To tell if your vehicle has a 4 or 5 wire system what you want to do is have a friend go ahead and step on the brakes. And note which lights come on. Now what you want to do then is go ahead and turn on the turn signal while holding the brake down and turn on the right turn signal. As you an see you have your brake lights on and you see the amber turn signal going on to let you know you have a 5 wire system. Now on this vehicle here we have a 4 wire system. The way to double check that is go ahead and turn on one of the turn signals like the right one here. Note which bulb is burning and which filament on the inside and turn that off. Then go ahead and hit your brakes. And you notice here, it is one in the same. So that means your turn signal and your brake lights are one in the same and you just use a regular 4 wire system you do not need a converter.
Questions and Comments about this Video
i have a problem with hooking up electric brakes on a trailor.the trailor has two yellow wires an two brown wires comeing out of each wheel inside of frame.i don`t know which or why there is so many wires at each wheel.brake is blue and must be hooked to one of the wires and the other brown to frame.what do i do with all of these wires.thanks
comment by: robert - 10/2/2012
Typically the wiring scheme is as follows: blue-brakes, yellow-left turn/brake light, green-right turn/brake light, brown-running lights. Not all trailer manufacturers follow this code though. With the brakes, there should be two wires coming out of the assembly. One needs to be connected to your brake feed circuit, the other needs to be grounded to the trailer, preferably on the frame as close as possible to the brake assembly. The best thing to do is use a circuit tester and have someone run the signals in the truck. With the tester, you can determine which wires carry which signal. Something like our Quickee Tester, part #3808, should work just fine. Check the link below. I've also linked to a typical trailer wiring setup and the generally accepted color code. Again, not all trailer manufacturers adhere to it though.
Patrick B - 10/2/2012i cant find where to wire a four flat wire harness to my 19999 chevy express van any solutions to where i should hook it up and to which wire colors should go together
comment by: rob - 10/16/2012
The simplest and easiest solution is a plug-in harness. The harness plugs into the connectors behind the tail lights and doesn't require any splicing. It's a fairly easy process and we have a couple of videos on GMC vans that use the same harness that will walk you through the process. Check out the link below.
Patrick B - 10/17/2012Hey There! I have a Honda CRV 2003 Automatic. Is that a 4 wire system or 5 wire system? Im thinking 5 wire.......can you confirm that?? Is there a url or video that I can see how to hook up the wire system myself?
comment by: Robin C - 10/25/2012
Your 2003 Honda CR-V is a 5-wire system as the the turn signal, amber, is separate from the brake signal. Fortunately, the wiring for a 2003 Honda CR-V is particularly easy. Honda includes a port on your vehicle for a plug-and-play system, part 118336. Check the links to the part and a video of the system on a 2001 model.
Patrick B - 11/9/2012I have a 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee which has a 5 wire system and my trailer has a flat 4 wire hook up . What coverter do I need
comment by: Brad s - 11/21/2012
There is a plug-in kit available for your 1994 Grand Cherokee, part 118349. You will have to run one separate wire up to the battery for power. You can use the FitGuide at the top of our home page to enter your year, make and model to find all the parts that will fit your vehicle. I have added links to the part as well as an installation video of the same part on a 1998 Grand Cherokee.
Patrick B - 11/21/2012Have standard 6 wire plug on motorcycle with center pin constant power/axillary that is wired to a four wire trailer system. Have a Hopkins converter, p/n 48895 wired into female 6 pin plug to match wiring on the bike and the four wire system on the trailer. Have checked all connections and grounds repeatedly finding full line voltage at each tail/brake light/lic plate lamp. When attempting to use brake/turn application there is so little change in the appropriate filament as to be nearly invisible. All grounds, at each light assembly as well as from tongue to bike, are installed with star washers to improve contact. Have bypassed the ground with automotive jumper cable from trailer ground to negative post on battery to eliminate any possible miscues in the wiring system with no appreciable improvement. with bike running there is some improvement but not worthy of note. Attempted to install led tail/brake turn light assemblies and only one of the leds per assembly illuminated when power was applied. This puzzles me as the converter is supposed to be compatible with both leds and incandescent bulbs. Thanks for your help, Keith S.
comment by: Keith S - 11/24/2012
I am at a bit of a loss on this one. The one thing I can think of is your tail/brake/turn bulbs should have two filaments. One filament for the running light signal, and another brighter filament for turn/brake. Sometimes one will burn out, but not the other. Why you still have issues with LEDs is puzzling. There is one other thing you can check and that is the pin-out on the 6-way on the bike. There is a fairly universal pin-out for 7-ways, but there are a couple of accepted methods on the 6-way, one is more popular than the other. If you have not already, map out the 6-pin on the bike and make sure the adapter you built wires accordingly. Particularly if the grounds do not line up, then you may be getting a partial ground through the hitch ball which allows partial operation. I have added a link to a wiring article we have that has the more common of the two 6-way methods.
Patrick B - 11/26/2012This Old Trailer: Repairing a Trailer Light Wiring Problem
Today on This Old Trailer, we are going to fix some lighting problems. Now what is happening on this trailer is that one side of the taillights is not working at all and the passenger side sometimes works and sometimes does not. So the first thing we need to do is go ahead and check to make sure we have power going all of the way back. That means we will start from the front and check our way on to the back. The first thing we need to do is go ahead and apply power. We are going to start checking our power from the plug on back. What we are going to do is actually take out the screw that holds the connector together. We are going to push it inside then we are going to pull it apart. Then we can see the contacts on the inside. We are going to turn on the running lights and we are going to hit the brakes for the taillights themselves. So, we should have three wires hot. We will go ahead and check that. It looks like we have power for a second here and it went away. We will try the other two. It looks like the same thing. So it looks like we are dealing with some multiple shorts. So we know it is something definitely on the trailer at this point. So we will go ahead and go back to the taillight and start doing a visual inspection. 0:57
This Old Trailer : Replacing a 7-Pole Connector
Today on This Old Trailer we are going to diagnose some wiring problems. The problem with this trailer is that when you plug the trailer into the vehicle none of the lights work. It could be a variety of problems but the first thing we are going to do is start from the front and work our way back. Just to make sure there is nothing wrong with the towing vehicle use an independent power source to power up the trailer just to make sure. Then we will turn on the lights and check in the back. We have got our power supply on and it looks like there is nothing working in the back and also it looks like the running lights were not working either. Lets go back up to the front and check the connector. 00:33
This Old Trailer: Replacing a 6-Pole Connector
Today on This Old Gooseneck Trailer we are going to install part number PK11604 from Pollak. This is their 6-pole connector and we are going to replace the one that is originally on this trailer right now. Now, what has happened to this one is it has been basically pulled apart a few times and basically the insides are getting worn out and some of the screws a striped out. So, we are just going to go through it and replace it. The first thing we want to do is go ahead and take out this screw and this screw here. This little screw right here, this is kind of a clamp that holds the cable in place. Then this little set screw holds the inside in place and in alignment. OK, let us push that on out. Now, when you go ahead and take these wires apart, note which wires go to what. On the inside of the connector they are all labeled left turn, right turn, TM for trailer marker lights, S is for stop which will be for brakes typically and you have the A in the middle for auxiliary for whatever you want to use and then you have GD for ground. 0:55
Testing for a Correct Ground Connection Demonstration
Today we are going to show you a little bit on wiring. Basically, a wiring 101 or what to look for when you hardwire into a vehicle. Hardwire means actually getting to the wires and splicing into them and making a connection. The first thing you want to do when you hardwire a vehicle is you want to make sure you are grounded and get a test. Make sure your tester is working fine. On some cars you will see this on one of the wires. Being the same color like these black wires. You will see a lot of them ran to a screw inside the body here. Chances are that is going to be your ground. You can actually use that ground for your light tester. What we mean by a light tester is a device like this right here. Basically, this connects to the ground and what this device does is this hooks around the wire you want to test and you push it together and it precises the wire and touches the copper wire inside, creates a circuit and lights up when you have power in that wire.
Circuit Testing for Vehicle Wiring
Today we are going to show you a little bit of wiring. Basically, like a wiring 101 and what to look for when you are going to hardwire into a vehicle. And what hardwire means is actually getting to the wires and splicing into them making a connection. We will go ahead and do our test and ground it. Instead of piercing the wires, if you have a junction that is easy to get to go ahead and pull it apart. And instead of piercing the wire, go ahead and test on the inside here. Just check each individual contact here until you hit something. Then make sure you actually have your running lights on and then go ahead and turn them back off. It also proves to us that our ground is good and it is working with our electrical system here.
Trailer Wiring Diagrams
Trailer Wiring Harness Installation - 2001 Honda CR-V - Video
