Range Rover 2005 Model Year Vogue

[F213633]

I have asked this question on a couple of Land Rover forums and received no real input; in fact on one site just abuse.

We tow a 2005 Range Rover all wheels down but the when key is in the aux position the engine battery goes flat enough to enable it to not start after about two hours.

In the UK the handbook does not contain much about towing them as it is not the norm, the handbook does give enough to explain the fundamentals of towing them (putting the fuse in allowing the transfer box to select natural and then putting the auto box into Park) for use in an emergency recovery situation, and does clarify maximum speeds and distances such as maximum five hours and 50 MPH. I have towed previous models with no problems, and this one tows well just the battery goes flat (only extra draw is the break buddy).

I was hoping a US handbook may have more detail, I was wondering of there is anything else I need to know?

For example just inserting the key releases the steering lock, and virtually nothing else powers up, does anyone know if it's good to tow with the key like that and not turned to the aux position? As I presume that will reduced drains on the battery.

I really don't want to add a split charging system as the handbook does warn about charging the engine battery when still connected to the car, apparently under various conditions the engine management can lockout or the alarm system goes into total security lockdown etc

Sorry that goes on a bit. Any help greatly appreciated.

Kind regards

Steve & Sue

[hermanmullins]

Steve & Sue,

Welcome to the Forum. If you are able to unlock the steering wheel by just putting in the key you have a good thing. You might want to put in an extra auxiliary plug receptacle for your Brake Buddy. It could be wired streight into you coach power and only be active when you are connected.(be sure to put in an inline fuse) With this you could leave your ignition off with just the key in. One other thing, you might want to have your battery tested to see if it may be on the down side of its life. If you do have to replace your battery you might look for a higher Amp Hour unit.

Just my thoughts. Hope they help.

[jrwitt]

If you are using a Brake Buddy, then everytime it pushes on the brake pedal it probably causes the car's brake lights to come on. This would be a drain on the battery in addition to the current drawn by the Brake Buddy itself. If your motorhome-to-vehicle wiring supplies power to the vehicle's brake lights, then this probably won't be an additional drain. Anyway, just something you could check for. Good luck! Let us know if/how you resolve this issue.

[hermanmullins]

If you are using a Brake Buddy, then everytime it pushes on the brake pedal it probably causes the car's brake lights to come on. This would be a drain on the battery in addition to the current drawn by the Brake Buddy itself. If your motorhome-to-vehicle wiring supplies power to the vehicle's brake lights, then this probably won't be an additional drain. Anyway, just something you could check for. Good luck! Let us know if/how you resolve this issue.

JR, you bring up a very valid point. We have the M&G Braking system with the Yukon wired with diodes for the lights. I have never thought that when I put the brakes on in the coach my brake lights would work both through to brake light switch on the Yukon as well as through the wireing by pass. I have never had any problems with my batteries because everything is turned off and only (now I know) the brake lights use any power from the Yukon Battery.

It just goes to show "That you are never too old to learn".

[rossboyer]

Probably, there is an electrical load present when the ignition switch is on. If you have access to a DC amp meter, try pulling one fuse at a time to issolate which one will eliminate the load. I found on our towed one fuse that powered the dash that had 2.5 amps load all the time the ignition switch was on. Made a switch and fuse combination so I didn't have to pull the fuse, just turned off the switch.

[F213633]

Hello everyone, multiple answers in one if I may:

Many thanks for the welcome to the forum, we have been members of FMCA for a few years now, only just started to use the forums.

The battery is known to be good; sorry should have said that in the original post.

I like the idea of the extra auxiliary plug receptacle for the Brake Buddy, now that need a little thinking about in terms of combining it into the UK standard plug and socket set up for wiring from towing vehicle to trailer, also need to make sure the spare wires are up to the load.

I know the cars brake lights don't come on unless the ignition key is set to full ignition, so can rule that out, that was discovered when I set about checking the wiring for the connection of the road lights. The Coach powers all the road lights on the car, side lights, turn signals and brake lights etc.

I like the idea of tracing what becomes live and back tracking to a single point of supply when the key is turned to auxiliary and isolating that, I am willing to bet it won't be just one fuse!

I will experiment with all of the above over the next few weeks and will also try towing with the key simply inserted and not turned. I need to experiment with that as well, as I sit here and think about it, if you unlock the doors and do not actually open one they relock some 30 seconds later, I hope the steering lock do not re activate some time later if the key is not turned!

As I say many thanks to all who have responded for all the ideas and help, I will investigate and post a few replies, it maybe a few weeks as it will be a try and test, then run with the solution next time out.

[sguinan887]

I have asked this question on a couple of Land Rover forums and received no real input; in fact on one site just abuse.

We tow a 2005 Range Rover all wheels down but the when key is in the aux position the engine battery goes flat enough to enable it to not start after about two hours.

In the UK the handbook does not contain much about towing them as it is not the norm, the handbook does give enough to explain the fundamentals of towing them (putting the fuse in allowing the transfer box to select natural and then putting the auto box into Park) for use in an emergency recovery situation, and does clarify maximum speeds and distances such as maximum five hours and 50 MPH. I have towed previous models with no problems, and this one tows well just the battery goes flat (only extra draw is the break buddy).

I was hoping a US handbook may have more detail, I was wondering of there is anything else I need to know?

For example just inserting the key releases the steering lock, and virtually nothing else powers up, does anyone know if it's good to tow with the key like that and not turned to the aux position? As I presume that will reduced drains on the battery.

I really don't want to add a split charging system as the handbook does warn about charging the engine battery when still connected to the car, apparently under various conditions the engine management can lockout or the alarm system goes into total security lockdown etc

Sorry that goes on a bit. Any help greatly appreciated.

Kind regards

Steve & Sue

The other answers are all good ideas.

I had the same issue with my Acura MDX-- everytime I towed, the battery would go dead. I have to turn my key switch to auxiliary when I tow.

What it turned out to be on my system was the wiring that was used going back to my tail lights was shorted out on the muffler. the strapping they used wore out and the wire was hanging on the muffler. So I had bare wire hitting the exhaust-- replacing the wiring eliminated the problem.

Good luck.

Having a weak battery is also a strong possibility.

[F213633]

Hi sguinan887,

Having wired the road lights from the front 7 pin 12N socket (UK Road lighting connection point) under the car to the rear, I know there is no other wiring adrift, but thanks for the consideration. It’s given me another idea to check some thing further see below. Been playing since last post, the key situation, i.e. just key in releases the ignition lock and does not seem to reset after three hours, but then the car was just sat on the drive not moving on the road. With the key in and turned to auxiliary, not full ignition, position there is a host of circuits that come live, so would need to pull many fuses, where as just in releasing the steering lock very little comes to life. The battery has been tested and whilst not in its full flush of life it is still rating at over 90% capacity and storage capability. As a result of double checking sguinan887 thoughts, I discovered that when powering the cars road lights from the coach: under the condition of sidelights on, rear high intensity (fog) lights on, as it was foggy when we travelled, then adding the condition of power to the brake lights when breaking the dashboard comes fully to life, this is probably due to a reverse power feed somewhere activating a series of relays lots of power drain. That’s easy to fix, will build a control box that sits in-line with the wiring that basically has blocking diodes and a couple of resistors thus stopping a reverse power feed. Will experiment with that over the next week or so.

Many thanks for your help/support everyone.