THULE BIKE RACK LIGHTS ISSUE

[117]

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

[DieselnDust]

  On 5/8/2023 at 7:50 AM, 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.

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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]

  On 5/8/2023 at 7:59 AM, 117 said:

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

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

[The Ouzo]

  On 5/8/2023 at 9:46 AM, 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 

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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]

  On 5/8/2023 at 10:19 AM, 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.

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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]

  On 5/8/2023 at 9:46 AM, DieselnDust said:

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

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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]

  On 5/8/2023 at 2:27 PM, 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. 

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What year model is your wife's Tiguan?

[Meg85]

  On 5/9/2023 at 8:03 AM, OVERDRIVE said:

@Meg85 are you sorted? 

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Car is in today. 

Hoping and wishing this is not a costly fix  

[PhilipV]

  On 5/9/2023 at 8:14 AM, Meg85 said:

What year model is your wife's Tiguan?

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

[OVERDRIVE]

  On 5/9/2023 at 8:15 AM, Meg85 said:

Car is in today. 

Hoping and wishing this is not a costly fix  

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Hope so too! Wishing you the best. 

[Meg85]

  On 5/9/2023 at 9:26 AM, OVERDRIVE said:

Hope so too! Wishing you the best. 

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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]

  On 5/9/2023 at 12:33 PM, 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! 

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

[TheoG]

  On 5/9/2023 at 12:33 PM, 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! 

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