Loadbay lights

[wild camper]

Anyone know how to remove the clear lens covers.
I want to remove the lamps so I don’t drain the battery with the side door open for long periods
They must come off to replace the lamp.
I’ve tried pulling,squeezing and sliding but I can’t use to much force in case I break the plastic lens.
Any tips would be gratefully received.

[Rosko9]

Hi...if i remember, you need to pop whole light out...try fitting some inline switches....about £2 each from Halfords and a couple of spade connectors, that's what sorted mine out anyway.
Or if u don't need them, pop whole light out and pull a spade connector off light.

[wild camper]

Thanks for your help
Your email gave me the confidence to use a bit more force. I pushed with a screwdriver at one end with a lot of force and a “tab” released and the clear lens dropped down, I’ve removed the festoon bulb on both lights and snapped the lens back in place.
Hopefully I will now not have any more flat batteries with the side door open when I’m camping.
I’ve got a couple of cheap LED push on/off lights that stick on to the van walls fitted with rechargeable batteries.
I bought them from Lidl when they were on offer. They supply enough light for my purposes.
Thanks again for your tip.

[richbee]

Might try this as well - nearly had a flat battery after 2 days parked up at Ard Rock biking festival over this weekend!
We#re off to Lindiosfarne festival at end of August, so don't want to risk it removing lights would do for a short term fix - not sure about cutting into wiring

[wild camper]

I got the clear lens out thanks to the tip I received in the earlier post of this thread. It’s not obvious how to get the lens out but with a good hard push with a screwdriver on the “tab” at the side and the lens drops out. In hindsight it would have been easier just to pull off one of the spade terminals as suggested,I chose to remove the festoon bulb which meant I had to close the door and leave it for a while to allow the festoon bulb to cool down so I could remove it.
It’s surprising how many other problems occur once the battery goes flat
I’m still looking into finding LED lights that are switched.

[ABA]

have you tried turning the intearea light of at the back of the cab works in mine
leave the front one switched on then the next one that is over the seat turn it off
this will then turn the the rest of the intearea lights off in the back of the van

[richbee]

I got the clear lens out thanks to the tip I received in the earlier post of this thread. It’s not obvious how to get the lens out but with a good hard push with a screwdriver on the “tab” at the side and the lens drops out. In hindsight it would have been easier just to pull off one of the spade terminals as suggested,I chose to remove the festoon bulb which meant I had to close the door and leave it for a while to allow the festoon bulb to cool down so I could remove it.
It’s surprising how many other problems occur once the battery goes flat
I’m still looking into finding LED lights that are switched.

I like the sound of this method from a previous thread which I found again after searching = no wire cutting

yasser wrote:
very simply. both interior lights have their own feed and return, that is, the feed does not go from one and then to the other. All you have to do is take the light out, disconnect the feed wire, get a length of suitable cable with a male spade connector and plug it into the feed female spade connector, route the cable to where you want it and connect to the switch, Then take another length of cable and attach to the load terminal of the switch and then route back to the light ( obviously these steps would be done with suitable twin core cable), Connect a female spade connector onto the cable and then attach to the light. All you have effectively done is put in an "inline switch" Then just repeat the same for the other light. The switch I put the link for has a double pole, so it has 4 terminals. 2 feed and 2 load terminals so you can run both lights from the 1 switch but keep them separate.

Hope that makes sense !

[richbee]

have you tried turning the intearea light of at the back of the cab works in mine
leave the front one switched on then the next one that is over the seat turn it off
this will then turn the the rest of the intearea lights off in the back of the van

That works for when you open the front or side doors, but not when you open the rear doors, the rear load arrea lights still come on and stay on for around an hour

[Rosko9]

Hi, thought I would add some pics of how I done mine. Switch at rear door went into the plastic plate the light is attached to, took 1 connector off light and put straight onto switch then made up small length of cable about 3 inches with a connector at each end, put one on switch and other onto light.
Side door switch went onto plastic trim for door runner as it was easier to cut hole for switch and easier to reach from outside, only difference with wiring was I used longer pieces of cable and had to join one to existing light cable to make it longer.
I'm not really in the back in the dark but it's nice to have the option....hope this helps.
Sorry pics are on their side....fck nose how to rotate them....took me long enough to work out how to attach them

[richbee]

Hi, thought I would add some pics of how I done mine. Switch at rear door went into the plastic plate the light is attached to, took 1 connector off light and put straight onto switch then made up small length of cable about 3 inches with a connector at each end, put one on switch and other onto light.
Side door switch went onto plastic trim for door runner as it was easier to cut hole for switch and easier to reach from outside, only difference with wiring was I used longer pieces of cable and had to join one to existing light cable to make it longer.
I'm not really in the back in the dark but it's nice to have the option....hope this helps.
Sorry pics are on their side....fck nose how to rotate them....took me long enough to work out how to attach them

Thanks Rosko,
that's great - you went for individual switches for each light - gives more flexibility

[Rosko9]

Hi, thought I would add some pics of how I done mine. Switch at rear door went into the plastic plate the light is attached to, took 1 connector off light and put straight onto switch then made up small length of cable about 3 inches with a connector at each end, put one on switch and other onto light.
Side door switch went onto plastic trim for door runner as it was easier to cut hole for switch and easier to reach from outside, only difference with wiring was I used longer pieces of cable and had to join one to existing light cable to make it longer.
I'm not really in the back in the dark but it's nice to have the option....hope this helps.
Sorry pics are on their side....fck nose how to rotate them....took me long enough to work out how to attach them

Thanks Rosko,
that's great - you went for individual switches for each light - gives more flexibility

Lol, that was an after thought....i went for easiest option lol

[richbee]

Hi, thought I would add some pics of how I done mine. Switch at rear door went into the plastic plate the light is attached to, took 1 connector off light and put straight onto switch then made up small length of cable about 3 inches with a connector at each end, put one on switch and other onto light.
Side door switch went onto plastic trim for door runner as it was easier to cut hole for switch and easier to reach from outside, only difference with wiring was I used longer pieces of cable and had to join one to existing light cable to make it longer.
I'm not really in the back in the dark but it's nice to have the option....hope this helps.
Sorry pics are on their side....fck nose how to rotate them....took me long enough to work out how to attach them

Thanks Rosko,
that's great - you went for individual switches for each light - gives more flexibility

Lol, that was an after thought....i went for easiest option lol

Hehe, didn't like to say that
I've just ordered 2 switches for mine (DCIV so only 2 lights). I've gone for double pole switches so if I can be bothered to route the cable I'll have 1 switch, otherwise I'll have 2!