Wiring Installation for Vehicle to Vehicle Taillight Converter

Question:

My vehicle has separate turn lights and brake lights and on my trailer it is combined. I understand I need a converter but on the converters wiring diagram it show a brake wire from the vehicle and the only wire is the brake control wire which shows it bypassing the converter. There are several converter 5 to 4 and a 3 to 2. Which one do I need ? If I do wire a converter on the vehicle side will the 6 pin still work as it did before installation ? Why can’t I just make my own system and wire the converter after the 6 pin and before my flat 4 ?

asked by: David

Expert Reply:

With 6-pole wiring such as the Pollack plug # PK11604 that you referenced the turn and stop signals are combined together the same way they are with 4-pole and 7-way wiring. There is one pin/circuit for the left side of the trailer and one for the right as shown in the linked diagram.

If you want to separate out the stop light from the combined turn/stop signal you can use a converter # 118158 which takes in the combined signals for both sides of the trailer and outputs separate left and right turns signals isolated from the brake light signal which exits the converter on the red wire. You can install the converter on the trailer side if you wish so that you do not need to make changes to the RV's 6-pole wiring setup.

When using a converter like this the running light circuit will completely bypass it. This device should not interact with a trailer brake controller's actual braking output signal; it only works with the lighting circuits.

expert reply by: Adam R