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Date:         Wed, 6 Apr 2005 13:19:59 -0700
Reply-To:     TJ Hannink <tjhannink@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
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From:         TJ Hannink <tjhannink@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Re: trailer and lights
Comments: To: Karl Ploessl <ploessl@SUNMAC.SPECT.UPENN.EDU>
In-Reply-To:  6667
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

I tapped into the wiring inside the tail-light connectors by soldering the new wiring to the existing spade terminals. You need to run to both taillights to pick up each turn signal. You'll also need a 3 to 2 light converter in order to use a 4-wire connector which is the most common on smaller trailers. Mine sits in front of the rear license plate, you can access it when you pull the plate down.

The 6 & 7 wire terminals are for larger vehicles with braking circuits and a battery charging circuit. I am installing a 7-wire one on front of the Vanagon so I can plug it into my coach and use all of the stock Vanagon lights when its being towed while keeping the battery charged. I plan on removing 4 fuses and plugging in the wiring from the connector directly into the fuse block. The auxiliary wire in the 7-wire set-up will be used as a brake-light monitor to gauge the performance of my Toad braking system.

Good luck,

Tim Karl Ploessl <ploessl@SUNMAC.SPECT.UPENN.EDU> wrote: thanks Greg and to the others who answered. Still questions:

Did you tap into the single lines (brakes, taillight, signal)? Are you using relays, directly from battery? I looked into some commercial solutions and in the moment I am confused as I don't know how all these different plugs physically look (just looking at pictures is unfortunately is not a big help to me). And I found round ones (6 connections, 7 connections, flat 4...)

Karl.

At 3:12 PM -0400 04/06/2005, Greg Potts wrote:

>Hi Karl, > >When I built the westrailer I used a bus tail-light housing but >wired it to a standard 4-wire trailer harness. (Red lights only) >That harness was connected to the bus' wiring with a $20 U-haul >5-to-4 wire conversion harness. Unfortunately the quality of those >harnesses is pretty questionable... they were failing annually on >me. So last spring I added turn signal lights to the westrailer and >an additional 2 wires to the harness, and that works fine. The bonus >to that system is that when someone with a standard harness uses the >trailer the "normal" lighting circuits still work as usual. > >www.pottsfamily.ca/westfakia/Westrailer > >Happy trails, > >Greg Potts >Toronto, Ontario, Canada > >1973/74/79 Westfakia Conversion **Bob the Tomato** LY3H >1977 Sunroof Automatic L63H/L90D >1988 Vanagon GL 8-passenger Automatic >http://www.pottsfamily.ca/westfakia >http://www.busesofthecorn.com > > >On 6-Apr-05, at 8:07 AM, Karl Ploessl wrote: > >>how do people with trailers hook up the lights to the trailer? Are >>the connections (plug-outlet) standardized? >>I am thinking to get a small trailer (already got the hitch)... >>-- >>Karl >>'81 Westy "Jenny" >>Wilmington, DE

TJ Hannink Goldibox - 1987 Vanagon Camper, Wolfsburg Edition 1981 Bluebird Wanderlodge, FC-33 Winter Park, Florida http://home.earthlink.net/~tjhannink/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wolfsburg_campers http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wanderlodge FAVOR website: http://home.earthlink.net/~clubvanagon __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com


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