Interior Lights & Heated Seats

Posted on Jan 03, 2023

The cargo area in our RALIVAN has always left something to be desired. In our previous RALIVAN we had a 55W halogen spot light on the rear corner. Fortunately we had salvaged that before it was sold so we set about installing it in the new van. We tapped it into the existing interior light circuit so, to avoid overloading that, we changed all the lamps to LED first.

This light fixture swivels so is very versatile. With the rear doors open it can be aimed at the hitch which is very useful when hooking up the trailer in the dark.

Inspired by our electrical success with the rear light we kept the momentum going and hard-wired our rear view camera/mirror. Previously it had been plugged into the accessory socket in the front console and we never liked the wires dangling from the screen/mirror. Did you know you can by a USB kit for this?

Now we were on a roll so we decided to tackle wiring our heated Scheel-mann seats next. Fortunately the van’s main fuse panel and power distribution is under the driver’s seat which made for a very localized installation.

The only tricky bit was fishing the harness through the cable race between the two seats.