# Converting Lights To UK Standard



## G2EWS (May 1, 2006)

Hi fellow RV owners.

You may have read my headlight upgrade thread where I mentioned the rear lights had not been converted for UK use.

The story is that with both an MOT and DVLA inspection it seems to have been missed that the rear lights where still wired for USA system. The brake lights where also the indicators and red!

I had totally missed this when I bought the Winnie and only found out when upgrading to led rear lights and found the wiring loom to be one wire short.

It was a straightforward task to change. I located the wiring for the brake lights on the brake pedal. Three plugs and took them out in turn until the brake lights did not work. Confirmed that the indicators still work.

The plug I removed had a 12V +ve feed and the return which would have gone into the wiring loom. Cut into the return and put an in line fuse then took to the rear of the vehicle via the existing cabling route.

Wired up and hey presto I now fully UK compliant rear lights!

How did the DVLA miss that then? Needless to say I will not mention it as we do not want them to get too stringent!

I may phone up the people who supposedly did the first MOT when it is due. Be interesting if they say they cannot do it because it is too big!

I am beginning to feel that the UK conversion is a straightforward job all round! You may recall that with Linda's help I replaced the charger under the fridge freezer and in doing so found the 110V - 240V conversion to be very poor. Re wired all of this and have installed one 240V double earth leakage socket. I cannot see that having any more is necessary. You will find that most power supplies for your mobiles phones and laptops are switch mode supplies. This means they can take a varying input supply of about 85 - 260 VAC.

So I have a bank of sockets in the bedroom for the three mobiles and two blue tooth headsets all of which have switch mode supplies.

Regards

Chris


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## 97993 (Mar 5, 2006)

Re DVLA inspection ,if your refering to the import inspection were they want to know A is it what you say it is and B is it legal size wise then they do have a very one track mind (system) and that is all they were interested in ,*even if you had no lights I doubt a comment from them *would have been forth coming
Now as for the MOT test, naughty boys, this was well within their remit to test and find the non UK compliant lights 
If you do return there take a buiscuit for his Guide dog :lol: 
Geo


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## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

Chris

If you have used UK style 3 pin sockets and connect them to a 110V supply your vehicle doesn't meet the 16th edition wiring regulations (BS 7671) but whether this constitutes a minor misdemeanor or a major safety violation i'll let others decide just don't plug anything other than a switch mode supply into it and certainly no motors.

Regards Frank


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## 88927 (May 10, 2005)

Very good point Frank........
I think Chris meant that the sockets he will be using are the standard 110 Volt American type (I hope so anyway....) because he did say that "have installed one 240V double earth leakage socket. I cannot see that having any more is necessary", so hopefully that is the case.

Keith


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## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

kands said:


> Very good point Frank........
> I think Chris meant that the sockets he will be using are the standard 110 Volt American type (I hope so anyway....) because he did say that "have installed one 240V double earth leakage socket. I cannot see that having any more is necessary", so hopefully that is the case.
> 
> Keith


I did wonder but there again where has he bought his plug in equipment from most of mine has a uk plug moulding -conjecture anyway he'll be along soon I expect

regards Frank


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## G2EWS (May 1, 2006)

Hi Frank and Keith,

For the purpose of the switch mode power supplies I use the standard US to UK converter plug which converts the US pins to UK pins.

Hi Geo,

Imagine that! The DVLA are not interested in the lights! Oh well that's the UK for you I suppose.

Confess I have one job left to do. The front side lights are also the indicators and are orange. It will take a little longer to work out the change but I will get my head around it in the next week or so.

I will be looking to find a simple change similar to the one with the rear lights. It is obviously made a little more complicated as the 'indicators' are on when the side lights are on. I am hoping I can find a way of not going into the main fuse and relay panel. It always concerns me if you mess with these as they can be tempermental at the best of times.

It could be that I will have to take two new cables, one for the side lights which can come from the rear and one for the indicators which can also come from the rear.

Regards

Chris


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## LC1962 (Oct 6, 2005)

Hi Chris

If it helps you, give James a call next week - he converted an identical vehicle no too long ago so could give you some tips.

Regards
Linda


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