Taillight Converter Question

[Chris 85 RTS]

I hooked up a Hidden Hitch Powered taillight converter today to convert my busses separate turn/brake lights to the standard common turn/brake lights on a trailer.  I was surprised that when a blinker is on, and I hit the brakes, the brakes override the blinker.  That is, the side that was blinking stays lit up.  I know that when I connect to my Explorer, the blinking side keeps blinking, and the other side lights up for brake. 

Is anyone using one of these converters who can verify how it works for me?

Chris

[Chris 85 RTS]

Okay, not being one who gives up easy, I checked the converter on a battery stand alone. It does work as it should, blinkers override brakes. But it still did not work on the bus. I then checked the voltage on the taillights when the brakes were on, and it was less than 9V. I have 4 taillights, so I started removing them one at a time, with the brakes on and a blinker on. When I removed the 3rd one, voila, blinker started working. I measured the current, about 2 amps per light, so my guess is that the wiring is marginally sized. I did reseat all the connectors I could find, but it did not help.

Since I had just run a heavy guage wire from the battery to power the converter and the accessory pin on the 7-pin trailer connector I added, I decided to add a relay in the rear, to activate the brake lights, instead of drawing the power all the way from the front. WOW, my brake lights on the bus are way brighter, I mean like the sun. What a difference, and the trailer brake lights work as expected.

Whew, I am glad that is over!

[Len Silva]

Chris,

If the lights had been converted from 24 volts to 12 without rewiring, then it's likely that wire is too small.

Len Silva