How do I wire a utility trailer to a 1996 Camry?

[donbryce]

I got a great deal on a small trailer. It has a standard 4 pin connector. I did some research on-line and now I'm confused about a couple of things.
- Several sites, for example http://www.etrailer.com/pc-ELEE~119176.htm , sell a fancy/pricey module of some sort that is supposed to 'protect' the cars 'sensitive electronic components'. I also found a site that sells a simple 'T' connector that kind of splices into the harness, picking up turn, brake, and tail light signals, with no apparant 'protective' device.
- Why can't I just splice into the harness and connect the corresponding trailer lights to the cars lights?
- If this is not right, then can I put relays into a configuration that will power the trailer lights from the cars lights, but getting their 12V from a separate source?
- What is in these 'converters' that allow running a dual-filament bulb on the trailer (combined stop/turn) from separate stop and turn bulbs on the car? Are they just wiring the filaments as if they were 2 separate single filament bulbs?

[PurplDodge]

[toyomoho]

The Camry has separate lights for brake, tail and turn signals. If your trailer has a two-light system you need a converter to combine the cars brake and tail lights to use a single light on the trailer.

The more trailer lights the greater the load on the cars electrical system and the chance of blowing a fuse. If a small trailer with a few lights on each circuit you can splice into the car wiring without an isolator. An isolator has a separate power supply input to power the trailer bulbs.

This year of Camry does not have sensitive electronics, just a brake/tail light burnt out bulb sensor. You could place inline fuses in the trailer circuits to protect the cars electrical system for shorts in the trailer wiring.

The converter has a number of diodes, the diodes allow combining the brake and turn signal circuits to use one light on the trailer. This is more then just rewiring.

[TexanF250]

I also found a site that sells a simple 'T' connector that kind of splices into the harness, picking up turn, brake, and tail light signals, with no apparant 'protective' device.-

This is the route I would go. It's just plug and play. you don't need any protective device for sensitive electronic equipment.



Why can't I just splice into the harness and connect the corresponding trailer lights to the cars lights?

You can but if for a few bucks you can buy a plug in for the exisitng wire harness, it's a bunch quicker and less messy. Also, this part of the car gets rather dirty. The single biggest cause of failure for trailer lighting is loss of ground. My thoughts are that a prefabbed plug-in harness will prevent some headaches and peraps a ticket at some point down the road. As somoe that owns at least five trailers, the last thing you want to be doing is screwing with the trailer lights everytime you go to use it. A little extra money now for the plug-in harness will save you lots of headaches later. The harness wil also make it easier for you to do diagnostics on the trailer lights later if the need should ever arrive. My $0.02

[donbryce]

So is this the 'converter' device that I should be getting, or one like it? http://www.accessconnect.com/trailer...ccessories.htm


And I have 2 choices for wiring into the car's harness, I guess: Strip/solder/tape to the wiring harness in the trunk (using a test light and wiring diagram to find stop, turn, and tail-light leads), or go the junkyard and try to find a Camry with the same male/female plugs and fabricate a 'T' connector for each side of the harness? Seems to me it would be as much trouble to just attach the wires from the adapter to the harness while I'm in there.

BTW, this is the trailer I impulse-bought Sunday for $500.00, brand new


Next job is search for a used custom hitch under $100.00, or more than likely, buy a piece of box tubing and fabricate my own.

[Simpler=Better]

I went the fabricate my own route with the hitch on my 300D. Total cost came to around $200(Including the drill, grinder, dill bits, grade8 bolts, cutoff wheels, wire wheel, spray paint, wiring stuff, hitch tongue, and $50 welder's fee)

As for wiring, two properly sized diodes would do the trick to make a cheap "converter protector" (assuming you still have incandescent tail/signals)