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If you're looking to add trailer lights without hassle, the Hopkins Active Tail Light Converter is your go-to solution. The kit provides everything you need for installation, including a 14-gauge power lead wire, quick-splice connectors, a fuse holder and fuse, self-tapping screw, zip-ties, and terminal grease. Whether you're a DIY enthusiast or a first-timer, this kit is designed to make your installation process straightforward and efficient.
Protect your vehicle's electrical system with the Hopkins converter's isolated power supply. By drawing power directly from your car’s battery, it ensures brighter and consistent trailer tail lights while safeguarding your vehicle from trailer malfunctions. With a capacity of 5 amps, it’s perfect for most light-duty towing applications, ensuring you drive with confidence knowing both your vehicle and trailer are safe.
Don’t worry about compatibility issues; this converter fits a wide range of vehicles. Whether you're working on a Ford Crown Victoria, a BMW, or even a Saab, the Hopkins Active Tail Light Converter 46255 offers a universal fit solution. By using plug and lead connections, you can splice the converter into your vehicle’s existing taillight wiring with ease.
Encounter tail light issues during your connection? The converter separates vehicle electronics from trailer lights and offers an effective fault isolation. If problems arise, like non-functioning trailer tail lights, it's easy to track and replace faulty components within the converter without affecting your car’s system.
Modern vehicles with computer-controlled electronics can face risks with improper trailer wiring. This converter is designed with these in mind, providing a safe and reliable interface between your vehicle and trailer. No need to worry about voltage drops or short circuits damaging sensitive vehicle electronics.
If you're towing with a European model like a Mercedes or BMW, this converter handles LED trailer lights efficiently. By incorporating load resistors, it ensures proper function without triggering error codes or warnings on your vehicle’s dashboard. This means a smoother towing experience without technical interruptions.
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Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Speaker 1: Today, we're taking a look at the Hopkins Active Tail Light Converter with Install Kit. Now, this product works for a lot of different vehicles. So, to ensure that this is a fit for your vehicle, you can always use the vehicle fit guide, which is located at E-trader.com. Now, this converter kit wires into your vehicle wiring and provides a four way flat trailer connector at the back of your vehicle to power your trailer signal lights. It does come with all the necessary connectors for an easy installation. It does have a five amp capacity, and once installed, it's designed to completely isolate the tow vehicle from any trailer malfunctions or trailer shorts.Power is taken directly from the vehicle battery for isolation, and brighter trailer tail lights.
Now, this converter box, right here, features a weather-proof design. And again, this is the unit that protects the tow vehicle from trailer malfunctions. It's a really nice design. It's easy to use.On this side of the box, you have your four-way flat wiring, with a four-way flat connector. And it does come with a dust cap.
That way, when your plug's not being used, you can protect the connection points. This would route towards the rear of your vehicle, and provide that connection when you're ready to tow a trailer.On this side, you have your individual wires, and as you can see, there's no connector on here. So, these are designed to hard-wire into the wiring system on your vehicle, which would be just directly behind the vehicle's tail lights. It does come with detailed installation instructions to help walk you through that whole process. Each wire has a different function.
I just want to talk about two of them real quick.So, these right here are designed for you know to send the signals back to the trailer. So, it's going to provide your stop and turn signal, tail light functions, so forth. One for the passenger side, one for the driver's side. The wire that has the butt connector on it, that's going to be your hot lead. So, this is the wire that gets connected to the bundle of wiring, which runs to the vehicle battery, gets connected to the fuse holder here.
So, one side has a butt connector on it. The other side has a ring terminal. The ring terminal gets connected to the positive post of the vehicle battery, and it does come with your 15 amp fuse and the fuse cap that keeps it safe and protected.The other wire, the white wire, has a ring terminal attached to it. This is your ground wire, and you want to get that secured to a suitable grounding location with the including ground-in screw. It also comes with your quick splice connectors for easy connecting, and it comes with some zip ties, that way, you can secure any excess or slack in your wiring. And it comes with some terminal grease that can be applied to the connection points, and keep them safe from corrosion.That's going to do it for today's look at the Hopkins Active Tail Light Converter with Installation Kit.
Hitch went on as advertised. Good quality components and excellent fit, tucking away as good as possible. Support was excellent when calling for advice on wiring kits. Once again etrailer for the win!
Y'all are the one stop shop for everything trailer hitches. I've gotten many years from the hitch and wiring kit for my Taco and expect the same for this new hitch for my Bimmer wagon. Thanks again!.
The controller did not work straight out of the box. All connections were checked and double checked, so it is definitely a bad controller. Unfortunately, I purchased the controller in March and only now had opportunity to install it, so it seems I'll not be able to exchange it. It is disappointing that so many brand new items do not work straight out of the box these days. A shop who does work on my vehicles on occasion said that over the past 4-5 years, he has seen a huge jump in bad components.
Brooke M.
9/12/2024
I think we will be able to help you here. It is not unheard of to have a defective unit from time to time. I am looking into this for you. Be on the lookout for an email!
The kit was very easy to install. It came with everything you need. Very happy that I now have working trailer lights. Thank you.
I received this product the other day and went to work installing it on my 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo. This was done outdoors on a sunny 90 plus degree day on [the driveway].
Prior to buying I had read the online instructions and, more importantly, watched an installation video. The video was a huge help and the kit was very easy to install. The snap splice connectors work like a charm. I used extra zip ties I had to secure the power line in place as I routed it down the passenger side of the Jeep. Hook up to the battery terminal was easy.
I did not have a circuit tester to check the individual wires to ID their function but since their colors exactly matched the video, I decided to take my chances. It worked out great.
Installation of the power wire would be easier on a lift but I don’t have one installed in my driveway so it entailed crawling under the
I have ordered from Etrailer several times over the years. Always have exactly what I need. Good prices and fast shipping. Could not be happier. This wiring harness was perfect. Installed it in a few minutes.
Thanks.
Works great
Trailer signals work intermittent. Tap on the converter and they work again
Great product. If you don't have a friend to help you align the hitch during installation, a floor jack is very helpful. When using the fishwire for the first time just be patient, it takes a little time to get the hang of it. Also, I ran the harness through the car underneath the carpet and up through the side kick panel to the battery rather than underneath the car. Mazda 3s are low enough already to worry about a wire harness coming down underneath the car. Just spend some extra time and do it right.
Jacob
3/24/2019
Great. Still works just fine.
Excellent. The only down side for my Lexus RX300 was not having an “easy” way to mount male 4-way next to hitch rather than stowing it beside tire bay. No big deal just a plus.
I ordered a ball, ball mount, Curt Hitch and Hopkins Converter kit for the lights. My order was potentially delayed due to the ball I ordered not being in stock. It arrived within the shipping time quoted. Without the required hitch pin to hold the ball mount to the hitch.
The Curt hitch bolted right up. And looks fine.
The Hopkins converter kit is a complete joke. The website said it was for my vehicle, which it is.. The only problem is, the wiring connections are a joke when a simple adapter could be used to do all of the tail light connections. (Running lights, brake lights, right and left turn signal are all wired to a simple connector on the drive4rs side. 3M connectors make me nervous! They make adapter plugs for many for other vehicles, never saw this option offered by Etrailer. I hope to receive the hitchpin by the middle of this week.
If we are required to use a 3M connector, you should at least supply the silicone dialectric grease to complete the job.
Heather A.
8/20/2018
The hopkins wiring harness part # 46255 is a universal wiring kit. Currently, there is not a plug and play option for a 2004 Buick LeSabre. This kit does include a small packet of dielectric grease but if you need more I recommend part # 11755 2 oz dielectric grease.
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It was sooo pleasant to hear an American Voice answer my questions...
Before installing Hopkins Active Taillight Converter kit 46255 I didn't have any trailer stop lights. After installation all trailer lights worked perfect. S.L.
Sidney L.
10/1/2014
Works perfect. Great product.
This piece of junk worked when installed, but only briefly. I rarely use a trailer but need the lights to work reliably when I do. Probably about the third or fourth short trip the internal electronics fried themselves and the switching inside the unit failed, leaving one light on all the time and the other not working at all. This was using the most basic configuration of trailer lights - just two #1157 bulbs, that's it. No possibility of overloading the converter, which was located inside the hatchback area of the tow vehicle, hardly ever used, and not out in the weather. The failure occurred just at about 7 months of ownership, etrailer refused to stand behind the obviously defective product since the warranty is only 6 months. Really, for automotive use, a product should last years. Two thumbs down.
I bought this for a 2004 Buick Lesabre limited, so I could pull small trailers and someday a small boat. It's somewhat easy to install. Once I figured out the purple wire in the car is for the tail light on the converter box, it was all good. Anyway, it does what it's supposed to, which is amplify the power to the trailer lights, and it does it very well. This product will ensure your vehicle's electrical system will be safe under the extra load of the trailer lights. The only issue I had was figuring out where to mount the converter box, and had to get creative. I think using a strong adhesive to stick it to the inside wall of the trunk would be the best option.
The product is as described. I installed this on a 2003 Toyota Avalon. I took the time to research the factory wire colors, and I was reasonably successful.
There are two wires into each blinker light housing. A green and yellow wire and a black and white wire.
The black and white wire is the emergency flasher. The green and yellow wire is the blinker. Resist the urge to overthink it, both blinkers are green and yellow wires.
I chose to wire everything to the drivers side of the vehicle. The reasoning was that there was sufficient power wire (RED) from the isolator to go from the drivers side rear blinker to the battery in the forward end of the engine compartment. There is also sufficient wire (GREEN) for the passenger side blinker. I routed everything through the factory wire chases by removing the trim pieces (no tools required) and removing the back seat. You can easily follow the factory wires. Since I mounted the isolator inside the left blinker trim panel, all the other wires were sufficient to connect the brake and driving lights. I hooked up the ground (WHITE) to a bolt that holds the rear lamp assembly in place. A 10mm nut was readily accessible for this.
I searched high and low for a location to run the power wire through the firewall. There is no factory spare that I could find. That being said, I decided the best location to drill a small hole was near the accelerator cable. This area provided plenty of clearance to avoid any other component.
I used some rubber insulation material and a little bit of plastic as a chafe guard in the hole. Zip ties competed the job, and it looks like a factory installation.
I tested the lights by hooking up to a trailer with a 4 pin flat connector. Everything worked perfectly.
This is a good product, although my interior installation method is far superior to running the power wire under the body, along the frame rails, next to brake lines, etc.
Take your time and run the wiring where it belongs, inside the vehicle.
Incidentally, I let the connection pigtail for the trailer to stay inside the trunk until I need it, then it can drape across the weatherstripping and outside the trunk with the lid closed. No pinch. There is sufficient wire to do this easily.
One year in and the wiring harness is still working great. I had to reset the in-line fuse once because the trailer lights were not functioning, but that was a 30 second fix. Pop out the fuse, pop it back in. Done.
Installed on a 2009 328i BMW, took more work to get interior panels off/on in trunk area than the wiring. I had the electrical wiring diagrams for the car which really helped.
Russellb
6/27/2017
Just went camping hooked up trailer and all lights worked as they should great product.
I ordered this product even though I didn't need it to make the trailer lights work properly. I bout it in this case to isolate the vehicle and trailer lighting system from each other. With computers controlling everything on modern vehicles a short in trailer wiring could cause the vehicle to stop running when it sees a problem. I did need this same item on out Jeep Liberty to make the brake and turn signals work.
etrailer is my go to place for towing items. Good prices and fast shipping. Good customer service too. A cheap price is no good without good customer service.
Hello Carol,
I installed it as usual but it did the same thing than a previous one. The only light that worked were the tail lights. Tested all incoming wires - were all connected. Fortunately I still had one that I got from you a couple of years ago which worked fine. Please be so kind and send a return label. Thank you very much for all the great service I received from you over the years.
As usual my experience was nothing short of amazing! I need to replace my trailer wiring harness on my ‘05 ML500. Ashley answered my call, heard & understood what I need along with any extra items. She even looked up my similar purchase from 3yrs ago to be sure we had the correct items for My vehicle! Fantastic Friendly & fast service! We had the order placed in less than 5 min & had a confirmation & notice of order complete & ready to ship within 2hrs! Shipped the next day & I received the goods on wed.!
THANK YOU ASHLEY!! And THANK YOU ETRAILER once again for fantastic service!
Good directionstuff to be helpful. The installation to be easy. Took me about 1 hour to complete and working flawless when done.
Dan R.
5/25/2016
Works great. No issues
Easy to install. After that it kept blowing fuses left and right. It was rated for the trailers I was pulling so i was quite disappointed. Soon after the wires overheated and started creating smoke inside the vehicle so I removed and replaced with a different brand.
Thank you for following up with me. I would first like to say your customer service is first rate. The hitch and wiring harness are great too. Install was fairly easy and instructions good. The only minor problem I have is that the trailer ball I purchased and used on the trailer began to rust last fall. Probably my own fault for going through the car wash too many times with the hitch in. Anyway, thanks again for the follow up.
If you need help with finding a trailer hitch, look no further. I have a Volvo and was looking for a trailer hitch. I contacted the dealership and was put on hold for 30 minutes. They said that they would call me back, never did. I then called etrailer within 5 minutes my order was placed. I received my hitch 2 days later.This is a no nonsense business, that believes in the customer. I highly recommend this company and will use it for future use.
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Gwendolyn Y.
4/17/2025
Thanks for saying that, Uke! What are you going to be carrying on your Bimmer?