THULE BIKE RACK LIGHTS ISSUE

[117]

Becareful you don't void the towbar warranty by going to the car agents

[DieselnDust]

1 hour ago, The Ouzo said:

LED and incandescent bulbs dont play nice together on the same circuit, my guess is that you'll need to upgrade the racks lights to LED.

Why don’t they play nicely together? Input voltage is the same. The LED is fed via a regulating circuit that ensures input voltage is correct 

[Meg85]

2 hours ago, 117 said:

Becareful you don't void the towbar warranty by going to the car agents

Well im pretty sure when I take it for a service again, they will note a towbar fitted - not by VW.

[The Ouzo]

29 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

Why don’t they play nicely together? Input voltage is the same. The LED is fed via a regulating circuit that ensures input voltage is correct 

I'm not sure of the reasons, never been down that road to find out. But I suspect something to do with measuring the load of the circuit or how it diagnoses issues. 

I know on my wifes not so modern car (2010 vintage) that does not yet use LEDs, it can tell me when a globe is out on my trailer.

[DieselnDust]

1 hour ago, The Ouzo said:

I'm not sure of the reasons, never been down that road to find out. But I suspect something to do with measuring the load of the circuit or how it diagnoses issues. 

I know on my wifes not so modern car (2010 vintage) that does not yet use LEDs, it can tell me when a globe is out on my trailer.

Yeah do my 2005 Golf V did the same. It could diagnose any bulb in the circuit linked to the tow bar loom or the rest of the car. A colleagues Tiguan. Similar  vintage (2007) fitted with non approved generic tow bar wiring loom would just shut the whole tow bar circuit off if a bulb popped. Sometimes it pops the tow bar fuse. So there was a clear difference there with the VW supplied wiring vs the generic.

so I don’t think it’s so much about the voltages alone but more about how the flows are isolated through the relays (?) or not?  e.g. with a generic loom there will be an overall voltage increase when you take a resistor out of the circuit. 

[Pieter-za]

Some camping friends fixed a similar issues by wiring a resistor into the trailer's plug wiring  - but yeah I won't recommend it.  

[Pieter-za]

2 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

Why don’t they play nicely together? Input voltage is the same.

Probably a resistance issue.

[PhilipV]

Weird. My wife’s Tiguan has no issues with any of my trailers or the bike rack, and that is a mishmash of led and old school bulbs. My bet is that it’s the tow bar’s wiring harness. Hopefully it’s an easy fix. And not too heavy on the wallet. 

[OVERDRIVE]

@Meg85 are you sorted? 

[Meg85]

17 hours ago, PhilipV said:

Weird. My wife’s Tiguan has no issues with any of my trailers or the bike rack, and that is a mishmash of led and old school bulbs. My bet is that it’s the tow bar’s wiring harness. Hopefully it’s an easy fix. And not too heavy on the wallet. 

What year model is your wife's Tiguan?

[Meg85]

11 minutes ago, OVERDRIVE said:

@Meg85 are you sorted? 

Car is in today. 

Hoping and wishing this is not a costly fix  

[PhilipV]

17 minutes ago, Meg85 said:

What year model is your wife's Tiguan?

I stand corrected, but I'm sure it's a 2019 model. 

[OVERDRIVE]

4 minutes ago, Meg85 said:

Car is in today. 

Hoping and wishing this is not a costly fix  

Hope so too! Wishing you the best. 

[Meg85]

3 hours ago, OVERDRIVE said:

Hope so too! Wishing you the best. 

After all that, VW says they cant fix it and I must go back to the place that installed the tow bar 😐

This is madness! 

[DieselnDust]

4 minutes ago, Meg85 said:

After all that, VW says they cant fix it and I must go back to the place that installed the tow bar 😐

This is madness! 

Basically it’s not their approved part (wiring harness) so they re washing their hands off of it. 

[TheoG]

41 minutes ago, Meg85 said:

After all that, VW says they cant fix it and I must go back to the place that installed the tow bar 😐

This is madness! 

Yip, get the installer to fix it or money back.