P38 2002 thor 4ltr 13 pin towing socket

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S

supapete

Active Member
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505
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West wing I think
In 2015 I had a specialist trailer company fit a 13pin connector to my motor. The flicking indicator trailer lamp disappeared. I queried it and was told the law only states audible or visible monitoring. It never occoured to me that we were talking P38 electrics at the time. I don't suppose, given the pain I've suffered hitherto, that there's anything that doesn't matter but nothing horrible's happened yet (like when I upgraded the satellite receiver to DVD or switched the HEVAC controller). The old double sockets showed the blinking trailer icon. Noteably all the lamps on the caravan are LED. Resistance? Wattage? I've just tested and renewed all lamps on the binnacle. Trivial, I know, but when you're as paranoid as me evrything is magnified.
 
I've just upgraded mine to 13 pin.

Trailer electrics are all pre-wired by Land Rover at the factory. All you have to do is connect your 13 pin (or old 7 pin) socket to the loom provided by Land Rover behind the RHS rear light cluster. The dash tell tail should all work perfectly. Connect the other 13 pin pins (for the 12s) to the loom provided by Land Rover behind the LHS light cluster, and you'll have reversing lights, fridge and leisure battery charging etc. You will need a relay to stop it flattening your car battery but these are £10. There is a permanent 12V supply (on good thick cable) reversing lights, an earth, and the "alternator charging" signal all behind there.

Is there a chance your trailer company bypassed what LR provided and went their own way? It'd be easy to have a look, just remove the little plastic cover behind the RHS light cluster and see whats back there. If they'd have used a LR loom it's plug and play. If they've done it themselves there will be lots of "bespoke" wiring.

I'm not sure if LED light would stop the tell tail working, but does your audable one work? If that does, I'd expct your dash one to too.
 
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I guess you're not far off the mark suggesting bespoke wiring. The source of my motor was less than professional. I left him to fit the bar. I don't much like the look of it anyway after 10 years by the sea in spite of getting waxoyled annually. I was unaware of land rover plug ready loom. I'll certainly check it out and rectify where necessary. What an informative in depth response. I've added it to my bookmarks cos I'll forget where it is. And then it's back to therapy. God I hate those wires. Massive thankyou.
 
You don't actually have to use the official LR part. I didn't, but eBay will have it. I just bought some correct cable, cut the LR plug off, and soldered my new cable on the end, fed it down through the car to the bumper and connected up to the trailer socket.
It's worth doing properly I think, not only do you get a nice neat tell-tail on the dashboard, but you also get some warning blown bulbs etc etc.
 
I have double socket on mine. The 12S bypasses the LR stuff and comes straight out the fusebox with the voltage sensitive relay etc but all the warnings and telltales on the dash work perfectly. I think they screwed yours up.
 
Not so trivial after all. All functioned as it should, on reflection, with the grey and black connectors in place. Does the single socket not consolidate the two into one with additional negatives. So, do you think I've got nought but a detective job on my hands to see what's awry? I'll have a butcher's this week and come back to you if you don't mind. In the meantime, I'm looking at the end of my overhaul before long. Regards all.
 
That's right. The 13 pin socket is just a consolidation of the two old style sockets. You shouldn't even have to go inside the car if you had the two sockets before the upgrade. The additional negatives (earths) are already there. What's inportant there is that they go to their own earthing point on the car chasis, and not "bridged" to use the earth provided in the socket.
 
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This is the space. I've got at both looms. It's like a magpie's nest in there. I've spotted the original connector on the offside, connected to nothing with a plethora of cut in connectors on the cables going in. It's hard to see where the negatives are picked up, so, can I declare a new chassis connection at any convenient fixing point? I'll identify the loom and follow the connections the the socket. They must be correct as everything works. It's just those additional earths I need to suss. Regards and thanks again.......

Now to those dratted airbags.

I'm really fed up, now.

Update. I've sorted the tangle out and got individual negatives to the chassis and ditched all the BT type shove on connectors. The only thing I noticed was that both switched outputs were taken to the fridge pin. There was also a note on the sounder advising the fitting of another piece of kit in complicated electrics.

Someone promised me some patience. It hasn't arrived yet.
Off to therapy with Matron and first L332, now.
 
On the subject of the fridge pin: both cables from the relay travel to that pin on the 13pin socket. The cables entering the relay are low amperage. I know that the fridge can draw a tidy current. I've seen that an extra cable needs to arrive at this relay. Could I have a pointer as to whence and to where, please? Is it simply to reinforce the existing harness? I'll continue to search in the meantime. Thanks in advance. Regards P.
 
I've only just got into this. I've got loads more homework to do. I guess I've posted prematurely. If it's ok I'll repost after a bit more education. But thanks for the tips .
 
got a double socket on the back of my 2000. Only tow a horse box and have the trailer icon on the dash but only bleeps when turning right although both indicators work on the trailer. How does that work then you electrical wizards !!!
 
Mine was all done when I got it. My supplemental wiring bypasses the Rangie loom and ties directly into the fusebox with a voltage sensitive switch to charge the caravan battery once the car one is charged and stop it drawing if the car one drops too low.

Not sure what year and model yours is but the wiring diagrams are in RAVE. I tied my second 12V power supply into the permanent live for the 12S socket in the boot. On mine this is on the near-side by the light cluster.
 
As mentioned by @Grrrrrr in another thread, I promised to pop in and have a look at this thread and see if I can be of any help.

First thing, where are you located? I'm in Northants, NN10 0JT, if you are anywhere within striking distance then possibly we could get you over to have a look. We run an electronics manufacturing company and hold all the sort of wiring and connectors that you may need, plus I've got to fit a towbar and electrics to my 2000 P38 very soon, to replace my V8 Disco 2 which is going to have a rear quarter chassis fitted as soon as the Rangie is up and running.

I have Rave (3 versions) and Microcat on computer.

Peter
 
Have a read through these. It's all you'll need...

https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/media/1022790/towbar-wiring-mo.pdf
http://www.caravantalk.co.uk/library/files/Beginners-Guide-To-Electrics.pdf

There is an earth point for your Fridge and Charging earths behind the LHS trim in the boot. It's under where the seat belt anchor is. That's where LR recommend you earth the 12S electrics so that's what I did. I did use two wires from the relay to the same 13 pin socket. It was pin 10 the switched live. This is to increase the cross sectional acrea of the cable because of the higher current draw, so that's probably intended.
 
As I said, there's more for me to do on this. I'm OK in electronics and electrics. I haven't got into rave yet as I'm waste deep in EAS. I knew the relay was only switching current from a lightweight supply even though the cores in the multicore cable were joined for square millimeters advantage. I know where to physically search for the suitable pickup, now. Thanks. I've picked this up whilst waiting for parts on my other projects. That is why I know I've posted prematurely. Matron says I mustn't unitask never mind multitasking.
 
Expert trailer company or not, if I left any kind of lacing up like I've just come across I'd make myself scarce in case anyone saw it. I've junked all the BT shove ons and
discarded the now redundant land rover connector and soldered and shrink wrapped all the lighting tangle offside. I've created a ground connectection and all negatives
are seperated and connect individully to it. There was no land rover connector to be seen on nearside but I've done likewise. I can see that none of this was touched when
the 13pin socket replaced the grey and black. A double entry gaiter allowed entry for the existing multicores from either side to be wired into it. A five year old girl must have connected it up
as the connecting screws had all loosened or never been tightened. Some of them in a big way. I see that the cable arriving at the relay is somewhat beefier than the rest, but,
I can't see it taking care of the amperage effectively required by the fridge. Having said that, it only claims to be a "cool box" on hook up. My guess would be that the fridge control
only permits the drawing of a limited current. I'll check the comic. The trailer icon still hasn't appeared, so, it's something to do with the caravan LED lighting or I wsn't as thorough as I thought
when I renewed the lamps in the binnacle. That's my full report. Many thanks to everyone's efforts in trying to help me.Matron's told me to shift my caravan off the front lawns. Regards. P.
 
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