Electric WTF have I done?

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Zeberdee01

New Member
Posts
6
Hi all,
I have a 1994 discovery 1 300tdi. The problem I have caused is: I have fitted a pair of led spot lights. I wired the near side into the plug on the back of the discovery lights.
Sofar no problem, in reverse the light works.
I then wired the offside light up to the back of the discovery light, ignition on in reverse and.....nothing! No lights and best of all No idiot lights on dashboard and no rev counter. The car starts fine all original lights work as does the horn, the only idiot light working is for the indicator/hazard.
Please can someone help and point me in the right direction. Thanks in advance. Chris
 
if you switch lights on and put brights on - does anything work again

you may need to hold the stalk in the bright position

also check if your tail lights work
 
D1Nut said:
if you switch lights on and put brights on - does anything work again

you may need to hold the stalk in the bright position

also check if your tail lights work
Click to expand...
Hi, sorry for not making it clear, I have wired the new spot lights up as reversing lights. The first light worked as I wanted, it's only when I wired the second light up I lost the rev counter and idiot lights and the spot light stopped working!
 
Zeberdee01 said:
Hi, sorry for not making it clear, I have wired the new spot lights up as reversing lights. The first light worked as I wanted, it's only when I wired the second light up I lost the rev counter and idiot lights and the spot light stopped working!
Click to expand...
But I will give it a try. Many thanks Chris
 
Zeberdee01 said:
Hi, sorry for not making it clear, I have wired the new spot lights up as reversing lights. The first light worked as I wanted, it's only when I wired the second light up I lost the rev counter and idiot lights and the spot light stopped working!
Click to expand...
What happens if you disconnect the second lamp, does everything go back to normal? Does the second lamp work if you connect it straight across a 12V source (preferably current limited!)?
 
As the OP is using an LED fitting and depending on the current draw, a normal toggle switch will be ok, but additional wiring as a overlay to the existing reversing light circuit would be a good idea as always.
A 10watt fitting will only have a current draw of around 0.8a.
So whats the wattage of both LED fittings that are being used.

As we don't know the fittings used the best electrical advice is difficult.
Perhaps get someone qualified to do the job 🤔
 
Just saying, to make it legal you need a warning light in the circuit unless you wire it to be triggered by the normal reversing light switch. so I'd do that, through a relay, so it don't draw too much current and feck everything up.
 
Many thanks for the responses.
I did have a complete brain fart with the wiring, by just linking the spotlights to the reversing lights, to give me brighter reversing lights covering a larger area.
So far I have disconnected the offside spotlight and I still don't have any idiot lights apart from the SRS which stays on all the time, and the indicator/hazard idiot light which works as it should.
I haven't had much time to work on the problem ( 8 kids, 4 different school runs, Dr appointments and ehcp meetings)
I don't understand how the spotlight has stopped the rev counter and idiot lights, just a thought, I've not tried the speedometer yet.
 
Zeberdee01 said:
Many thanks for the responses.
I did have a complete brain fart with the wiring, by just linking the spotlights to the reversing lights, to give me brighter reversing lights covering a larger area.
So far I have disconnected the offside spotlight and I still don't have any idiot lights apart from the SRS which stays on all the time, and the indicator/hazard idiot light which works as it should.
I haven't had much time to work on the problem ( 8 kids, 4 different school runs, Dr appointments and ehcp meetings)
I don't understand how the spotlight has stopped the rev counter and idiot lights, just a thought, I've not tried the speedometer yet.
Click to expand...
Check all fuses would be my first thing to do.
Peeps like @discool will know better which ones, and other stuff to do.
 
No need to check all fuses as only no14 fuse protects instruments, clock, speed sensor and of course the reversing lights, the fuse is10amp,
10amp has the capacity for the optional additional reversing light if require, so no problem for couple of low wattage LED lamps to be fitted.
So no need to complicate a simple thing by fitting an unnecessary relay to the disco’s existing no-relay reversing light circuit.

Remember reversing lights are warning of the vehicle movement only and installing very bright LED lamps that could dazzle could cause trouble.
I fitted a small flat beam fog light to my RR under rear bumper, switched via the dash switch so a long time ago, with my disco I replaced the bulbs with led’s but it didn’t make an difference, now its my drive that has the led lighting.😀
 
Quick update as it is now, I have unwired the spotlights totally,
I have checked fuses 12 and 13 both visually and with my multi meter and both are fine. I then checked the rest of the fuses with the multi meter they're all OK.
I put multi meter on the fuses under the bonnet by the water header tank, all OK
I still don't have any idiot lights on the dashboard ie handbrake, glow plugs, battery etc.
The SRS light is on all the time, indicator, hazard and main beam lights work as they should.
The rev counter and speedo don't work.
All out side lights work as they should but the reverse lights don't work. I am obviously missing something, but what? Is there an other fuse box anywhere?
 
discool said:
No need to check all fuses as only no14 fuse protects instruments, clock, speed sensor and of course the reversing lights, the fuse is10amp,
10amp has the capacity for the optional additional reversing light if require, so no problem for couple of low wattage LED lamps to be fitted.
So no need to complicate a simple thing by fitting an unnecessary relay to the disco’s existing no-relay reversing light circuit.

Remember reversing lights are warning of the vehicle movement only and installing very bright LED lamps that could dazzle could cause trouble.
I fitted a small flat beam fog light to my RR under rear bumper, switched via the dash switch so a long time ago, with my disco I replaced the bulbs with led’s but it didn’t make an difference, now its my drive that has the led lighting.😀
Click to expand...
Wow, many thanks, I must have missed that one fuse had blown. It's not listed as a fuse for any of these. Many thanks for your time and help. Regards Chris.
 
Page 121 pf the owner's manual.
1697582285373.png


Which is where I thought you would look when I said "check all fuses".

My bad apparently.
 
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