Member Since: 26 Jun 2009
Location: Mandurah
Posts: 66
LED trailer lights not compatible with Disco 3?
I have a 2005 Discovery 3 and have just bought a boat with sealed LED lights on the tailer which is new. When connected to the car the indicators on the tailer are flashing dimly and quickly when no indicators are on, on the car. When the car indicators are on the trailer indicators are working normally. The trailer has been tested on 2 other cars and the lights operate normally. With the ignition off the trailer LED's continue to flash until the car goes to sleep - then they stop. I therefore suspect that this is because of the CAN bus on the land rover which is being used to monitor and then operate the trailer indicator on the dash. When testing the trailer plug, without the indicators on there is a voltage of up to 1V -presumably enough to be causing the fault.
My questions are:
1) Is this normal for there to be a slight voltage at the indicators on the trailer plug?
2) Is there any way of stopping this - I can't identify a relay or fuse that could be removed
My thought for a solution was to seperate the connector plug in the boot for the trailer plug indicators and run each indicator through a relay. This would mean that the trailer would be completely disconnected from the car when the indicators were not operating. Any other suggestions appreciated.
Chris
12th Nov 2011 12:29 pm
garrycol
Member Since: 06 Dec 2010
Location: Canberra
Posts: 1115
D3s will not operate LED trailer lights without an adapter going into the system - basically small test pulses are send down the indicator wires to test the resistance (not enough to light up a normal globe) - if it detects an incandescent globe it turns off rear parking sensors, lights up the trailer light on the dash and turns reversing lights off.
If it does not detect the resistance of a incandescent like it does nothing. I am not sure where you buy the adapters but they are greatly overpriced for what they are.
Garry
12th Nov 2011 12:41 pm
chrisalang
Member Since: 26 Jun 2009
Location: Mandurah
Posts: 66
Many thanks for the reply. It was as I thought. I will see what the adaptor is but in the meantime I hope my idea works
12th Nov 2011 1:25 pm
SHARKYSHARKS
Member Since: 20 Dec 2008
Location: Saddleworth Oldham
Posts: 1954
Chris
You need a load resistor have a look at led autolamps and search load resistor i think when i got em they where less than a fiver each MY18 D5 HSE LUX😎
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12th Nov 2011 2:13 pm
Randylover
Member Since: 31 Jan 2011
Location: Staffordshire
Posts: 1172
Had same issue with trailer, fit a 7 way bypass relay cost about £14 and you only need to wire the indicators into it, you should get one from any decent motor factor or towbar centre, takes about an hour tops to fit, I fitted mine in storage compartment in the rear left, that's where you'll find the towbar electrics and fuses, this sorted mine
Hope this helps
Andy05 TDV6,"S" in all colourcoded Zermatt silver,7 seats winter pack HK 6cd stereo,Dual climate,Xenons,
Mods:
Re-Con Engine,De-Tango,Reverse camera,Fog/DRl lights,Aux Battery, perm Aux socket in boot,LED Volt meters in roof panel,Built in tom tom, Strobes fitted in grille, Aux switches for trailer lights fitted in roof panel,Roof Rails,Grille conversion
12th Nov 2011 2:41 pm
crwoody
Member Since: 09 Mar 2009
Location: Littleborough
Posts: 2109
As Sharky says, all you need is a resistor in parallel with each indicator lamp on the trailer, saves a lot of messing about with relays.
This is the type I used for my LED front indicator upgrade, 8.2 Ohm 25 Watt, (10 Ohm would probably do too,)
I got mine from Farnell, only a couple of quid each.
Click image to enlarge
The ally plate was to make it easier to mount inside the headlamp unit and to act as a heatsink, not needed if you can fit them directly onto a trailer chassis rail or similar.Clive
12th Nov 2011 3:00 pm
chrisalang
Member Since: 26 Jun 2009
Location: Mandurah
Posts: 66
Thanks guys for all the replies. The problem I have is that the lED lighting units are completely sealed so the trailer can be put into the water so I will probably need to make up a small box to do the connections in on the trailer or just use the relays in the car itself as a temporary measure.
12th Nov 2011 3:19 pm
Randylover
Member Since: 31 Jan 2011
Location: Staffordshire
Posts: 1172
I tryed the resistors first and had no joy, maybe I had the wrong ones, can't find them to check, but personally I prefer the relay, it's inside and dry and is no hassle to fit either.
Andy05 TDV6,"S" in all colourcoded Zermatt silver,7 seats winter pack HK 6cd stereo,Dual climate,Xenons,
Mods:
Re-Con Engine,De-Tango,Reverse camera,Fog/DRl lights,Aux Battery, perm Aux socket in boot,LED Volt meters in roof panel,Built in tom tom, Strobes fitted in grille, Aux switches for trailer lights fitted in roof panel,Roof Rails,Grille conversion
12th Nov 2011 3:27 pm
SHARKYSHARKS
Member Since: 20 Dec 2008
Location: Saddleworth Oldham
Posts: 1954
You could always wire the ballast or load resistors at the plug end rather than the light end , or will that be in the water to ?
They do need to be in the open and fastened to something metallic not plastic as they do get hot !!MY18 D5 HSE LUX😎
MY12 Freelander SD4 HSE
44 Tonne 12 Litre 6x2 Scania T cab (Current)
Freelander 1 (Wrote off 😫)
Ex D1
Ex D2 GS
Ex V8 D2 GS
Ex D3 S
Ex D4 GS
Club skip ya lockers !!!
Club BAS remote heater !!
Club Duratrac
Club Phillips DRL
Club Prospeed Rack Mk 1
Club Prospeed Rack Mk 2
Club Sankey
Club RLD spare wheel protector
12th Nov 2011 3:44 pm
character
Member Since: 01 Jan 2008
Location: wiltshire
Posts: 5781
hard wired into yer trailer eletrics or plug in and play.......not cheap (with import duty) but a very good and water tight long term solution, used it on my enclosed car trailer and traveled the country with no issues
12th Nov 2011 5:29 pm
T.8ATH
Member Since: 22 Mar 2011
Location: Nottingham
Posts: 158
I have a trailer related issue on my D4. I have had to rewire the trailer: new 7-pin plug, all new wire and LED rear lights. The lights all work fine but the dash indicator (little green trailer) does not work. Is there a requirement to earth to the trailer chassis or something similar?
Hoping someone can help. Thanks in advance.
27th Aug 2016 8:50 pm
Pete K
Member Since: 15 Jan 2016
Location: GL
Posts: 10375
Member Since: 09 Aug 2015
Location: Pwllheli North Wales
Posts: 104
garrycol wrote:
D3s will not operate LED trailer lights without an adapter going into the system - basically small test pulses are send down the indicator wires to test the resistance (not enough to light up a normal globe) - if it detects an incandescent globe it turns off rear parking sensors, lights up the trailer light on the dash and turns reversing lights off.
If it does not detect the resistance of a incandescent like it does nothing. I am not sure where you buy the adapters but they are greatly overpriced for what they are.
Garry
I know this is an old post but hope your still about.
Re the reverse lights being turned off.
Does it still keep the reverse lights on the trailer active?
17th Mar 2022 11:32 am
Pete K
Member Since: 15 Jan 2016
Location: GL
Posts: 10375
He meant reverse parking sensors.
The reversing lights remain active on both car and trailer
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