Shower Problems - No power but tap works fine

[pieman]

Hi, I'm trying to figure out a why the shower in my California doesn't work. It hasn't worked since I bought it a couple of months ago, so don't know what has happened with the previous owner.

It doesn't work at all and makes no noise when the pump is switched on. There doesn't seem to be any power at the connectors inside the shower point at the back, but the switch does seem to work when I tested this on a meter. The tap works fine, but it looks like someone has previously done some dodgy repairs. It looks like a power wire runs straight from the fuse box under the seat to the tap. Any ideas what could be going on here and how this is supposed to work? I thought the shower and tap shared the pump, so can't work out why I don't have power at the shower.

Thanks for yourr help,
From a new Cali owner!

 

[vbk1975]

Hi, I'm trying to figure out a why the shower in my California doesn't work. It hasn't worked since I bought it a couple of months ago, so don't know what has happened with the previous owner.

It doesn't work at all and makes no noise when the pump is switched on. There doesn't seem to be any power at the connectors inside the shower point at the back, but the switch does seem to work when I tested this on a meter. The tap works fine, but it looks like someone has previously done some dodgy repairs. It looks like a power wire runs straight from the fuse box under the seat to the tap. Any ideas what could be going on here and how this is supposed to work? I thought the shower and tap shared the pump, so can't work out why I don't have power at the shower.

Thanks for yourr help,
From a new Cali owner!

The shower switch is just a parallel switch to the tap switch. The fused feed for the pump is wired to both the shower switch and the tap switch and both the tap and shower switch outputs go to the pump. So if you attach the shower hose and run the tap, you should get some water out the shower as well as the tap. (To test the plumbing)

 

[pieman]

The shower switch is just a parallel switch to the tap switch. The fused feed for the pump is wired to both the shower switch and the tap switch and both the tap and shower switch outputs go to the pump. So if you attach the shower hose and run the tap, you should get some water out the shower as well as the tap. (To test the plumbing)

Thanks for your help, I'll check that first and if the water side works OK I'll have to dig a bit deeper into what's going on with the electrics

 

[pieman]

I'm not sure if I am making progress here, or got more questions than when I started?!

I tested the shower with the tap on (thanks vbk1875 for the suggestion) and the water side works fine. With the shower connected water comes out the shower and tap.

I've checked the fuses and found a replacement piece of red wire that runs from the fuse I think is supposed to be for the water pump, all the way to the tap. Looks to me like someone has cut into the wires from the tap and connected this 12v feed up straight to the tap.

Does anyone know what is going on here?! I appreciate this is a bit of guess work as this is clearly not standard wiring! My guess here is that the last owner had issues with the tap on the factory wiring so put this bypass piece of wire in directly to the tap. I'm not sure how this impacts the shower switch, but guess it's not part of this 'new' circuit.

 

[vbk1975]

I'm not sure if I am making progress here, or got more questions than when I started?!

I tested the shower with the tap on (thanks vbk1875 for the suggestion) and the water side works fine. With the shower connected water comes out the shower and tap.

I've checked the fuses and found a replacement piece of red wire that runs from the fuse I think is supposed to be for the water pump, all the way to the tap. Looks to me like someone has cut into the wires from the tap and connected this 12v feed up straight to the tap.

Does anyone know what is going on here?! I appreciate this is a bit of guess work as this is clearly not standard wiring! My guess here is that the last owner had issues with the tap on the factory wiring so put this bypass piece of wire in directly to the tap. I'm not sure how this impacts the shower switch, but guess it's not part of this 'new' circuit.

View attachment 142800

View attachment 142801

There is a common modification to add a relay into the water pump circuit. This is because the tap microswitch isn't very robust to the pump current, so it might be this type of mod, but i would expect a relay to be visible. The other possibility is that the shower has been added as a DIY project after the van was built.

Loz did a nice diagram: https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/tap-relay.28944/post-423346

 

[cpaharley2008]

Sounds like the previous owner bodged a direct feed to bypass a faulty tap switch but left the shower circuit disconnected from the new wiring. You'll probably need to trace where that red wire connects and splice the shower switch into the same circuit to get it working again.

 

[pieman]

Sounds like the previous owner bodged a direct feed to bypass a faulty tap switch but left the shower circuit disconnected from the new wiring. You'll probably need to trace where that red wire connects and splice the shower switch into the same circuit to get it working again.

I think you are probably right. I can't see relay mod anywhere, looks like a bodge to directly power the tap. I assume there's a break somewhere in the original wiring. Been doing A LOT of reading around the forum and wondering if this connector might be the original problem:

https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/t6-dead-control-panel-fridge-control.59180/post-754827

Will do some more digging tomorrow. Hopefully if I can find the original problem I can repair that and not need the bodge. I'm not too keen on the connection of a wire pushed in with the fuse, I'm not really sure if that new wire is on the correct side to be protected by the fuse or not

 

[vbk1975]

I think you are probably right. I can't see relay mod anywhere, looks like a bodge to directly power the tap. I assume there's a break somewhere in the original wiring. Been doing A LOT of reading around the forum and wondering if this connector might be the original problem:

https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/t6-dead-control-panel-fridge-control.59180/post-754827

Will do some more digging tomorrow. Hopefully if I can find the original problem I can repair that and not need the bodge. I'm not too keen on the connection of a wire pushed in with the fuse, I'm not really sure if that new wire is on the correct side to be protected by the fuse or not

I was about to suggest the same, in that thread I posted the pinout for the connector with the water pump feed in Pin 4

T6 Dead control panel - fridge control?

So, recently bought a pre-loved 2018 Cali T6 Ocean 4Motion. After a couple days, the control unit display went dead, same symptoms as this thread https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/control-panel-dead-on-2017-ocean.38599/ After a day of not working, it came back alive, then dead again another...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

 

[cpaharley2008]

Yeah that connector is a common fault point on these vans - worth checking if there's corrosion or a loose connection there before doing any more wiring mods. The bodged wire at the fuse definitely doesn't look like a proper fix!

 

[pieman]

Hey, another day and yet more confusion!

The connector under the cupboard looks ok, no corrosion and got 12v going through that on Pin 4. I'll put a photo on here to doube check I'm in the right place there, but looks like pin 4 to me on the numbering.

I removed the temporary bodge wire from the wago for testing. With the tap off I was getting 1.8v on one side of it, when I turned it on the voltage dropped to 0. The resistance on the wire from the tap to the connector shows as 45.1 ohms with the tap off and 1 with the tap on (but tap not working).

So I guess it's an issue with the wiring between the connector and the tap, or the tap itself (but not sure why the shower switch wouldn't activate the pump in that case)

Any thoughts or help from people with better knowledge of electrics than me would be greatly appreciated!

I'll try and add a couple of videos I took of this testing, which might make it easier to understand. One is looking at voltage and the other resistance. Excuse the camera work - not got enough hands to juggle everything!

 

[pieman]

Looks like the zip file with the videos didn't upload, only the one photo, so I've put them on OneDrive here

Microsoft OneDrive

1drv.ms

 

[vbk1975]

Hey, another day and yet more confusion!

The connector under the cupboard looks ok, no corrosion and got 12v going through that on Pin 4. I'll put a photo on here to doube check I'm in the right place there, but looks like pin 4 to me on the numbering.

I removed the temporary bodge wire from the wago for testing. With the tap off I was getting 1.8v on one side of it, when I turned it on the voltage dropped to 0. The resistance on the wire from the tap to the connector shows as 45.1 ohms with the tap off and 1 with the tap on (but tap not working).

So I guess it's an issue with the wiring between the connector and the tap, or the tap itself (but not sure why the shower switch wouldn't activate the pump in that case)

Any thoughts or help from people with better knowledge of electrics than me would be greatly appreciated!

I'll try and add a couple of videos I took of this testing, which might make it easier to understand. One is looking at voltage and the other resistance. Excuse the camera work - not got enough hands to juggle everything!

View attachment 142823

The Shower Switch and Tap are spliced off the other side of this connector, so my guess is that they have bypassed the wire that feeds both the shower and tap. The only put a feed to the tap. I would pull the connectors off the shower switch and Shower status indicator (if your van has that, T6s don't) and see if the resistance changes.

 

[pieman]

Bit of an update - no answers, but hopefully making slow progress!

With the shower switch and LED disconnected I was getting no connection at that point, between connector block and tap - resistance just stayed at 1.

WIth everything disconnected I checked the switches at shower and tap and both are ok. 1 when off and 0 when on. Both also had about 1.6 volts at them when measured between the positive to the switches and earth.

So my assumption is a problem with the wire after the connector block. And it seems to be affecting the original wiring to both tap and shower, leaving them to only receive about 1volt. I found another connector behind the cupboard/B pillar which I guess could possibly be the problem, but I'm not sure how easy it will be to get to that to check (see photos for this one - I found it back there with an endoscope and shown where it is on the image of the outside cupboard)

I guess my options are to keep trying to trace the problem or cut the 12v Pin 4 wire on one side of the connector and run new cable from that to both the tap and shower switches

 

[WelshGas]

Bit of an update - no answers, but hopefully making slow progress!

With the shower switch and LED disconnected I was getting no connection at that point, between connector block and tap - resistance just stayed at 1.

WIth everything disconnected I checked the switches at shower and tap and both are ok. 1 when off and 0 when on. Both also had about 1.6 volts at them when measured between the positive to the switches and earth.

So my assumption is a problem with the wire after the connector block. And it seems to be affecting the original wiring to both tap and shower, leaving them to only receive about 1volt. I found another connector behind the cupboard/B pillar which I guess could possibly be the problem, but I'm not sure how easy it will be to get to that to check (see photos for this one - I found it back there with an endoscope and shown where it is on the image of the outside cupboard)

I guess my options are to keep trying to trace the problem or cut the 12v Pin 4 wire on one side of the connector and run new cable from that to both the tap and shower switches

View attachment 142833

View attachment 142834

If you follow the wires from the kitchen tap they go around the R hand side of the sink to a connector wrapped in anti rattle foam pushed up on the side of the sink. You can pull the connector down to examine it.

 

[pieman]

If you follow the wires from the kitchen tap they go around the R hand side of the sink to a connector wrapped in anti rattle foam pushed up on the side of the sink. You can pull the connector down to examine it.

Thanks, for the idea, but this is another connector. The foam wrapped one directly from the tap has been removed on mine at some point in it's past and is now just a pair of Wago connectors. The connector I mentioned is lower down next to the cupboard, behind the B pilar trim, I think possibly connecting to the 230v invertor and 12v outlet that it is close to then a couple of wires heading up from there to the tap connector.