Can anyone verify expected behavior of Roadvision Combination lights?

[CharlieS]

Google and site search haven't found what I need.

I've installed my Roadvision BR200 combination lights (red, amber, and white lens) and am getting some odd behaviors that I'm troubleshooting.

Before I rip the rest of my hair out, can anyone confirm that the following is the expected behavior?

Function	Expected
Stop	Both red lights solid
Left Turn	Left amber light flashes
Right Turn	Right amber light flashes
4Way/Emergency	Both amber lights flash
Marker/Parking	Both red lights solid
Reverse	Both white lights solid

In particular, can you confirm that these are the ONLY lights expected to light up for these functions? No white LEDs with the stop light, no red LED with the turn signal, etc...

If this is wrong, can you please post corrections?

Thanks!

 

[customcruiser]

you are correct - I followed the Dissent Install guide on Mud and had no issues using the Curt 56196 converter

 

[CharlieS]

@customcruiser Awesome, thank you very much. At least I can be confident of the behavior I am looking for now.

Whatever is wrong is 100% installer (me) error.

 

[grinchy]

I think the hazard flash will get you red flashes on the stop light, not yellow flashes on the turn lights. Anything that is on the turn signals as the same time is interpreted as a stop signal by the 2 -> 3 way.
Another example of this is the arm/disarm blink from the alarm system, which will be on the yellow turn lights everywhere but the combination lights, which will light red instead.

 

[radman]

yep. it should all work as you'd expect. @tbisaacs's wiring diagram is on the last page of the updated instructions

Dissent Front/Rear Bumper install instructions (LX)

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[linuxgod]

Which pattern(s) are wrong?

You should not have yellow turn signals light up with red brake lights, and the white reverse should not light up for anything except reverse. I know the first will happen when you don't use the 2-3 converter and just use the trailer plug, so it's possible your 2-3 converter is bad, though the white reverse does not go through the converter so if that is lighting up it tells me something else is wrong.

I installed mine yesterday. Left turn (yellow) worked by itself. Right turn (yellow) worked by itself. Tail lights worked (moderate brightness, did NOT light up the turn signals). Brake lights worked (I had to jam a pair of pliers against the brake pedal since I was by myself) and only lit the brake light part brightly. I did not test reverse as I was by myself, but I previously put a 9V battery on the pins and it lit up so I'm pretty confident it'll work. I did not test the hazard lights but as @grinchy points out they will likely show as brake lights not turn signals since the 2-3 converter is just a relay that interprets a single brake light as a turn but both as brake function.

This is the wiring diagram I created when I did mine. Charlie I know you have it but I'm attaching it for reference for others helping to troubleshoot. For those who care I used a DT4 in place of those two DT2's, and then I used a extra DT2 to separate the Yellow/Green wire just for easy disconnect since I put my Curt 2-3 in the jack storage compartment.

BTW my hunch is that your DT6 pins are backwards. It's just a hunch but if you're getting reverse lights with any function aside from reverse (and especially if it doesn't work in reverse) that implies the wrong pins are getting power. Remember on one side of the DT is 123-456 but the other side is 456-123. That said knowing precisely which lights come on for each function would be helpful

 

[CharlieS]

Here's where I'm at with my troubleshooting:

 

[linuxgod]

I think one (or more/all?) of your DT6 wires are swapped. Ground is going to the reverse lights, which do eventually complete the ground when it gets flipped back. Her'es my thought pattern, try to follow (and let me know if it doesn't make sense)

DT6 plugs swap which side pings 1,2,3 are on, depending on whether it's male or female. The pin numbers are stamped on the housing. I can't recall which is male vs female but essentially the pins go:

MALE
1 4
2 5
3 6

FEMALE
4 1
5 2
6 3

When you plug the two halves into each other, they will match up 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, etc. But if when you wired them you always put pin #1 on the top left, then you end up with 1-4, 2-5, 3-6. I'd put the cost of a decent beer on this being the crux of your problem. The first time I put DT's together I *almost* did the same thing, until I noticed the numbers were stamped swapped on one of the connectors.

Ground from the trailer harness should go through pin 1 on the first DT6, then into pin1 on the two individual lights. If one end of your DT6 is swapped, then ground is going to pin 4, which flows to the reverse lights in the diagram. So long as the wiring allows an eventual path to ground, some series of lights in the path will come on until ground is found.

Note the above is my hunch because pins 1 and 4 are always ground and reverse in the above. Now what I don't know is what the behavior would be if only one vs two or all 3 of the DT6 connectors was swapped. If you know all 3 are wrong then it's an easy fix - just swap the pins on one side of each set of connectors. OTOH if you think you did it right then you'll either need to double check the wiring colors align like you think they should, or worst case break out a multimeter and test between ground and each hot pin to see if you're getting 12V where you think you should. (Also note that if you disconnect the first DT6 you can continuity-test each of the pins in the light-side wiring harness - in theory you should never get continuity between any pairs of pins except ground so if you get continuity between reverse and brake or something then you know the wires are swapped in one of the light-side DT6 pairs.)

 

[CharlieS]

I have the pins in the correct connector locations.

Two (or more) wires were in contact in the harness where I used liquid electrical tape.

My assumption is that I didn't let it cure long enough before assembly, because it is much more solid now than it was when I assembled the harness. In too much of a rush that cost me more time in the long run.

Once I separated the wires, everything started working correctly. I need to go back in and do a better job of sealing up the exposed wires at my splices.

Thanks, everyone!

Looking forward to that beer. .

 

[linuxgod]

Hey no fair solving your own problem!

I'm sanding by my original reply. No reason to give up a good theory, just because it's wrong.

Ok so now we have to figure out a time to meet up so I can pay off this liquid debt...

 

[CharlieS]

It was a strong theory.

I should add that your approach was the one I started with. I assumed that I messed up the pinout locations, since it was highly likely. The first thing I did was physically inspect each connector to ensure that the wires were in the correct locations on both the male and female sides, and matched my wiring diagram. Only then did I start to explore other options. I pored over your wiring diagram, with my edits, and made sure I understood what every wire was doing, that they were in the correct location, that times I changed wire color (like where the factory red goes to a Curt box yellow wire or factory brown goes to Curt box green wire), that the two yellow and two green wires in the harness [one set from the factory harness, and one set from the Curt box] were in the right pin locations [and marked so they can be differentiated in the field]) and the pinouts made sense.

That's when I suspected something more subtle.

Looking forward to catching up in person one of these days. I think I owe you more drinks than you owe me...

 

[CharlieS]

I think the hazard flash will get you red flashes on the stop light, not yellow flashes on the turn lights. Anything that is on the turn signals as the same time is interpreted as a stop signal by the 2 -> 3 way.
Another example of this is the arm/disarm blink from the alarm system, which will be on the yellow turn lights everywhere but the combination lights, which will light red instead.

Just to close the loop on this, I can confirm that this observation is correct - the hazard light/4 way flashers light up the red LEDs on the Roadvision Combo light now.

 

[CharlieS]

I am positive that I eliminated all stray contact between wires, everything is rewapped with 3m super 88, and everything works as I'd expect, EXCEPT with the 4 way/emergency flashers, I get the tiniest little flicker of amber before red comes on. Like a tiny flash. I assume this is related to how the Curt box interprets and splits the turn/brake signal, and actually don't care too awful much about it. But... I am curious (and for future searchers) is anyone else seeing this behavior?

 

[linuxgod]

Yes just checked, mine do the same thing. I assume it has something to do with the delay in the Curt relay to open. Wondering now if they also do it when you hit the brakes but I need one of my kids to get home for me to properly test.

Edit: just sat up my iPhone to record and yes they do also flicker ever so slightly when you hit the brakes.

 

[radman]

Yes, Same flicker here. If you really have OCD, you’ll notice that the curt lights are a few milliseconds slower to light up than the stockies

 

[customcruiser]

And the flasher in the Curt unit is really loud

 

[CharlieS]

Yes, Same flicker here. If you really have OCD, you’ll notice that the curt lights are a few milliseconds slower to light up than the stockies

Yep, in that club.

 

[CharlieS]

And the flasher in the Curt unit is really loud

Yes!

 

[linuxgod]

Yes!

Yeah but if it’s mounted under your vehicle and outside the cabin who cares? Mine is in the jack storage cubby and I can’t hear it in the drivers seat. It’ll probably drive my kid in the 3rd row nuts tho

I suspect the double flashing issue could be fixed by adding a small resistor to the brake circuit to act as a sink. Might not even need to be inline, just in parallel would likely be sufficient to slow down the current and allow the curt relay enough time to energize. FWIW the relay does say it’s not compatible with LEDs and I suspect this is why.

In the future if it bothers me I’ll just tap the tail lights. I prefer the reversible nature but I have DT connectors on either side of the relay so removing it wouldn’t be a big deal

 

[CharlieS]

Don't get me wrong, I can't be bothered to do anything about it, I just feel good knowing I'm not the only one who notices this stuff. You guys make me feel normal. My wife thinks I'm nuts when I mention things like this.