thminiman Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 So I Baught the car without a towbar and so got one installed. I then plugged my trailer in, and when the car is running, the indicators will only flash once or twice, then stop flashing on both car and trailer (even though the indicator stalk is still on) (all the other lights are fine) The car is sweet without the trailer plugged in, IE, indicators & lights all work. hasn't had any issues with starting etc The trailer can be plugged into any car and it works fine When the ignition is on but engine not running, the indicators work fine on both car and trailer what could the possible issues be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tortron Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 probably no help but occasionally my bike will do a similar thing with the indicators. Id say this is due tot he battery being poked. perhaps yours with the extra electrical load is doing similar. in short - hows your battery? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyteler Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 So I Baught the car without a towbar and so got one installed.I then plugged my trailer in, and when the car is running, the indicators will only flash once or twice, then stop flashing on both car and trailer (even though the indicator stalk is still on) (all the other lights are fine) The car is sweet without the trailer plugged in, IE, indicators & lights all work. hasn't had any issues with starting etc The trailer can be plugged into any car and it works fine When the ignition is on but engine not running, the indicators work fine on both car and trailer what could the possible issues be? I just wired a trailer plug into the 230 last weekend, everything was all gravy except when some weird combination happened and then it went all up the shit. Remedied it by having the earth wire from the trailer plug earth onto the body of the car, instead of onto an earth of the tail-lamp loom. Although the symptoms weren't entirely the same as yours, it would not surprise me if it was the same remedy. Let me know how you get on/if it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thminiman Posted December 10, 2009 Author Share Posted December 10, 2009 yes admittedly i had found that with this too, The people that had put the towbar in had joint into the earth wire for the lighting loom, rather than join to the body so i removed that and joint the trailer earth to the body of the car, however to no avail. I do wonder if it may be the battery, Although like i say i have had no issues with startin before, leaving lights/stereo on for 10 mins or so (without engine running), I have realised I could possibly try having car running but stero heater etc off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyteler Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 Doesn't make any sense to be the battery if it works fine when you unplug the trailer coupling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thminiman Posted December 10, 2009 Author Share Posted December 10, 2009 I also doubt it is battery as when the problem occurs, the lights/stereo/dash etc are all fully functional and show no signs of dimming. If it was the flasher unit, would the difference in voltage of operationg with engine running and not running be enough to effect weather it did or didnt work? What is the deal with rectifiers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 maybe you are just overloading your flasher unit. It probably wasn't designed to run more lights so track the unit down and at least see if it gets hot or something. Could put lower wattage bulbs in to test (if you have them lying around) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QCADTA Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 alternator problem causing transient voltages to be induced into the body of the car? hows ya bonding between battery, engine and chasis? are your taillights of the car earthed back to the chasis as well? judt some useless thoughts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thminiman Posted December 10, 2009 Author Share Posted December 10, 2009 I have wondered if it is overloading of the flasher unit, but i would have thaught that problem would be eliminated by the fact it works fine and for as long as I want, just not when the engine is running. Yep the tail lights are earthed back to the body of the car. I haven't checked the battery or it's terminals yet, but will do tommorow when I have a multimeter handy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thminiman Posted December 11, 2009 Author Share Posted December 11, 2009 battery is all good, has 12v when off and 14.5 when engine is running, connections are all sweet. am going to attempt to look into earthing issue again by running trailer earth directly back to battery with a seperate wire and see if this solves it, this way i will know for sure if it is an earth problem. following another path, anyone know much about rectifiers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forced Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 following another path, anyone know much about rectifiers? Why? Sounds like your indicators are drawing too much current. Driving them via a relay would be the easiest fix. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sholdowa Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 You do usually have to put a heavy duty flasher unit in to run a trailer. This statement was certainly true for 70's/80's cars - haven't done much towing since then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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