Today was my lucky day
- Thread starter Deaky
- Start date
what happened? . . whats the loom from?
Redarc?
glad you ( and van? ) are ok
Redarc?
glad you ( and van? ) are ok
Or holding a bag of frozen peas!
Maybe it was the electric underfloor heating wot dun it!!!
Sorry guys I’ve been busy. So…. here's what I think has happened,
When I first got the van I fitted two strips of LED's down the side bars spliced into the step light circuit at the bottom of the B pillar. I used the IP65 stuff that's got a plastic dome covering over it. It all worked fine until I got to the first winter. Salty water on the roads and a permanently live courtesy circuit (remember it's switched on the -ve side), meant that a small electric current could flow through the salty water to the body of the van. This dissolved the solider joints and the copper PCB in the led strip.
So take 2, I got the same strip but encased it in clear heat shrink tube. I also added a switch on the B pillar so I could turn the puddle lights off when camping etc. Next winter these failed too. The little scrape I could hear going on and off my drive was the lights on the bottom of the side bars. This soon damaged the casing allowing salty water to get in and eat away the LED's again.
Take 3. I fitted two rows of L shaped aluminium to the side of the side bars and brought new LED strips, this time the IP67 rated ones that are encased in a silicone tube. All was good, the lights were slightly higher than the bottom of the side bars now and I thought I'd cracked it. But I hadn't. The ends of the LED tape where the wires go in had failed and I also think I'd cable tied the tapes on too tightly damaging the silicone tube in places.
Take 4 IP67 rated again but this time I've put the ends of the tape inside the side bars so they're not exposed to the elements and they are cable tied on loosely. It's all been working fine for a few months.
Yesterday I was mountain biking with a few mates. We'd got back to the vans and was stood chatting, with the doors open.... after a few minutes my mate said Deaks, why's your van full of smoke
It was coming out of the B pillar. All the courtesy lights were still on. I turned the cab light off, fumbled with my phone and disabled the leisure battery output, tried to pull the covers off the B pillar but you cant with the seat belts in place, and then, the courtesy light circuit timed out. The step lights and puddle lights went off and the smoke stopped.
I drove home and made sure I shut the doors and locked the van quickly to shut the courtesy circuit down.
I've stripped it out today. The wires you can see are to the switch I'd put into the B pillar to turn off the puddle lights. I'd used that 4 core flat ribbon cable that you can get for LED strips. 2 cores for the puddle lights and 2 cores for the LED in the switch. On closer inspection of the puddle lights outside I noticed a soldered joint in the cable ( I can't remember why it's there) had broken down and was shorting out. This, and maybe the new lights draw more power than the old ones, plus the LED ribbon cable is obviously not heavy enough and me leaving the doors open for a long time has caused the LED cable to over heat and melt it's plastic covering.
I've had one hell of a lucky escape.
When I first got the van I fitted two strips of LED's down the side bars spliced into the step light circuit at the bottom of the B pillar. I used the IP65 stuff that's got a plastic dome covering over it. It all worked fine until I got to the first winter. Salty water on the roads and a permanently live courtesy circuit (remember it's switched on the -ve side), meant that a small electric current could flow through the salty water to the body of the van. This dissolved the solider joints and the copper PCB in the led strip.
So take 2, I got the same strip but encased it in clear heat shrink tube. I also added a switch on the B pillar so I could turn the puddle lights off when camping etc. Next winter these failed too. The little scrape I could hear going on and off my drive was the lights on the bottom of the side bars. This soon damaged the casing allowing salty water to get in and eat away the LED's again.
Take 3. I fitted two rows of L shaped aluminium to the side of the side bars and brought new LED strips, this time the IP67 rated ones that are encased in a silicone tube. All was good, the lights were slightly higher than the bottom of the side bars now and I thought I'd cracked it. But I hadn't. The ends of the LED tape where the wires go in had failed and I also think I'd cable tied the tapes on too tightly damaging the silicone tube in places.
Take 4 IP67 rated again but this time I've put the ends of the tape inside the side bars so they're not exposed to the elements and they are cable tied on loosely. It's all been working fine for a few months.
Yesterday I was mountain biking with a few mates. We'd got back to the vans and was stood chatting, with the doors open.... after a few minutes my mate said Deaks, why's your van full of smoke
It was coming out of the B pillar. All the courtesy lights were still on. I turned the cab light off, fumbled with my phone and disabled the leisure battery output, tried to pull the covers off the B pillar but you cant with the seat belts in place, and then, the courtesy light circuit timed out. The step lights and puddle lights went off and the smoke stopped.
I drove home and made sure I shut the doors and locked the van quickly to shut the courtesy circuit down.
I've stripped it out today. The wires you can see are to the switch I'd put into the B pillar to turn off the puddle lights. I'd used that 4 core flat ribbon cable that you can get for LED strips. 2 cores for the puddle lights and 2 cores for the LED in the switch. On closer inspection of the puddle lights outside I noticed a soldered joint in the cable ( I can't remember why it's there) had broken down and was shorting out. This, and maybe the new lights draw more power than the old ones, plus the LED ribbon cable is obviously not heavy enough and me leaving the doors open for a long time has caused the LED cable to over heat and melt it's plastic covering.
I've had one hell of a lucky escape.
Glad you're safe and that damage to the van is limited to the single loom.Sorry guys I’ve been busy. So…. here's what I think has happened,
When I first got the van I fitted two strips of LED's down the side bars spliced into the step light circuit at the bottom of the B pillar. I used the IP65 stuff that's got a plastic dome covering over it. It all worked fine until I got to the first winter. Salty water on the roads and a permanently live courtesy circuit (remember it's switched on the -ve side), meant that a small electric current could flow through the salty water to the body of the van. This dissolved the solider joints and the copper PCB in the led strip.
So take 2, I got the same strip but encased it in clear heat shrink tube. I also added a switch on the B pillar so I could turn the puddle lights off when camping etc. Next winter these failed too. The little scrape I could hear going on and off my drive was the lights on the bottom of the side bars. This soon damaged the casing allowing salty water to get in and eat away the LED's again.
Take 3. I fitted two rows of L shaped aluminium to the side of the side bars and brought new LED strips, this time the IP67 rated ones that are encased in a silicone tube. All was good, the lights were slightly higher than the bottom of the side bars now and I thought I'd cracked it. But I hadn't. The ends of the LED tape where the wires go in had failed and I also think I'd cable tied the tapes on too tightly damaging the silicone tube in places.
Take 4 IP67 rated again but this time I've put the ends of the tape inside the side bars so they're not exposed to the elements and they are cable tied on loosely. It's all been working fine for a few months.
Yesterday I was mountain biking with a few mates. We'd got back to the vans and was stood chatting, with the doors open.... after a few minutes my mate said Deaks, why's your van full of smoke
It was coming out of the B pillar. All the courtesy lights were still on. I turned the cab light off, fumbled with my phone and disabled the leisure battery output, tried to pull the covers off the B pillar but you cant with the seat belts in place, and then, the courtesy light circuit timed out. The step lights and puddle lights went off and the smoke stopped.
I drove home and made sure I shut the doors and locked the van quickly to shut the courtesy circuit down.
I've stripped it out today. The wires you can see are to the switch I'd put into the B pillar to turn off the puddle lights. I'd used that 4 core flat ribbon cable that you can get for LED strips. 2 cores for the puddle lights and 2 cores for the LED in the switch. On closer inspection of the puddle lights outside I noticed a soldered joint in the cable ( I can't remember why it's there) had broken down and was shorting out. This, and maybe the new lights draw more power than the old ones, plus the LED ribbon cable is obviously not heavy enough and me leaving the doors open for a long time has caused the LED cable to over heat and melt it's plastic covering.
I've had one hell of a lucky escape.
View attachment 138435
Man .... salty water is an absolute killer!
Glad you had that lucky escape
Umm, I'm not a fan of van fires. Whats the answer Deaky
Get a Transit, torch it and increase the value of it?!!Get a Transit? Doesn't matter then...
EDIT; Glad you and the van are ok Deaky!
