Apologies if this is in the wrong section - this is my first traumatic RR experience!

I have just had a repair done to the fridge in my caravan which involved fitting a new power board. I plugged the grey tow lead in today to check it was working ok, left it for a few minutes with the engine running, then disconnected. Shortly after I noticed a burning smell but assumed as I was outside there was a fire somewhere nearby. Unfortunately I was right but the fire was the back of my RR. I popped back outside the van and noticed smoke coming from the back of the car. Instant panic then I realized it was "just" coming from the tow socket. I lifted the flap and it was a bit melted inside.

I was then expecting the car not to start but luckily everything seemed ok. I am going to get the towing electrics checked out during the week but wondered if anybody else had any similar problem before. I did plug the caravan in once before when I got the car and everything was ok but the fridge was not working then.

Thanks in advance.

My gut feeling is the fridge is at fault and it may be the cause of the power board failing the first time. Howard
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2002 4.4 V8 LPG Tartarini
Have RSW AllComms in Cheshire J17 M6 - happy to help.
*Gone: Classic Vogue SE Auto V8 3.9

I've done a bit of googling and it seems this is quite a common fault caused by a change in wiring specification leading to an overload. It is also sometimes caused by the plug being loose in the socket causing the centre pin to arc. Looking at my plug part of the outer ring is missing so maybe it has been moving and the centre pin has closed up a little. Maybe because the fridge was drawing power last time it didn't have any impact.

I'm going to get the car wiring checked out and get a new socket then fit a new plug on the caravan. There is also a quick fix by adding an extra wire to one of the pins so the load is shared.

Just a thought. If you still have the older twin 7-pin sockets this is a known problem with the fridge overloading the earth return pins in the 7S (grey) socket. It does depend on the model of fridge and it's the older ones which seem to be more power hungry. It's worth making the change to the 13 pin Jaeger plug and socket if you haven't already.

Yes, I'm still on the 7pin sockets, is it just a case of wiring the original cables into a new socket and plug?

Yes, sort of. Not sure what year your car is but Land Rover supply replacement short looms for all years. It's plug in and takes about 10 minutes to change. Not worth cutting/soldering really since a decent quality 13 pin socket costs 15 quid on its own. I think I paid about 50 quid for the genuine item from LR themselves.

Mines a 2007, I'll look for a price. If it's that easy I'll look at it myself, I was going to take it to the local auto elec.

Simply send Dan @ Duckworths a PM with your VIN and then change the loom over to the later type No need to change the ECU as they are the same sir

Keith,
There may be a fault in the way its wired although I think Towbar was fitted from new. The reason I'm thinking that is the green icon on the dash is lit all the time anything is connected and in fact does say "check trailer lights" when starting and stopping I thought this was normal for the three years I had the car , however when I fitted a towbar to my new car the icon just flashes when the indicators are on - this is in fact normal behaviour for all models as I subsequently found out.

I never had a problem because all I ever connected was the light board from my bike rack and occasionally the C-tek to the white socket to trickle the battery.
Geoff Geoff

Thanks Geoff and Craig,

I haven't tried the black plug for lights etc as I only wanted to see if the fridge worked. If it's a plug in harness can it be wired wrong?

I'll get a price off Dan for a new 13pin harness before I do anything else.

The plug is polarised so it can't be fitted incorrectly.

supershuttle wrote:

Keith,
There may be a fault in the way its wired although I think Towbar was fitted from new. The reason I'm thinking that is the green icon on the dash is lit all the time anything is connected and in fact does say "check trailer lights" when starting and stopping I thought this was normal for the three years I had the car , however when I fitted a towbar to my new car the icon just flashes when the indicators are on - this is in fact normal behaviour for all models as I subsequently found out.

I never had a problem because all I ever connected was the light board from my bike rack and occasionally the C-tek to the white socket to trickle the battery.
Geoff

Geoff, the green trailer symbol stays illuminated (when plugged in) on all 2006-09 TDV8's i believe my friend... Certainly does on my car too sir

Yep, my 2007 was like that. On my 2010 they've gone back to a tracer flash and it doesn't seem to pick up a duff bulb on the trailer either whereas the 2007 did detect a failed bulb on the trailer.

That's good news as I said it was fitted from new by the original owner, when I fitted mine recently the consensus was that flashing was normal - thanks to all Geoff

+1 for swapping to 13 pin, get the gen electrics kit, and swap the 2 plugs over to a 13 pin one on the caravan, there are plenty of wiring diagrams on the net of the correct way to do it, check the wiring layout of the van as they changed mid 1990's then simply transpose the 12n and 12s into the 13 pin. Have done it a couple of times and though fiddly, is fairly logical.

There are a few plugs available on ebay with a grommet to take both 12n and 12s cables so you don't have to rewire the van with 13 core flex.

Ebay item no eBay Item No. 131311741926 for example. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
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