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Old 02-24-2017, 10:10 PM   #1
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Wire toad through trailer plug?

I have a 2004 Wrangler TJ that I want to pull behind my motorhome.

Right now I'm working on the lighting. The Jeep is already wired to tow a trailer, the wiring plugs into the factory wiring harness to provide a flat 4 connector to the trailer.

Can't I just connect "to" the flat 4 that goes to the trailer, run a length of 4 wire forward to the Motorhome and wha la everything will work? What am I missing, I haven't heard of anyone doing it this way?

Thanks in advance,
Steve
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Old 02-25-2017, 04:45 AM   #2
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It sounds like it would work, but not being familiar with your Jeep I would not say for sure.

I see two possible problems.

Are the taillights fed from a body computer, or are they hard wired to the turn signal and light switches? I would not backfeed a computer.

Do you have amber turn signals separate from the brake lights, or does a single filament serve the turn and brake functions? If you have amber turn signals and the lights are hardwired, the factory harness has diodes that let the turn and brake feeds go to the single trailer light filament without cross feeding the Jeep's separate turn and brake filaments. These diodes would prevent the 4-wire harness's combined turn/brake from getting to the Jeep's taillights.

I had to install diodes to feed the taillights on our Pathfinder, which has amber turn signals. This allowed the 4-wire harness to power the Pathfinder's brake light as either a turn signal or a brake light. The amber turn signal is not used when it is being towed.

A wiring diagram for your Jeep should answer these questions.
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Old 02-25-2017, 06:15 AM   #3
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Don't think it will work, because...
Your Jeep's wire, when connected to a trailer, feeds power TO the trailer via the brake when you hit it, to the turn signals when you complete an electrical circuit with the turn signal lever, and to the running lights when you turn on the lights by activating a light switch.
Basically your by-passing all the switches and just running a "dead" line to the Jeep.
But, an easy way to try it is just to back yopur Jeep up to the motor home and use a short run of trailer connector wire to the jeep.
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Old 02-25-2017, 07:36 AM   #4
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Thanks. No Amber lights. Good idea on checking wiring schematic.
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Old 02-25-2017, 07:40 AM   #5
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I figured I'd ask first. Don't want to hookup to MH to check, too much a chance on damaging something on both vehicles. I think for starters I'm gonna send some power through the trailer plug with a battery charger and see if I can get the taillights to light up.
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Old 02-25-2017, 01:02 PM   #6
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This sounds like a bad idea. The motorhome connection is wired to drive taillights, So is the Jeep's. Connecting the two will put voltage on the output of a circuit can burn out circuitry. It's also possible really bad things will happen if you have your RV lights on, and then get in the Jeep and touch the brake pedal (both drive circuits putting out power connected together)

Chances are also that the trailer light connector (on either vehicle) is not wired to the light bulbs. If memory serves, the vehicle's lights are on a different set of outputs as the trailer wiring. They do this so that if there is a problem on the trailer wiring, it will not take out the vehicle's lights. I don't think connecting the two vehicles through the trailer harnesses will make the lights operate.

Just run wiring to the Jeep's taillights with diodes, and don't risk screwing up both vehicles.

Just my opinion... Good luck!
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Old 02-25-2017, 01:17 PM   #7
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Wire toad through trailer plug

I tow a Ford Explorer behind our Georgetown. When it came to wiring lights for the Explorer I didn't want to get involved with the Ford wiring. I got a trailer wiring kit and 2 Truk-Lite led oval lamps with bezels. I bolted the lights to the safety chain holes in the Explorer hitch. Then tie rapped the wire under the Toad. Plug & play and no problem interrupting the Ford.
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Old 02-25-2017, 01:23 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ckabrahamson View Post
This sounds like a bad idea. The motorhome connection is wired to drive taillights, So is the Jeep's. Connecting the two will put voltage on the output of a circuit can burn out circuitry. It's also possible really bad things will happen if you have your RV lights on, and then get in the Jeep and touch the brake pedal (both drive circuits putting out power connected together)

Chances are also that the trailer light connector (on either vehicle) is not wired to the light bulbs. If memory serves, the vehicle's lights are on a different set of outputs as the trailer wiring. They do this so that if there is a problem on the trailer wiring, it will not take out the vehicle's lights. I don't think connecting the two vehicles through the trailer harnesses will make the lights operate.

Just run wiring to the Jeep's taillights with diodes, and don't risk screwing up both vehicles.

Just my opinion... Good luck!
X2 on this, my knowledge of electronics says this is a bad idea. (the reason most kits to do this have diodes is to avoid just what you are thinking of... don't do it!
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Old 02-25-2017, 01:25 PM   #9
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I don't think that's going to work. When you try to put power into the wiring from that end, I believe you're going to just wind up blowing fuses. For my 2014 Wrangler toad, I purchased the Blue Ox lighting kit. Costs a bit more, but you don't have to mess with diodes, etc. You just pull the taillight assembly out of the Jeep and the Blue Ox harness plugs in to the light assembly on one side and the factory harness on the other side. There is a small control box that I mounted inside the body behind the driver's side taillight. Then run that wiring to the front of the Jeep and mount it into a trailer plug. From there, you simply plug an umbilical to the back of the RV and you're done. The umbilical had an extra wire, so we connected that to the taillights of the RV to provide power for the trickle charger that comes with the Invisibrake in the Jeep. I simply turn on the RV's headlights when I drive and it keeps the battery in the toad all charged. Never had a problem with it at all.
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Old 02-25-2017, 02:00 PM   #10
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Wire toad

Your best bet is to buy a Demco RVTOW Harness wiring kit. Easy to in stall. No worry about diodes, no drilling holes for light bulbs, etc. Hooks up to factory tail light harness. /all you need after that is to run the wires to the front of the vehicle hook up to tow harness in front and that's it. They are vehicle specific.
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Old 02-25-2017, 06:01 PM   #11
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Wiring Kit

go to: trailerpartstogo.com

They will have it if it is available..







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Old 02-25-2017, 07:24 PM   #12
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Thanks for all the responses, I may have some time to play with it tomorrow.

In the end I'm going to buy my own flat 4 wire and connectors and add bulbs and sockets in my existing tail lights to have a completely separate system from the Jeep.

Steve
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Old 02-25-2017, 07:31 PM   #13
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Good conversation, but what I haven't seen is the multi state law to have a remote brake installed in your toad. I use the invisibrake, all my lights and the invisibrake work as advertised.
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Old 02-26-2017, 08:06 AM   #14
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It should work.

On my Saturn Vue, I installed an RV 7 pin plug on the front of the car.

On the front of the car, I wired the 7 pin connector directly to the front parking lights and the front left and right turn signal lights. I then make a 5 ft long cable with 7 pin connectors on both ends. One end plugs into the MH and the other end plugs into the Vue.

We sometimes pull our Camry on a dolly. I wired it similar but used a flat four female connector under the hood. Its wired into the parking lights and the turn signals. I then have a "Y" cord that I plug into the MH, it then plugs into the dolly, and also the front of the Camry.
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Old 02-26-2017, 11:22 AM   #15
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That sounds like your hooking one power source to another power source bad idea
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Old 02-27-2017, 09:52 PM   #16
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Well when I applied power to my trailer plug, the parking lamps, turn signals and brake light all lit up, so it was possible to provide power from the "back".

I'm not going to do it this way cause I'm still unsure of what potential damage it could cause. I've added an additional bulb and socket in each of my tailights so it will be a completely independent system.

I will post pics when I'm done.
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Old 03-02-2017, 01:37 PM   #17
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Independently wired bulbs, not using vehicle harness at all.
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