Rear worklights/Revesing lights

[TerraHawk]

Evening folks,

I have a little issue with my lights thats got me in a pickle! I have a 27W LED worklight that I have hooked up to the standard reversing light cable behind the light cluster. The original is just not good enough anymore,so an upgrade was in order.

The trouble is that after installing the light all it does now is flicker a low power & every now & again come on full power. The connections were made by twist & solder & the heat shrink sealed. At each stage I tested the current passing through the cable before moving to the next step & all the way through showed full voltage. BUT when you hooked up the earth to the earth on the LED light the voltage drops down to between 5 & 8 W.

Does anybody have any idea what I'm doing wrong? And if it's simply the connections are rubbish, what would you advise is best to use to connect the cables together to make a solid one?

Cheers :thumbs

Oh, I should mention that by helping me you would also be bailing me out of the poo with the wifey,as I told her I could nail this & save a garage bill, but now I seem to have fooked it, she has my nuts in a vice :lol

 

[jims-terrano]

Hi Terrahawk, soldered joints should be fine if done correctly. Where abouts are you? There may be a member that could help you out. So when you say you took the feed from behind light cluster, would that be down behind the bumper where all the crap from the road hits it. If so just make sure once working that it is sealed very very well.

I fitted two led work lights but took feed from wiring loom inside the car where the weather won't get at the connections.

Ok how did you earth or where did you take the earth from?

You may read 12v on the meter but once a load taking current through the cables and joints it may have some resistance and voltage drop.

Firstly, check you have a good earth. Nice clean connection to the body of the car.
Can you run a temporary positive straight from the battery to the lamp and test the lamp is working as it should?

 

[TerraHawk]

Hi Terrahawk, soldered joints should be fine if done correctly. Where abouts are you? There may be a member that could help you out. So when you say you took the feed from behind light cluster, would that be down behind the bumper where all the crap from the road hits it. If so just make sure once working that it is sealed very very well.

I fitted two led work lights but took feed from wiring loom inside the car where the weather won't get at the connections.

Ok how did you earth or where did you take the earth from?

You may read 12v on the meter but once a load taking current through the cables and joints it may have some resistance and voltage drop.

Firstly, check you have a good earth. Nice clean connection to the body of the car.
Can you run a temporary positive straight from the battery to the lamp and test the lamp is working as it should?

Hi,

Thanks for the reply first of all.

Yep your right about where I took the feed from & thats why I shrink sealed them & used self adhesive shrink too to help ensure the best seal. I did test the lamp & it's working perfectly, in fact I surprised myself at just how bright & crisp the light was. Very happy with that side.

With regards to the live & earth I went basic & just used the original cables that previously feed the OEM bulb holder & used those cables as the live & earth. They are no longer connected to the back of the bulb holder.

So I hooked the red to red & black to black. I didn't earth to the car anywhere else as I was told (maybe wrong I'm suspecting now) that to use the original cables as live & earth was ok.

Thanks.:thumbs

 

[Sweety]

There is a chance the factory wiring can't supply the needed current, tbh I would have fitted a relay & ran a power supply from the battery & a wire from the factory reverse power wire as the switch feed

 

[jims-terrano]

OK sounds like you should be ok. Now I'm wondering how good the soldered joints are, if your soldering iron wasn't strong enough to heat the wires outside at this time of year. That said twisted together should have made a connection.

So does the lamp not work at all and has it worked at all since wiring to reverse light wires? Is it simply wrong way around? No idea of vehicle colour coding. Comkon sense would dictate red to red black to black but vehicle cour coding could be different.

Can you use a multimeter on continuity to check the black does meter out to the body.

 

[jims-terrano]

Sweety mine is working with two 27watt lamps plus the standard 21watt bulb. Terrahawk has disconnected the 21watt bulb and connected a 27watt lamp instead so should be fine.

Sorry Sweety just read my reply, not meant to cause offence pal.

 

[TerraHawk]

OK sounds like you should be ok. Now I'm wondering how good the soldered joints are, if your soldering iron wasn't strong enough to heat the wires outside at this time of year. That said twisted together should have made a connection.

So does the lamp not work at all and has it worked at all since wiring to reverse light wires? Is it simply wrong way around? No idea of vehicle colour coding. Comkon sense would dictate red to red black to black but vehicle cour coding could be different.

Can you use a multimeter on continuity to check the black does meter out to the body.

The soldering was hard going due to the temp as I only have a basic iron, but the twists were as tight as I could get them & seemed strong.

The lamp does work but only very low light & flickers, from time to time it wont come on at all.Every now & again I do get full power from it though too.

 

[TerraHawk]

There is a chance the factory wiring can't supply the needed current, tbh I would have fitted a relay & ran a power supply from the battery & a wire from the factory reverse power wire as the switch feed

This was an option that i was told about at a motor factors, but to be honest I wasn't sure I was capable of it all,as I have never fitted anything like that before.

 

[jims-terrano]

Ok wonder if there is a problem with the feed and is it capable of a small increase in current draw. Though if you think about it connect a caravan with a reverse light you have 21watt for each bulb so I'm doubtful this is the issue. Were the wires on the vehicle wiring nice and clean or is the copper tarnished?

I'm wondering about picking up feeds from inside the boot might be better.

Are you near another member that can take a look perhaps.

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

Which side of the rear light connector did you go? Those connectors have a habit of corroding inside and disturbing them can be enough to cause them to break down.

Sent from my SM-T705 using Tapatalk

 

[jims-terrano]

Ahh yes the joint between the back of the lamp and the vehicle wiring loom.

 

[Mobieus_uk]

you say you tested the current though the cable, thats only one part of the wiring, if the earth is poor it will give the same result as a undersized supply cable

 

[Daemo]

you say you tested the current though the cable, thats only one part of the wiring, if the earth is poor it will give the same result as a undersized supply cable

I was going to say the same, check earth and check earth again.. also make sure the bulb in the rear light has good clean connections as that could also have an effect weird as it may sound.
also check the work light your adding doesn't have a fault, try it straight on the battery..

 

[rustic]

This was an option that i was told about at a motor factors, but to be honest I wasn't sure I was capable of it all,as I have never fitted anything like that before.

We have a workshop download, that can be adapted using a relay and taking a feed from the reversing light, and /or a seperate switch in place of the "main beam in the attached circuit. see here.

 

[Banshee]

I have a 55w LED worklight that just piggybacks of the metal spade connections on the heating element on the rear window :sly

Shuts off after 10 mins aswell :thumbs

 

[Fez_uk]

check the connections and go from there. Give them a wiggle.

 

[zippy656]

I have a 55w LED worklight that just piggybacks of the metal spade connections on the heating element on the rear window :sly

Shuts off after 10 mins aswell :thumbs

nice idea !!

will try that one out!