I know we aree Eribaless at the moment BUT I'm guessing some of you drive newer vehicles with "automatic lighting" headlights? Well you may be surprised to know thhat often these only illuminate the front headliights and nothing else! So when travelling in inclement conditiions you will not be displaying rear lights! There is a simple solution however move the light switch to the fully on position (which I'm sure you know it's location without looking at the manual)

So my question really is "when travelling on auto lighting" does your on board computer recognise the caravan is attached and therefore illuminate it correctly? Just thought I'd bring it up as I see so many cars travelling with front lights on only, no rears! Next time your out and about take a look, you'll see

With the lights set on the 'Auto' position the caravan lights - side, rear and front - illuminate whenever the towing vehicles sensor detects low light levels e.g. tunnels, night time and even when hooking up in the relatively low light levels of our vans storage facility etc. What the sensor is not very good at detecting is foggy/misty conditions where, because of the outside brightness, the sensor still thinks it's daytime.
The above relates to my previously owned VW Touran of course as the Mazda has not been used for towing at this time.

Never used the autosetting and not likely to

Quote: Pepé Le Pew wrote in post #3

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Headlights-only (i.e. no tail lights or anything else) are DRLs - Daytime Running Lights.

I don't really understand why DRLs are headlight-only.

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Trouble with 'all lights on' in daylight sometimes makes 'brake lights' less obvious ! IMHO if you can't see a vehicle on the road in daylight - you shouldn't be on it yourself ! We don't live and drive in a Scandinavian country where darkness rules ! My car has LED running lights, but I can't find a way of turning them off :(

Quote: Pepé Le Pew wrote in post #3

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If the car has automatic lights-on (which is a different thing to headlights-only) a sensor detects when the ambient light drops below a certain level and turns the tail lights and number plate lights on as well as the headlights. In other words, it saves drivers the herculean effort involved in turning a knob on the dashboard when it starts to get dark or when conditions are poor.

Some might argue that if you can't recognise when you need to turn your lights on you shouldn't be allowed to drive at all, but I couldn't possibly comment.

Though I do agree.

Headlights-only (i.e. no tail lights or anything else) are DRLs - Daytime Running Lights. To the best of my knowledge all new cars have these fitted as standard, and this has been the case for a little while. DRLs can be disabled in a dash menu or turned off with a knob if you don't want them on all the time.

Just because your car has them it doesn't mean you have to use them. Not yet, at least.

I don't really understand why DRLs are headlight-only. If a car's default is to have the DRLs on whenever it's fired up - as some are - then it would make more sense for all the lights to come on like they do (or used to do) in Scandinavian countries.

At least that way all the muppets who can't tell when its dark or gloomy or foggy or raining would be driving round with all their lights on by default, which has to be a Good Thing.

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We always drive with lights on, sidelights if daylight in good visibility or dipped headlights at other times, this enables us to ensure that the caravan lights,brakelights and indicators are still in sync with the towcar. We had a problem last month after leaving CCC Bellingham with what turned out to be a loose connection in the caravan connector we noticed on checking the side mirrors that the upper side lights on Marmite were winking so we had to find a safe place to stop and do some mechanicing (I say we I mean HWPTB)

Denise

I think I remember Honest John saying that DRLs are supposed to go off when headlights are on?

The problem really is people using DRL despite the conditions!! I had just come back from Bristol when I started this thread, we saw countless cars with only FRONT liiights on no rears! Despite the atrocious driving conditions, I think they forget they also have a multi position light switch!! And to be honest I still don't know if that's why you see so manny caravanns without lights on, yet when you overtake the tow vehicle has heeadlights on, so I'm guessing the electronic wizardry does'nt know the caravan is connected OR if it that it needs lights on because someone does'nt know their vehicle controls in this case a simple to turn light switch i normally reserve those when I seldom mention another inferior place

Think my auto lights turn all the lights on, certainly if I unlock it in low light or after dark all the %**£** lights come on including the interior ones wasting the battery until I open the door and turn them off and there is nowhere in the software controls to turn the feature off either.

Most of this, then - in my opinion, at any rate - goes to say that automatic daylight running lights are a retrograde step. At best, they're a mixed blessing: yes, they mean that unless you can find an override switch you'll have lights on at the front all the time; but equally they take away the responsibility from the driver for making sure his vehicle and whatever he might happen to be towing are properly illuminated for his present context.

Both of us light up when it's poor visibility