Quote: Steve and Debbie wrote in post #2
Quote: Ray Lawrence wrote in post #1
only comes live when the towcar is connected
Does that mean you can't use your interior light without a hookup ?
No, quite the opposite.
My 2007 Triton had the awning light wired off the first fuse position of the BIP. This position is only live when on electric hookup, thus you cannot possible have the awning light on whilst travelling. This was no good for me as I rarely have EHU unless forced to. I moved the supply for the awning light to a spare connection off the 3rd fuse position which is live all the time from the leisure battery. This solution could conceivably (however unlikely) result in breaking the law by showing a white light to the rear whilst on the move. As it happens, my awning light lens does not allow this to happen anyway.
My solution was to wire the permanent live to the awning light through a normally closed relay. That means the supply is allowed to run through the relay when it is not powered by any other means. The energising coil of the relay was connected to the supply that comes from the tow car when connected to power the fridge and charge the leisure battery whilst on the move. Thus, when the towcar was connected up, the relay was energised thus disconnecting the supply to the awning light. Since this relay was a changeover type, there is a spare contact which has the opposite effect to the awning light, ie it is only live when the tow car is connected. This is the type of supply that one needs to stop and start a dashcam automatically.
It sounds complicated but is really very simple to anybody with basic electrical switching knowledge... Not wishing to be patronising to the qualified electricians out there or to the persons that would sooner eat school semolina rather than touch electrics