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Auxiliary brake light problem

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4.5K views 5 replies 5 participants last post by  Diode Dynamics  
C
#1 ·
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Somewhere on the forum, I read that the most common collision for a transit is being rear ended. Considering the middle brake light is over 8 feet from the ground it probably isn’t that visible for a lot of vehicles. And considering the way that I drive I would like for all those behind me to know when I intend to stop. So I found these auxiliary brake lights on Amazon. These also gives turn signals and running lights. They mount in the trailer hitch and plug into the four pin trailer connector. They work great except……

Since the trailer hitch is “smart”, it thinks that the trailer is attached. This wipes out the cross traffic alert, the parking sensors, and the guidelines in the reverse camera, which I have become very dependent on. So I thought I would bypass that and wire a four pin connector directly to the tail lights. Now the right turn signal doesn’t work, the running light and brake light are reversed, and the left turn signal gives all lights blinking. I now know that I need an adapter of some sort. The ones that I found are “custom“ and wired back in to the factory trailer wiring. I would imagine that does not solve my problem. So now I’m looking for a universal adapter that can bypass the trailer towing system.

Does anyone have any experience with this? I will appreciate all the advice I can get.

By the way, I installed some Rigid mini floodlights, and attached them directly to my backup lights. They work great.
 
Discussion starter · #5 ·
Thank you for your replies and information. To update you I went ahead and got a kit similar to the one posted above. It is by Curt. I installed it as directed and tested it and found I had the same problems as before. So I knew my wiring wasn’t right in the taillights.

For some reason, I thought brown was the running lights, yellow was the left turn signal, and green was the right turn signal. But I must have missed the memo that said brown was the turn signals and the green and yellow were the running lights.

Anyway everything is working great, even the back up sensors and back up guidelines. I put a heavier duty 10 gauge copper wire from the battery to the adapter. I should have done that to begin with. I will also use it for power for the back up lights and install a relay system for safety‘s sake.

I had considered the diode dynamics, tow hitch, stoplight, and back up light. But apparently it is out of stock for a while, and when I looked at our stock hitch, it looked like the seven pin adapter would have trouble fitting. I also wondered if it would have the same problem with the back up sensors and guidelines. Now I will never know.
 
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