Trailer Light Connections

[tom4bren]

Wait on Tom4Bren's updated Tone-style hitch, since the hope is that it will handle more tongue weight than what we all have now. Tom's down in Fredericksburg so you might even be able to get it installed at the same "welder guy" shop.

Welder Guy's shop prolly ain't an option. I work with him at Fort Belvoir but his shop is alla way out at Colonial Beach.

I'm a tried & true 'shade tree mechanic'. Yer welcome to the T4B pad some Saturday & we can get it done tho.

I hope to re-install my hitch this weekend & get all the measurements needed to make the beefier hitch.

Tom

[PA-99]

After issues with the old 4 flat wiring harness, I picked up a universal wiring kit that included the 5 -> 4 wiring converter box. The problem is that the trailer brake lights are coming on very slow, and very dim. The turn signals are not working at all. It appears like the trailer was not getting enough power fast enough. After comparing the voltage between my car and another working vehicle, I found that I am getting about 2-3 volts less on the brakes and turn signals than the working car. I even pulled the tail light and tested there. I appear to only get about 9 volts on the brake lights with no external wiring hooked up. My vehicle lights are working fine through. Any ideas???

[Y33TREKker]

After issues with the old 4 flat wiring harness, I picked up a universal wiring kit that included the 5 -> 4 wiring converter box. The problem is that the trailer brake lights are coming on very slow, and very dim. The turn signals are not working at all. It appears like the trailer was not getting enough power fast enough. After comparing the voltage between my car and another working vehicle, I found that I am getting about 2-3 volts less on the brakes and turn signals than the working car. I even pulled the tail light and tested there. I appear to only get about 9 volts on the brake lights with no external wiring hooked up. My vehicle lights are working fine through. Any ideas???

Aside from double-checking that you've tapped into the correct vehicle wiring (as follows) for your trailer harness, I would also double-check your ground connection. Make sure you are metal to metal (most surfaces are painted or coated in some way) with whatever connector you've used for your ground-wire to vehicle-chassis connection, or at least use a self-tapping screw that you are sure is tapping into some part of the VX's metal frame. There are also a lot of rubber grommets used on various pieces of the VX that isolate that part electrically from the chassis, so sometimes even though it may seem that a good ground connection is being made, that's not necessarily the case. A simple test meter check will let you know for sure.

RT Turn Signal Wire Color (only avail on the Passenger Side): Green/Blue
LF Turn Signal Wire Color (only avail on Driver's Side): Green/Blue
Parking/Running Light Wire Color: Green/Red
Brake Light Wire Color: Green