Anybody Have a Car With LED Taillights?

And problems with incandescent trailer lights?

I had U-Haul install a tow hitch and trailer light wiring on my Mitsubishi Outlander. Today I bought a trailer, and the seller's magnetic trailer light set wouldn't operate at all on my car, though it worked fine when we plugged them into her Honda CR-V. Both cars have a standard 4-pin flat connector. My plug-in 4-pin circuit tester said everything was fine with my car wiring. The proper indicator light glows when I operate the lights and signals on the car.

I did some research and it appears that in some cases the taillight circuit(s) on an LED-equipped car don't supply enough current to 'fire' the incandescents on a trailer, and require some sort of power supply (wired to the car's battery) as part of the wiring harness.

I plan to take my car back to U-Haul next week, but was curious if anyone else had run into this issue.

Re: Anybody Have a Car With LED Taillights?

No problems here, sorry. I have leds on vehicle and incandescent on trailer and it works fine...

Re: Anybody Have a Car With LED Taillights?

You would need to measure the voltage at the plug in on the outlander. I think it is probably an issue with the ground on the new installation. Make sure the white wire on the newly installed wiring goes to the frame.

Re: Anybody Have a Car With LED Taillights?

I'd make sure that U-haul actually installed the correct isolater rather than just cobbling into the car wiring. I wouldn't let those monkeys touch a bicycle.

Re: Anybody Have a Car With LED Taillights?

JoLin said:

... and require some sort of power supply (wired to the car's battery) as part of the wiring harness...

Click to expand...

What you are referring to is a POWERED Converter.
A standard Converter uses the Tail/Turn/Brake Lamps to power the trailer.
A Powered Converter uses the Lamp voltage as a signal and uses a wire directly to the vehicle battery to power the trailer lamps.

But I would still think the LEDs just have a full power 12v applied to them.
If not, a fuse would likely blow!

Re: Anybody Have a Car With LED Taillights?

UPDATE - problem resolved, I think.

I'm still not exactly sure what the issue was (the U-Haul shop guy wasn't very articulate), but when I demonstrated my current portable lights on one of their trucks, the installer noted that they didn't light when he turned on the headlight/taillight switch (though they worked with turn signals and stop lights). According to him, that was the key that my lights weren't wired up internally in a way that the car wiring harness for my Mitsubishi was. He said if I plugged any of U-Haul's trailers or portable lights into the car, everything would work.

Soooo... I took a set of U-Haul's portable lights off the shelf, plugged them in, and everything worked fine. They cost me $30, but they're also much better built than the ones I had. One of these days I'll back my car up to a trailer that has permanently-installed lights on it and make sure it'll all work regardless of what I might be towing.

Still scratching my head, but at least I can tow my 'new' boat home tomorrow.