[macafee2]

Originally Posted by edwardmk

I have a permanent live pin 9 on the tourer I bought from Rick. He suspected that the original owner who wired up the tow socket spliced it in with no relay to protect the car battery, and that many installations, especially on older cars, are set up that way for simplicity and speed of installation. Paradoxically, incorrect installation was a benefit to me when my battery went flat recently. I was locked out of the car and the manual key entry failed to open the driver's door so I couldn't pull the bonnet release. Fortunately I was able to recharge he battery via pin 9 and earth ( which couldn't have worked if there was the correct protection relay in place) and open the car with the fob. Otherwise it would have been a skinned knuckle job trying to get to the bonnet release cable via the wing. The downside is that anything connected to the tow socket will run down the car battery fairly quickly with the engine off, such as being on a ferry in transit somewhere, or a bit slow/distracted setting up at the pitch/campsite. Those were the days lol!

Are you saying pin 9 should not be permanent live?

macafee2