Towbar or adaptor fault ? RESOLVED

[Sackmycook]

Way down in the blazing desert that is the south of France today in my T-Cross. I have a bike carrier plugged into an aftermarket towbar and electrics. The towbar is 7 pin and the cycle carrier is 13, married together by way of a 13-7 adaptor.
Everything has been working fine, but today notoiced no beeping when indicating and no sign of life on the lightboard from any braking, indcating etc.

I'm thinking either adaptor has died or fuse blown on the towbar electrics.

Am i right in thinking I can test the towbar electrics with a mulitmeter or similar ?
I have no idea where the fuse is for the towbar electrics, I'm guessing somewhere it the boot hidden with the bleeper ?

The cars rear lights seem fine

anything i've missed?

 

[Bargy62]

I towed trailers day in day out for 8 years most common problem for things not working was always a dodgy earth or corrosion in the socket

 

[Sackmycook]

No corrosion and dry as a bone. Connections look clean. Going to go and see if there is an obvious fuse by the battery

 

[Sackmycook]

Found the culprit......15a towbar fuse, located on a piggyback arrangement in fusebox under steering wheel.

Of all the 20+ years of going to France twice a year with my little Halfrauds spare bulb and fusekit, I finally get to use it.

 

[Bargy62]

@Sackmycook did you find what caused the fuse to blow and what does it protect just asking out of curiosity

 

[Sackmycook]

No, although it's really hot out here, don't know if that might be a factor ? It's for the towbar electric socket, not VW just aftermarket universal electrics....

Although i know one of the indicators on the cycle rack can be temperamental and need a Clarkson like fix occasionally

 

[Sackmycook]

So, I've blown 4 x 15 amp fuses and after trying a 20 amp one, that popped after a few miles too. I've popped in a 30a one which seems to be holding out but am.a bit anxious if that's potentially putting anything else at risk ?

 

[Bargy62]

So, I've blown 4 x 15 amp fuses and after trying a 20 amp one, that popped after a few miles too. I've popped in a 30a one which seems to be holding out but am.a bit anxious if that's potentially putting anything else at risk ?

without knowing what the correct size fuse should be i would say its a bit risky, if it should be 15a and it blows because there's a fault and a30a dont blown is the wiring going to melt instead you need to know the correct fuse size to use and sort the fault

 

[manfrotto]

So, I've blown 4 x 15 amp fuses and after trying a 20 amp one, that popped after a few miles too. I've popped in a 30a one which seems to be holding out but am.a bit anxious if that's potentially putting anything else at risk ?

As Bargy says, it is pretty risky putting in a 30 amp fuse. As you only have a light board for a bike carrier it wont need much power, so suspect an intermittent short in the wiring somewhere (wire rubbing through insulatio) , or fault in the trailer control unit.

 

[Sackmycook]

Fault was with the left hand light cluster; one of the connectors was off and flapping about so reconnected it and things seemed fine. However, I noticed the lens was cracked allowing water in and some of the other connectors looked a bit dodgy.
So, I've dispensed with the light clusters and all electrics and going to utilise a trailer tail board I've had in the garage doing nothing. Won't fix it permanently to the bike rack, just cable tie it when needed