Premature

[Shadow Catcher]

I have had a premature trailer light converter failure (less than two months). It is a U-haul converter wired into a Subaru Outback Wagon. Lost the right turn signal. It has been replaced but, is this uncomon?

[madjack]

...nope, unfortunately, quite the opposite in fact...I have seen failures in factory boxes, Hoppy, T-One, U-Haul and others...the good news is that they usually fail in the first few months...after that they seem to go for quite a while...
madjack

[Von Pook]

I also had 1 fail, in fact, the right turn/ brake light portion. If there is any sort of short in the circuit the converter will fry. It only takes a small and quick short, but that is enough.

[wlooper89]

I think the converter is only needed with LED lights. Is that correct? I want to stick with the incandescent bulbs for now. It is just a matter of personal preference. I rather like the old fashioned look of of those bulbs on a teardrop although my tow vehicle has the LED's.

Bill

[madjack]

Bill, the converters are for converting the 4-taillight systems(red/amber) on many new cars to a 2-taillight system(red only) common to trailers.........
madjack

[wlooper89]

Bill, the converters are for converting the 4-taillight systems(red/amber) on many new cars to a 2-taillight system(red only) common to trailers.........
madjack

Madjack,

Thank you. Now I am at least headed in the right direction. I am still trying to understand why a converter is necessary. Would not the turn signal/brake wires work by just going to the second filament in the combination running light/stop/turn signal lamps? My trailer seems to be wired that way and I do not see a converter in the trailer. The original LG trailer wiring was for a flat four connector and I changed that to 7-Pin to match the tow vehicle and add a battery charge wire. My tow vehicle has amber turn signals. Could the converter be in the tow vehicle?

Bill

[Larwyn]

Bill, the converters are for converting the 4-taillight systems(red/amber) on many new cars to a 2-taillight system(red only) common to trailers.........
madjack

Madjack,

Thank you. Now I am at least headed in the right direction. I am still trying to understand why a converter is necessary. Would not the turn signal/brake wires work by just going to the second filament in the combination running light/stop/turn signal lamps? My trailer seems to be wired that way and I do not see a converter in the trailer. The original LG trailer wiring was for a flat four connector and I changed that to 7-Pin to match the tow vehicle and add a battery charge wire. My tow vehicle has amber turn signals. Could the converter be in the tow vehicle?

Bill

Yep, if you have separate turn signal and brake lights on the tow vehicle the converter is required to combine them on the trailer. My converter is on the truck near the 7 pin connector. The converter is basically a few diodes required to keep the lights operating properly on both ends. It is usually a non-serviceable "mystery block" of epoxy/resin with 4 wires going in and 2 coming out. The 4 diodes simply prevent backfeed between the stop and turn filaments on the tow vehicle while applying them both on the same output wire to the trailer.

There are also relay type converters for many modern cars where the lighting circuits are not up to carrying the extra load of the trailer lights. They use a direct (fused) connection to the positive side of the battery and ground, then the vehicle lighting circuits provide the pilot signal to operate the proper relay to power the trailer lights, minimizing any current increase in the vehicle lighting circuit wiring.

[wlooper89]

Larwyn,

Many thanks! Now it makes more sense to me. I can be a bit slow sometimes. Your mention of the word "diode" made it more clear. That would be needed or else a relay to keep trailer turn signal voltage from crossing over to the other turn signal through the stop light wire. Having both right and left turn signals flashing at the same time could be confusing to the driver behind.

My tow vehicle tow package included a converter I think, since my after market hitch installer did not have to add one. Before the installation he said it would cost a little more if he needed to add some sort of module. At the time I did not really understand what he meant. After installing the hitch he said he did not have to add the device. Later I added an 80" wide ID 3-lamp bar to the trailer, tapping into the running light wire. Hopefully it does not overload the tow vehicle light circuit. So far everything seems to work okay.

Bill