Fuse for Ambient Lighting

[sharma]

Hi

First timer on this forum so hopefully I am making sense

I have a GC 600 and the Ambient Lighting in the rear cabinets requires changing (a long story for a different day). VW is quoting a whopping £1400 (approx) for just the part. Would anyone know if a 3rd party fit can be done and where the fuse is? I have looked under the bed in the cabinet and removed all the fuses and none of these. I did look at a thread on this forum and still can't locate

Many thanks in advance

 

[GordonH]

That is just crazy!

That ambients run off a 12:24 DC-DC converter in the utility cupboard (to access that you need to unscrew the boxed in bit below the consumer unit)

Fuse is SJ7 for that device.

 

[sharma]

Hi

First timer on this forum so hopefully I am making sense

I have a GC 600 and the Ambient Lighting in the rear cabinets requires changing (a long story for a different day). VW is quoting a whopping £1400 (approx) for just the part. Would anyone know if a 3rd party fit can be done and where the fuse is? I have looked under the bed in the cabinet and removed all the fuses and none of these. I did look at a thread on this forum and still can't locate

Many thanks in advance

Thank you very much, Gordon

 

[GordonH]

Do you know what's wrong with it?

The DC-DC bit is a bog standard Victron unit.
The RGB controller seems to be a VW device.
I doubt the LED strip is VW specific but the only way to determine that would be to take it off and have a closer look.

Some screenshots that may help attached.

 

[sharma]

Do you know what's wrong with it?

The DC-DC bit is a bog standard Victron unit.
The RGB controller seems to be a VW device.
I doubt the LED strip is VW specific but the only way to determine that would be to take it off and have a closer look.

Some screenshots that may help attached.

View attachment 115937View attachment 115938

Hi Gordon

The ambient strip was cut during the installation of an awning by a VW dealership (they had to remove the cupboards). As I had the work done in Germany (during my travels) not a lot I could do

The attached screenshot is what I have, there is a flow of current to each wire (tested with a meter). I have tried to adapt a 12V DC LED home strip and attach but there are no lights showing. When I switch it on/off the switch I do hear the relay make a noise. All other lights work

I am due to travel to Europe in the next few months and wondering if it is worthwhile having it repaired by a VW dealership (assuming the parts are cheaper)

Thank you in advance

 

[GordonH]

Hi Gordon

The ambient strip was cut during the installation of an awning by a VW dealership (they had to remove the cupboards). As I had the work done in Germany (during my travels) not a lot I could do

The attached screenshot is what I have, there is a flow of current to each wire (tested with a meter). I have tried to adapt a 12V DC LED home strip and attach but there are no lights showing. When I switch it on/off the switch I do hear the relay make a noise. All other lights work

I am due to travel to Europe in the next few months and wondering if it is worthwhile having it repaired by a VW dealership (assuming the parts are cheaper)

Thank you in advance

I can’t see any screenshot ?

 

[sharma]

Apologies

View attachment IMG_5241.jpeg

 

[GordonH]

Apologies

View attachment 115940

So that looks like the RGB wiring and a common. Does it go to the controller of the LED strip? Given the PSU is 24V I would imagine it will be up to 24V appearing on each of those wires depending on colour choice, are you getting 24V on the red when you select red? (24V between the red wire and the white wire?)

 

[sharma]

Hi Gordon.

This is the reading on my meter. Unfortunately it doesn’t allow me to change the setting.

View attachment IMG_5247.jpeg

 

[GordonH]

You are looking at the circuit impedance not the voltage. Move the selection on the multimeter to the Vdc (V with the solid and dotted line beside it) and measure between the red wire and white wire. Switch the red ambient On and Off and you should see 24V when On. Same with Blue and same with Green. I would guess the Yellow is red and green both on. If you are getting correct voltages then the control & PSU are OK, if not then you need to check the 12:24 converter (blue Victron box) is giving out 24Vdc, if not check fuses.

 

[sharma]

HI Gordon

Red and white 24 V. Blue and Green 0 (not sure what this means)
I will check after work 12:24 converter and change the fuse

Thank you for your help

 

[GordonH]

If you are getting 24V when you have selected the red light between the red wire and white wire that is a good sign, there should be 0V on the blue and green when red light is selected so that is also correct. Try selecting the green light and then check if you have 24V between the green and white and then select the blue light and check you have 24V between the blue and white. If all that checks then the control and power supply are OK and all you need is a 24Vdc rated RGB LED strip.

 

[sharma]

Hi Gordon

What you said has worked and thank you. Certainly, I was lost and you did help me a lot
I'm out shopping for the replacement and once again thank you

As a last mention, I thoroughly enjoyed my 600, traveled throughout Europe, and apart from the usual, that is easy enough to replace it has been great. I have Starlink which is super and was wondering if I plug in an AC converter into the cigarette-shaped power points and keep it running 24 hours a day, any thoughts with regards to safety and efficiency?

 

[GordonH]

I'm not familiar with Starlink so others may have better advice but I would imagine a dc:dc supply dedicated for Starlink would be the best approach. If there is no off the shelf solution then there are a myriad of cheap dc:ac systems but personally I would steer clear of them as the ac output stage may be a crude waveform and upset the Starlink PSU. If you want a decent quality pure sine wave output then the likes of the small lithium generators from Ecoflow/Jackery/Anker (example : https://uk.ecoflow.com/products/river-2-portable-power-station) would work. They have an internal lithium battery so can run stand alone or plugged into the vans 12Vdc which you can then keep charged from the van on the go on and/or with surplus solar. (or a portable solar panel). Do you have bigger battery setup for the GC as the single leisure battery will struggle to keep the van going much more than 36 hours without solar and in winter the solar will be minimal. Any additional load will impact that.

 

[sharma]

Hi Gordon.
Thank you.

I do have 2 eco flows that I use off grid. Never thought about using and a simple solution. I also have solar on the van and a separate for the eco that I could keep on permanently (I’m not competent enough how to wire into the vans solar)

 

[GordonH]

Using the vans solar for the ecoflow is a simple matter of plugging the ecoflow 12V input charger (the orange solar input one) into the cigarette lighter socket in the garage of the GC. The ecoflows normally come with a ‘car charger lead’ which is a cigarette lighter socket to solar XT60. Set the charge current down to 4A using the ecoflow app as those 12V socket outlets on the GC run very hot much beyond that.. The ecoflow can’t differentiate between surplus solar and just charging from the leisure battery so its not worth doing unless you are running the engine or its a sunny summers day when the leisure battery will be fully charged quite quickly by the solar and then there will be surplus.

 

[sharma]

Thank you Gordon. You are right. Little point in running of the eco solar when I can plug into the GC.

Ordered the LED, £15. A huge saving from £1400.

 

[GordonH]

Thank you Gordon. You are right. Little point in running of the eco solar when I can plug into the GC.

Ordered the LED, £15. A huge saving from £1400.

Good luck with the re-fit. Interested to know how you get on as damage to the LED strip seems to be quite common when the dealers replace the cupboards.