| 407 Caution with the interior light control Roger Glover has owned two RV8s over the last twelve years and says "I have only just discovered a peculiarity with the interior light control and thought that it might be of interest to fellow RV8 owners". Sep 15 A few days after a 200 mile trip (during which time the battery was fully charged) I discovered that the battery was totally flat, even the clock had stopped working. Investigation revealed that the interior light switch may have been inadvertently left switched on. A new battery was purchased and I checked out the functioning of the controls of the interior lights (with the ignition switched off) and this revealed that: (1) If either of the doors are opened and then shut, the interior lights stay on for approximately 15 seconds and then automatically switch off. This is, of course, a well known fact and is exactly as you have on most modern cars. | (2)
If the driver's door is opened and then left open, the interior lights stay
on for a much longer period, namely 9 minutes and 3 seconds, before automatically
switching off. (3) However, if the interior light switch is switched on and the doors then shut, it appears that the lights will remain on permanently, or more correctly until the battery is flat, as in my case. I think that the interior light switch bypasses the timer control. The RV8 Driver's Handbook AKM7144ENG describes the operation of the interior lights on page 20 and mentions two types of operation: manual and automatic. For manual operation it notes "press switch to turn on and press a second time to turn off". It makes no mention that the opening and closing of the doors will result in the timer operating when the lights are switched on using the dashboard switch. So it seems the timer does not apply when manual operation is used and the driver then opens the door door to leave the vehicle and closes it. |  RV8 Driver's Handbook AKM7144ENG, page 20 The moral of the story is that it may well be worth waiting 15 seconds or so, after getting out of the vehicle and shutting the doors, to ensure that the interior lights have actually gone off, before leaving the car parked. |
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