Tail Light Wiring

[Tikvah]

I'm sure this has been covered before, but here we go again...

I have relays on my outputs to make it all 12v but I still have one wire for brakes, one for left, one for right, and one for tail lights.
But for a towing "trailer" type lights it needs one left, one right, and one tail.  How do you make the transition?

For my last toad I simply duplicated a dual set of lights on the rear of the car (might just do that again anyway).  But I was thinking of using a set of magnetic towing lights for my toad (temporary toad).  And that needs standard trailer lights.

[chessie4905]

They make an adapter or module to convert to three wires.

http://www.reesehitches.com/categories/Tail_Light_Converters,128

[eagle19952]

those converters..you get what you pay for..a cheap one will not last.
and a good one needs a heat sink or some such rway as to allow some air circulation around it....mounting directly to a firewall or such will not live long either...

i finally mounted a mint can with holes drilled in it's sides, and the converter to the lid..i can get about 5000 miles out of one now..

[chessie4905]

You could buy a heat sink at an electronics store. Also if you change to LED's the reduced current should make them last longer.

[steve.barnett71]

Since you already have relays you could modify the wiring to get the 3 wire output you need.  I used this diagram posted by Jack Conrad and it works great.

[TomC]

My bus is 12v. I just wired the trailer plug directly to the rear lights. I have a 5 prong plug and run 2 sets of LED magnetic lights. Works wonderfully-and if you have to pull another car, already have the magnetic lights ready to go. Never had an overload situation since all my rear lights are LED. Good Luck, TomC

[chessie4905]

When I was a kid, I thought Altoids were suppositories for hemorrhoids.

[eagle19952]

You could buy a heat sink at an electronics store. Also if you change to LED's the reduced current should make them last longer.

did i tell you i am cheap...

[eagle19952]

When I was a kid, I thought Altoids were suppositories for hemorrhoids.

they aren't ?   

[Geoff]

Of course they are-- you are supposed to insert the whole can.

--Geoff

[Oonrahnjay]

they aren't ?   

Mat Lampoon Summer Vacation "what do you do for fun? Do you have PacMan?"
"No"
"Do you have Asteroids?"
"No but my dad does. Says they bedivil him something awful"