Recommendation for Converting American 7-Way Trailer Connector to a European 7-Way

Question:

Hello, Im stationed in Germany and would have a 2017 Audi Q7 US Spec and would like to connect a EU Trailer. What do I need to do this? My Audi has 7 Blade pin and 4 Pin. would it be better to connect to german 7 or 13 pin trailer?

asked by: Don C

Expert Reply:

The European 7-Way does the same thing that the US 4-Way does. There isn't an adapter available because the European 7-Way has separate circuits for nearly every function on each side of the trailer. The US style 4 or 7-Way has combined brake lights and turn signals.

What you will have to do is change over the US style 7-Way to a European one. You will need 1 European style vehicle side 7-Way and one special converter that separates the combined signals to separate ones.

You will need to remove the vehicle side 7-Way on the Jeep leaving the wires. Using a circuit tester such as # PTW2993, identify the left turn signal/brake light wire and the right turn/brake light wire. The left side wire will connect to the yellow input wire on converter # 118158. The right turn/brake light wire connects to the green input wire. White is ground on this converter. The running light wire will bypass the converter.

On the output side of the converter red will be brake lights only, green will be right turn only, and yellow will be left turn only. Wire up the new European vehicle side 7-Way accordingly. On the trailer side, you may have to run jumper wires for the running lights since the vehicle side will only have one running light wire.

expert reply by: Jameson C