Can Bonded 4-Wire be Used on a Trailer with a 4-Way Connector but with 5 Wires

Question:

Can I use this with a standard 4 pin connector with 4 wires. one green ? turn one yellow ? turn one brown green one brown yellow and one white ground Any suggestions on connecting to a 4 wire system with labels like turn left turn right tail marker ground

asked by: Mike

Expert Reply:

The bonded 4-wire, # 16-4B-1 has white, brown, yellow, and green wires. Typically, white is ground, brown is running lights, yellow is left turn and brake, and green is right turn and brake.

With the wiring you have as listed, the turn left would connect to the yellow wire, turn right would connect to the green wire, tail marker would connect to the brown wire, and white would be ground. I have included a link to our wiring FAQ that also has some helpful wiring diagrams.

On a 4-Way connector with 5 wires, that is what is called a wishbone harness. The running light circuit is split at the connector so that is why there is 5 wires. The yellow brown is the running light wire for the left side. The green brown is for the running lights on the right side. Replacing it with a 4 wire harness would mean that you would have to run a jumper wire for the running lights from one side of the trailer to the other.

expert reply by: Michael H