Hello peeps,

I'm off camping at the weekend, I have a small trailer to pull behind the Panda 4x4 with all my gear in it. That includes a 72 amp hour leisure battery for powering tent lights, cool-box, etc. So I want to charge the leisure battery from the cigar lighter plug on the Panda, when moving. I have a long lead with two cigar lighter plugs on it, one goes in the Panda socket, the other plugs into the battery box in the trailer to charge the leisure battery.

Is the cigar lighter socket fused on the Panda? I don't want to burn the car to the ground.

Here's a link to the trailer, for fellow campers:

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/product.asp?p=070410430&r=2093&g=112

Yes

hi,

What towbar have you got on the 4x4 ?....and where did you get it fitted /how much etc etc / any cuts in bumper / any picures ???

Thanks

I'm slightly confused. You're going to run a wire from the cigarette lighter socket, through the car, out the boot, over the hitch, and into the trailer?
Towbars in the UK which have a second socket are signed for charging a battery - one of the terminals is switched 12V. Have you got a second (grey) socket on the towbar?
H

hmallett said:

I'm slightly confused. You're going to run a wire from the cigarette lighter socket, through the car, out the boot, over the hitch, and into the trailer?
Towbars in the UK which have a second socket are signed for charging a battery - one of the terminals is switched 12V. Have you got a second (grey) socket on the towbar?
H

Click to expand...

No, I don't got no second socket. I looked at the wiring diagram for the lighting socket but there's no spare power pin.

I can put the power pack in the boot though, and plug it in the ceegar lighter. Or I can charge it at home with my motorcycle trickle charger ( An Accumate.) The long wire over the trailer hitch is not a good idea, having trailed stuff before if it can get caught up in the trailer or drag on the road, it will. But I made a lead long enough so I can do that if need be.


The towbar is a Witter, there's a link here to it in a previous post by me and and a link to the pdf install manual. It was fitted outside my home by Solent Towbars, Stubbington Hamps. They've done my previous cars and do a good job. Takes them about an hour. Cost was £220.00, fitted.

I fitted a towbar to a Ford years ago and vowed I'd never do it again.


There's a small 'cut' in the black bumper panel, but as this curves underneath the car you don't see it. It's a pretty neat job and looks ok on the car. It also stops my deranged neighbours from parking to close to the car when they get home from the pub on a Friday. . I'll take some pics when it stops raining.

I'm pleased with the trailer, it's a Caddy 430 - about 4 foot by 3 foot. YOu can store it on its end in the garage if you get the light protectors from Towsure, and there's a drop-down tail option. Comes flatpacked so you can take it apart for storage too. Only disadvantage is your'e limited to 60mph on motorways. Good for camping or taking stuff down the dump though.

Hi I was going to fit my own towbar, but looking in the fusebox in the engine compartment, I found a spare, wired up fuse position with a thick orange wire leading from it, labelled in the book as Trailer. I hoped this would emerge in the boot, but I could'nt find it anywhere.
Being a coward, I got a local mobile firm to fit one for £223, double socket. If anyone is thinking of fitting their own, he took 2 leads from the internal fusebox, connecting them to the main red wire,which comes in from the battery, putting 2 inline fuses under the fusebox cover, and lead the wires under the trim along the floor to the boot, placing the relay unit behind the trim to the right of the boot.
Actually, when I came to start the car after he had gone, it would'nt! However it turned out that it was only a relay in the engine fusebox which had been knocked loose because the cover is devilish difficult to replace.

Paul Jaggard said:

Hi I was going to fit my own towbar, but looking in the fusebox in the engine compartment, I found a spare, wired up fuse position with a thick orange wire leading from it, labelled in the book as Trailer. I hoped this would emerge in the boot, but I could'nt find it anywhere.
Being a coward, I got a local mobile firm to fit one for £223, double socket.

Click to expand...

I think with hindsight I should have had a double socket fitted. Useful info for my next Panda purchase. Thanks for the tip. What are you dragging around behind your Panda?

pandissimo said:

I think with hindsight I should have had a double socket fitted. Useful info for my next Panda purchase. Thanks for the tip. What are you dragging around behind your Panda?

Click to expand...

2 things (not at the same time, though that raises some interesting thoughts!)
A beat up old trailer, which I use to cart farming stuff around, and a 'Dandy', which is a sort of cross between a trailer tent and folding caravan. It only weighs 250 kg, so I reckon it should give me a better power to weight ratio than my brother in laws X-Trail and caravan. And since it weighs in at half the weight, maybe I can expect twice the mpg?!
Anyhow, I'm hoping to give it a good test next week, from Norfolk to West Wales. I understand that Wales is not entirely flat, does this mean that I will be forced to use my brakes? Its such a wasteful habit!