4 Pin Connectors and Wires

[fornesto]

I've got a trailer with a 4 pin connection system. My guess is that the 4 pin connector has the following wires and purposes:

Wire 1 = Running lights: Front Clearance lights, license plate light, taillights
Wire 2 = Left Turn Signal
Wire 3 = Right Turn Signal
Wire 4 = ?

How do the brake lights work? Are they Wire 4? Is there a ground wire?

I accidentally pulled all the wires out and need to figure out what does what?



The closer plug is the trailer side. So beginning on the right (male), as viewed, what should the four wires do?

My trailer is a Canadian model Snowbear, so I'm not going to assume standard color arrangement, they might be metric colors.

[toypusher]

Try this link:

http://www.wt4wheeling.com/tech/trailer.htm

Kerry

[dovaka]

the fourth wire is a ground and the brake lights are just both of your blinkers coming on at the same time

[Big Guy with a Little Guy]

The problem you'll have is if your car's rear turn signals are separate from you brake lights, i.e. Amber signals, red brakes. When you are signalling and braking at the same time, you're car's two separate circuits are connected (shorted) through the trailer's wiring. I've heard of people burning up fuses and wiring in such a situation. At the very least, the trailer blinker will blink opposite the car's blinker, not with it (when the brake and signal are used simultaneously).

Regarding the white wire, it is a ground to the car's frame. The tongue and ball hitch also serve to ground the trailer, but the conductivity of the tongue and ball can be intermittant. That's why you sometimes see trailers at night with there running lights blinking on and off as they tootle down the road; they don't have a hard wired ground, and the tongue/ball connection rattles as they go.

[mexican tear]

Walmart (and other places) sells adapters for cars with yellow turn signals. It will give you the correct output to the 4 wire plug.

kai

[Big Guy with a Little Guy]

That's good to know. When I had a pickup with ambler turn signals, I just added a couple of yellow marker lights to my trailer for signals and put a six wire plug on it. It worked just peachy.

[fornesto]

For everyone's reference

[KZ76017]

For Universal Lighting Kit V540
I just put these on last weekend, I have separate turn and stop lights so I will need the electronic converter. I still have the instructions so here ya go:

Instructions:
Caution: These lights are grounded through the mounting bolts. Therefore care must be taken to insure the lights are attached to a part of the trailer that is connected to the towing vehicle chassis ground. The mounting nuts must be in contact with a rust free bare metal surface of the grounded trailer. If this is not possible on your application a separate ground wire from one nut of each light to the grounded trailer will be required.

To install the trunk connection, connect the brown wire to the tail light wire, the yellow wire to the left-hand stop and turn and the green wire to the right-hand stop and turn wire. Attach the white ground wire to the vehicle frame. If the vehicle has rear turn signals separated from stop lights, you will need an electronic converter (#5410)

Mount the light with the license window together with the license bracket on the left rear with side marker to the outside of the trailer. Mount the light without the license window on the right rear of the trailer with the side marker to the outside.

Using frame clips mount each half of the harness down each side of the trailer with the yellow and brown wire down the left side and grean and brown down the right side. Connect yellow and brown wires to the left hand light and connect the green and brown to the right hand light. Attach white ground to the trailer tongue or frame.

[ssrjim]

Walmart (and other places) sells adapters for cars with yellow turn signals. It will give you the correct output to the 4 wire plug.

kai

Uhaul had one for $20.00.