I

ianh64

New Member
...but nobody's home.

I fitted a new radio today on my 1988 110 and I obviously have disturbed something as I cannot turn my driving (main dipped) lights off.

With everything switched off, the driving/dipped headlights remain on.

I have disconnected the radio and its still happening. The only way that I can turn them off is to remove both the top right fuses - dipped beam.

When the driving lights are on, the side and tail lights remain off. I can switch them on normally, in which case the side/tail lights work as normal, as does the flash mechanism.

The only other thing to go on is that whilst fitting the radio (I connected it to white/black/purple in the dash) it would occasionally goes dead. With the ignition on, the same would also happen to the fan. For some strange reason, repeat pressing the console/interior light switch set things back to normal.

I am at a loss. Possibly the only thing, by looking at a Haynes and wokshop manuals, that I can see would be the dim dip circuit, but that would only appear to work if the ignition was switched on.
 
hello.. quite strange but i fitted a stereo at weekend and lights stay on and the reverse light....

can get to bottom of problem...

Is your lr red
 
No its white but I was thinking of it being red - ESP maybe. My reversing light doesn't normally work so maybe it would be on if it wasn't off. It could be a bit like Schrodinger's Cat where it it could be both on and off at the same time but I don't actually know which until I fix the lamp.

Sorry, but is your response for real? There can be quite a lot of tosh on the forum... and this would be pure coincidence. I have removed the radio now and only left a ISO connector in place - I checked for shorts but I found none - guess it was a bit cold. Not actually sure at what point the lights came on - a nice gentleman knocked on my door to tell me I had left the lights on in my 'truck'.
 
its all to do with your ignition live.you have cross linked your ign. live somewhere along the line.(please don't ask me where as i am in north wales and my eye sight isnt what it was;)
 
yeah its for real... i found that if i disconnect the fuse for the interior light/horn this solved the problem of lights staying on.. i have disconnected stereo aswell.. when i fitted the stereo the was no problem but that night i woke up and the lights were on and i had a flat battery... i have been told that it is a bad earth sumwhere....

Not sure what to do?
 
Can anyone tell me where the voltage transformer (regulator?) is situated in a defender and what it looks like.

If anyone has any experience of how the transformer works, it would also be appreciated. According to my workshop manual, it appears that it has 5 connectors - brown from battery, blue/white to main beam, blue/red to dipped beam, red from headlamp switch plus another for oil pressure switch. The only thing that I can come up with is that the blue/red to main beam is being energised within the transformer from the brown from battery. Unfortunately I do not have a diagram of the expected voltages on the inputs/outputs under what conditions.

Sorry, what does cross linked my ignition mean and how might it cause my dipped lights to remain on?
 
I don't want to sound rude but from what I've read I'd take it to an Auto Electrician if I were you. (before it catches fire).

The regulator is part of the alternator and roughly speaking it uses 4 diodes to convert an AC current to a DC current. And unless you're dead good it's a non servicable item.

So mellow Yellow, are red ones crap with electrics as well as hills. I think they must be 'cos you know how mine was red, well its had loads of bodgey type work on the electrics but now its green the electrics are OK.
 
Having now looked behind the dash I have located the dim dip unit that corresponds to the wire colours in the workshop manual. This appears to be an integrated unit that contains a voltage transformer - part number PRC8123. So its not part of the alternator. Trouble is that I can't easily reach it until I take the dash further apart and I would not know how to test it to see if it was faulty.

Quite an expensive part by the looks of it. There is another unit - control unit - dim dip YWC10050L - not sure if this is the relay that sat close by or even if the part number is correct - there appears to be a different part number.

Does anyone have any experience of these units and what would be the likely symptoms if either of them failed and how to test them.

Could I just disconnect the dim dip circuit and everything would still be OK and legal?

I have got an auto electrician coming round for a coffee tomorrow to suss him out. I would rather be prepared for his visit before agreeing to let him take on the work sometime next week.
 
Well the auto electrician came and he has a little more time on his hands than he first thought so got his hands dirty instead of having a coffee. He went with my diagnosis of a failed dim dip unit and unplugged it from the circuit. Problem solved!

Unlike many other cars where the dim dip unit prevents correct operation of the lighting circuit, it appears not to matter with the Defender. At nearly £70 for a new unit, my Defender will be sans dim dipped headlights. So if your dipped beam headlamps stay on regardless of ignition or light switch, you can simply unplug the dim dip unit that sits behind the speedo housing.

If anyone is after an auto electrician in the Staines/Egham area, I can recommend a thorougherly decent chap who I don't think will rip you off - he was in the area so waivered his first hours callout charge and with a chat, coffee and a quick check of the vehicle was on his way in a little over an hour. Unlike an auto electrician in the Sheperton area who got the hump the moment that I said that I had tried to diagnose the fault with a circuit diagram.
 
The dim dip circuit turns on dipped headlights when you put the side lights on and the ignition is turned on. Nothing to do with intensity of driving lights. So if you drive on dipped headlights instead of side lights only, then there is no use of the dim dip circuit.
 
ah ok i think i understand now. best i have a spliff after all that dim dip dim sun and dippy dee do dah!
 
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