correct size as there are 3 std,mini,or micro sorry can't remember the size i used.
I have done the dash cam from a switched one as well.

Well, that was what I was hoping for. I will drop the fuse panel and look for a spare live connection or piggy back one using a fused line as you say.

Now I need to find that blasted relay that turns the inside lights off at night when the ignition comes on.

by Spospe Sun Jul 24, 2016 4:51 pm

Machloop

1) You need some care here as your 'van will be CANBUS wired and often circuits will malfunction if additional load is applied to that expected by the controller. This is why adding a trailer is so fraught these days, gone is the simple tapping-in of wires to power the lights, you need a special relay and wiring harness.

2) The inside lights are designed to go off when the engine is running, it is a requirement of current electrical interference regulations, that all 'habitation' loads be switched off (apart from the fridge). I doubt that the law will be after you, if you do modify the wiring as you describe, but you will be altering the 'van from its type approved specification.

by Machloop Sun Jul 24, 2016 5:43 pm

Spospe wrote:Machloop
2) The inside lights are designed to go off when the engine is running............if you do modify the wiring as you describe, but you will be altering the 'van from its type approved specification.

Well, all I really need is a light in the back that can be switched on/off from the cab to allow access to the habitation area at night. Stopping at night to allow exit/entry via the side door is a problem as is the lack of a working step now that I think about it. It looks like I may have to wire another light direct to the leisure battery to bypass these canbus problems.

by inspiredron Sun Jul 24, 2016 6:31 pm

But if you want the step then all you need do is switch off the engine and touch the switch on your door that unlocks the habitation door - at least that is the situation with my X250. If you have put the appropriate jumpers in the EM50 then the awning light will also come on and the step will pop out as you unlock. There are two ways of achieving the light that you want. You could run a wire ffom the courtesy light to near the sliding door (I am quite surprised that there is not a courtesy light there anyway) and indtall a small lec light which will take minimal extra current and may not affect CANBUS
OR you could tap into the awning light feed at the EM50 and take the feed from there for an led light, which would come on provided you have stopped the engine, as you unlock the door.

by bobash Sun Jul 24, 2016 6:32 pm

Why don't you charge the phone/ipod from the usb port located at the end of the Kitchen Units?

by m8form8 Sun Jul 24, 2016 9:38 pm

Not had any issues with my 2016 fiat based Benimar, 12 volt habitation loads turning off when engine is running. I was dreading that being an issue with the new motorhome, but found it was not. I can run anything 12 volt all the time so not sure Spanish Fiat take the rules as seriously as Autosleeper seem to on habitation rules.

by inspiredron Sun Jul 24, 2016 9:58 pm

Just a thought. Is there any connection between habitation electrics being permitted and the crash sensitive gas regulator?

by -mojo- Sun Jul 24, 2016 11:32 pm

Please - don't worry about CANBUS.

It often seems to get blamed for all sorts of things, but it's almost never the cause.

The truth is that CANBUS is a data bus that allows control modules to talk to one another. So, for example, the vehicle's engine management computer will communicate with the ABS controller over CANbus.

It plays no direct part in lighting circuits, and if you get a light up on the dash when you change a filament bulb to an LED bulb, it won't be because of CANBUS. It will be because the van's lighting circuit has filament failure detection.

Similarly, a small number of circuits on a vehicle may have current monitors to ensure that the load on the circuit is within certain limits, but again this has nothing to do with CANBUS. Such circuits are very rare - mostly the manufacturers just rely on a simple fuse, and that's all.

by Machloop Sun Jul 31, 2016 11:35 am

Not as easy as I had hoped for but I now have a set of cigar lighter sockets wired permanently to the leisure battery. I have put them [for the time being] between the front seats where the fire extinguisher was. (The extinguisher was relocated to behind the passenger B-pillar after our first trip). But I now have a permanent fused feed from the leisure battery that can be spurred across the rest of the van, as required.
Now, when I was doing this job, I noticed that when the leisure battery was disconnected the interior 12v lights still worked. I assume this was the solar panel powering them and, if so, how do I switch off the solar panel so that is does not feed any power to the van ?

by PLOUGHLIN Sun Jul 31, 2016 1:16 pm

There is a feed from the Vehicle battery as well, which the Sargent unit will use for 12v feed to the interior.

Only way, on my EC325 unit, to fully isolate the Sargent unit is to pull the battery fuses and Solar fuse on the unit.

by Machloop Sun Jul 31, 2016 10:27 pm

PLOUGHLIN wrote:There is a feed from the Vehicle battery as well, which the Sargent unit will use for 12v feed to the interior. Only way, on my EC325 unit, to fully isolate the Sargent unit is to pull the battery fuses and Solar fuse on the unit.

That was what I suspected. Sounds a bit dodgy though as a loss of leisure battery could maybe cause a flattening of the van battery. I better read the sargent booklet again. The solar panel was fitted by the dealer and I have no info on it, I don't even know its make.

FIAT Electrics 2015 Kingham

FIAT Electrics 2015 Kingham

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