WideCharlie

Good suggestion Arthur. Thank you.

She bitterly regrets not being able to drive. So do I. 😭

Thank you for those comments, Arthur. Interesting. Ours is a rear conversion so there would be different pros and cons, no doubt. And whilst I am anything but small and lightweight, my wife certainly fits that particular bill. But we are both used to bouncing around the high seas in yachts so I suspect a little discomfort and a great deal of squirming in a campervan won’t go amiss for either of us. Not keen on caving, though, nor entombment. There’s plenty of time for the latter in not too many years, I suspect 😱. Oh, and we’ll be looking at a pop topped Alphard in a couple of weeks when SC Conversions get their next one to sort. Standing room is important so I suspect we will go for the pop top. Maybe an awning as well in due course is a reasonable suggestion. It’s all a question, in truth, of how best to avoid night-time torture by snoring! There are compromises and then there are compromises. Thanks once again for your observations.

Thank you Roger. I’ll let my wife know. She has a good head for heights 😉

Hi again. Another quick query. I’m thinking of having a pop top installed by SC Conversions of Plymouth. I understand the floor of the pop top to be a number of boards (rather than a single base unit) which can slide a little to permit access to the top space. The question is, before I get it done, how does one get in and out of said roof space? Scrambling up and down off the seats? Carrying a mini ladder or similar? Or is it dead easy for anyone with even a modicum of rock climbing ability (that excludes me, of course)?

Thank you Paul. Yes, I’m sure there’s room for a second battery under the bonnet. Waiting for the auto electrician to get back to me (zzzzzz) to discuss further. Meantime enjoying the dry weather and contemplating a pop top or not. We’ll see how we get along in spring before making a decision on that.

Good morning Roger and Chris and thank you once again for the information. I think I’m fairly well sorted now as regards those sensors and the alarm. The triangular one now blinks away like a good ‘un and I’m happy with the A/C: Climate Control operation although it doesn’t seem to help much where this dreadful winter weather is concerned🤕. I haven’t yet tried the ‘panic button’ but might give that a go later today. Toys indeed, Roger!

Good morning Chris and thank you for the comments. 1 Yes I have the sensor for the auto lights, although I suspect its sensitivity need adjusting somehow because the lights won’t come on in the Dartmoor gloom, just when nightfall makes it sufficiently dark. 2 I clearly have the other sensor which you identify as ‘climate control’ but which then begs the question: what is climate control when I have fans aplenty and air conditioning, no other switch that is marked climate control and I can find no reference to it in the manual? 3 OK yes, I can see that the little triangle thing is a sensor for an after market alarm system but, like so much else, I’m not immediately clear how it operates. In fact, I have inadvertently set the alarm off a couple of times and switched it off by simply putting the key into the ignition. 4 There is no bonnet sensor. 5 An extra horn? 6 I don’t have an extra fob although last week I obtained an expensive second key which has on it a red button with a diagram of what appears to be a blaring speaker but I’m reluctant to try that out on a Sunday morning so as not to make all the neighbours jump out of their skins. It might be alarm related! I’ll try it some time away from civilised society. I apologise to all and sundry for appearing dumb. I’m beginning to feel I need to attend an Alphard 101 course. When I was young (a long time ago 👴) we only had basic car controls, and plugs and points to contend with, not computers which, we were promised, would make our lives easier. Ha! You can probably guess that I have other questions but I’ll save those for now so as not to exhaust the forum’s good will 😚

Nah, they can stay where they are. They are quite decorative and might even impress the occasional passenger when I mention ejector seats.

Roger and Lee, thank you, you’re spot on accurate with the light sensors. Tried the card trick and, yes, they work perfectly. As for the other bits and pieces I shall, indeed, ignore them, at least until they start to bother me too much 🙂

As I continue learning about my newly acquired 2007 Alphard 2.4, I find (to me) mysterious objects here and there. The first things to tax my ignorance are shown in the pics in this message. The question is: what are they? They aren’t a problem. They seems to sit there minding their own business, but I am curious. The first two are button shaped, sitting far forward on the right hand side of the dash, close to the windscreen, thus preventing me seeing if there are any marks on them. They are rigid, they do not press. The second pic is of something that seems to be a sensor, again resting on the right hand side of the dash, with wiring feeding up the column between door and windscreen. I can find no reference to them in my English translation user’s manual, but I suspect some of you experienced and knowledgeable Alphard owners will know what they are. Thanks in advance and I hope this is the correct board on which to post this message.

Thank you Roger. I had fairly well come to that conclusion, that the best location will be under the rear conversion bench seat. I looked at the engine compartment option but I’d have to fabricate a cage for it and I’m not sure that the heat from the engine wouldn’t have been a problem. Thanks again.

Problem solved: auto electrician called this morning. He traced the fault to the connection between the tv-associated central light and the three problem lights on the nearside. Seems the feed runs from the centre to those outer lights and, in this particular case, was ‘leaking’ somewhere (whatever that means). I nodded sagely at this information. Short of a major operation to expose the wiring, the cure was to cut that feed, he explained. The result is that the lighting now works as it should from the room lights switches (no idea why!) but the downside is that the central light at the tv no longer works at all. No big deal I don’t suppose because I intend to replace that tv setup at some time or maybe even have a pop-top installed. Anyway, there you go, it was a definite fault now cured. Thanks to all who commented and suggested things. Next issue: where to instal a second, leisure, battery? Anybody already done it? I’ll search the forum shortly.

Thank you Paul. Good suggestion and not one I’d thought of. There is a mobile auto electrician not far from us so I’ll call him early next week. That should save fruitless and frustrating discussions at various garages. Much obliged.

Thank you Roger and Dave for your inputs. The storm has now passed through, heading north, I think, and so I have checked those three uplights yet again, once more with a dental mirror. You were correct, Roger, they are still aglow but can hardly be seen in what passes as daylight here, even by use if the mirror. So the issue, pure and simple, is that those three lights will not switch off. When all other lights are off, those three still glimmer away to themselves. Why they do that is beyond me and so next week I shall visit my usual garage and see if they can do something about it. Thank you again for your help.

Hi Roger - it doesn’t seem to matter whether the room lights are set to dim or bright, those three column lights on the nearside persist in dim mode when the car is stopped and everything else is switched off, doors locked and me off to do some shopping; the offside column lights and the central roof light associated with the tv work fine and do not continue to glow even when their brothers on the nearside glow as described; I’m prepared to believe that we fooled ourselves into thinking those three errant lights were, in fact, no longer glowing in the daylight and are therefore not sensor operated, but my wife swears they weren’t glowing this morning although I can swear they were at 7am; unfortunately the latest storm makes me uninclined to go out and check and, besides, it is darker than a solar eclipse at the moment; the head unit is original although the Speedo/odometer has been converted to mph; the radio has been ‘amended’ to pick up UK stations; the owner’s manual that I have is no help with this issue. Peering down the column openings with a dental mirror, I can see three points of light in each nearside dim light. Would these be LEDs? If so, they will be drawing very little from the battery and it’s no big deal but I do have a neurosis about things not working the way they should. I will check those pesky lights once more if we ever see daylight again in this neck of the woods. In any case, I suspect my local garage will be asked to sort the problem out some time in the new year. Dave: yes I too have struggled to find any information on these issues and, as I said, the owner’s manual is no help. The saga continues!

Well, curiouser and curiouser (said Alice): the damned lights have come on again now that it’s dark. Just the three on the nearside, shining very dimly out of the three ‘columns’ with no other lights on and the car not touched since a brief bimble this afternoon when those lights were definitely not illuminated. So, my thinking is that they are sensor operated but surely there must be a way to turn them off? Surely? It doesn’t make sense for them to operate of their own volition, so to speak, whenever it gets dark. Any ideas?

Ok, forget all that nonsense please. When I went to the car this morning the lights had gone off. So either they are on a long timer or they are light sensitive and switched off when daylight finally appeared through the drizzly murk. Whichever, the problem ceases to be a problem although the puzzle remains.

A bit of a puzzle has arisen concerning what I think is called ‘indirect lighting.’ I have two switches marked ‘room’ - one on the front dash and one on the rear of the tv casing. In addition to the central roof light, they activate the uplights in the side column structures (3 per side). The front switch turns them on and off, or is supposed to; the rear switch turns them on and off and also acts as a dimmer. However, no matter what combination of switching I use, I can’t switch off entirely the three uplights on the nearside. They remain illuminated but only dimly even when the car is stationary, engine off and all locked up. So, is there a way of switching these three off completely? Or are they supposed to remain on, dimly, at all times? Seems on odd thing if that is the case.

Thanks for those tips, Dave. I too use a local guy for my car and I try hard not to do any mechanical jobs myself on the grounds that I’d turn one simple job into three difficult ones. With my bikes it’s different. They are easier to work on and I like them so much more. It’s never too late to take your test, you know. You’d have a head start as a trike rider. I’ll track down those videos, thanks.

Good morning Dave. And it’s clear your wife has impeccable taste 😉 although I have to confess that the thought of commuting to work gives me the shivers, whether by Merc or Toyota. In truth, I prefer motorbikes to four wheels but given the prolonged wet weather here, maybe not.

Thank you for all the comments and advice. Everything will be fine, I’m sure.

Thanks Roger and David for the welcome messages. I am slowly getting to know this new vehicle and gradually compiling a list of disappointments (you know how it is) but trying to fight off buyer’s remorse. My wife is much more sensible about things and wonders why I’m surprised that a dealer in second hand Japanese imports would be disingenuous. Onwards and upwards!

Hi, just saying hello as a new owner of a 2.4 Alphard, 2007 vintage with rear camper conversion but still tin top. Only had it for 3 days and just finding my way around the various controls and driving characteristics. Things aren’t helped, of course, by Japanese being the language of choice of the computer but I’ve sent off for an English translation of the manual which I suspect might ease the pain. I confess I quite like the van thus far but I think I’m going to have to work out how to make the ‘beds’ a little more comfortable if I plan on spending nights here and there. At the moment, sitting drinking coffee in the front seat while staring out over Plymouth Sound is a good start. Many questions to follow!