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Tow safely and legally with this wiring converter. Ensures that the brake and turn signals from your motorhome with a combined lighting system appear correctly on your towed car with a separate lighting system. Made for incandescent tail lights.
Features:
Specs:
Note: Cannot be installed backward for use with a 3-wire tow vehicle and a 2-wire towed.
A combined lighting system (also known as a 2-wire system) uses the same light bulb to signal both braking and turning. (In other words, the car signals a turn by flashing the brake light.)
A separate lighting system (also known as a 3-wire system) has the brake signal and the turn signal light up independently of each other. Typically, the turn signal is amber.
In order to use these two together, you need a converter that can accurately translate the signals from the motorhome to the towed vehicle.
California residents: click here
Just what I need for my trailer yellow turn sig lights
Products are top-notch, and the value added from Etrailer is HUGE.
Thank you Etrailer, for being there for me, David M.
Excellent product. Used this baby to add a third brake light to the back of my travel trailer. Installation was straight forward and easy.
Very disappointed. Between the Left turn/stop, and the Left turn only there is a 90 degrees phase change. In other words the turn only lights do not blink at the same time as all my other lights that have turn/stop. This also applies to the right turn signal too.
The only thing that works like I wanted is the stop only wire.
I mounted a juction box on the front of the trailer and connected my 4-wire trailer connection to it. From this box I ran a ground wire to all lights and to the convertor input, the green right turn/stop to the convertor input, the yellow left turn/stop to the convertor input, the brown to my tail lights, license plate light, marker lights and clearance lights.
I ran the 3 wires from the convertor output to another juction box. I connected the green right turn to the right amber light, the yellow left turn to the left amber light, the red brake to the red right and left brake light and the third brake light. No diodes needed.
I'm using your Bargman LED Double tail light Red and Amber and Bargman wraparound clearance/side marker red on rear amber on front.
You people at etrailer are "THE BEST". I believe you are the only outfit that knows your products and can tell us how to install them!
Bought this as part of the installation of the Nighthawk tow bar and Invisi-brake supplemental braking system. It works well and was pretty easy to install.
Yes it was delivered today but I will not be needing it as the blue ox does not require this or the diodes
This product works well with some thought and acknowledgement that it has limitations.
I have just bought my second one. The previous one failed after five years.
This new one etrailer recommend the use of diodes to prevent feedback to the towing vehicle.
This is not a bad idea but was not previously available.
The circuit diagram that comes with this unit was misleading to me.
Eventually I figured it out and will passon what I learned.
My trailer has separate orange indicators.
It is wired as all my trailers are with a seven way plug.
You will see each diode having three connections.
Two from the towing vehicle and one to the indicator bulbs.
I just used one of the diode input tags connected to the appropriate wire from the seven way.
The output I fed to the indicator bulbs.
I have three indicators on each side of the trailer and they can all run off of the same tab.
I am enclosing a few pictures.
The first one is the old unit which was housed in a separate box screwed to the chassis.
Then I had a second box which held all the connections.
The second picture shows the new unit contained in its own box with the five diodes used.
The box is just a plastic project box from Radio Shack.
The last picture is of the finished unit all sealed and ready to go.
Now for those limitations.
Do not expect this to work as though it were an extension of a four wire vehicle.
The indicators will work and the brake lights work BUT the indicators go off when the brake is applied.
The unit cannot run the separate indicator and the brake at the same time.
Peter
10/11/2021
No problems so far
I gave up trying to find a wire to tap for a third brake light on a 2013 GMC Sierra, so I ordered a 2 to 3 wire adapter ( #118158) as recommended by you expert Michael H. He stated that only one of the inputs was needed, but both Left and Right turn were required to make mine work at all. That aside, the product was received quickly and installation was simple using the enclosed diagrams. I have never seen anything mentioned anywhere about waterproofing undervehicle connections. I do and they last for years.
Sam
5/6/2015
Does the 3rd brake light flash when using the hazard lights?
Anonymous
5/24/2015
Yes, emergency flashers will flash the third light also.
ashley module worked like a charm thank you
Gwendolyn Y.
5/8/2025
I'll make sure to pass on your thanks to her, Wayne :)
I use Optronics oval LED lighting exclusively and I don't think this was made to work with them because of the rapid response of the LEDs. I use this so that on a 4 wire system I can have turn signals on the side of the trailer. When you first hit the brakes, there is a fast blip of light from the side marker/turn signals. With an incandescent bulb it would be too fast to light the bulb. This is something I can live with. I think this works great with no problems so far.
This converter worked great for what I intended it for. I was wanting to add a third brake light to back of my fifth wheel trailer. I purchased STL179RB Glolight Thinline LED also. I tried to wire this direct. It won't work, it flashes when you turn the turn signal on. A friend of mine recommended this after doing a search on the etrailer website. Etrailer support recommendation was installing two lights. Duh! that's why I wanted a third brake light, I already have two lights that function as stop/tail/turn. The installation in these pictures is not complete. I was trying to avoid drilling holes in the back of my trailer, I still may have to. I am going to enclose the wires going up the trailer to the light in some white wire loom. The light at present is secured with only white RTV, not sure that will hold. I'm still trying to avoid drilling new holes, may have to though. I hooked up all the wires on the input side, white to ground, green to right stop/turn, yellow to left stop/turn. I hooked only the red wire to red wire of the light on the output side. I hooked the ground (white wire) of light to input side of converter. Yes, it works and no it does not blink when either blinker is turned on. The additional two wires on the output side of converter are not being used nor is the additional wire of the light. Sorry for the long review, don't usually write reviews at all. Anyway, if this will help even one person it will be worth it.
First off the customer service at etrailer is by far the best that I have dealt with. If I had a question, they sent me an email response very quickly. Secondly, the shipping is extremely fast. I placed the order and it came to an APO AE address (military stationed in Germany) via USPS Priority Mail and it arrived in like 5-7 days, I was shocked when it arrived, because I was expecting at least another 3 or 4 days.
So, as far as the product. Works great and was just what was needed.
Project was to make an adapter that I could plug into my 2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee U.S. spec and use a German trailer. My friend did all of the wiring and made the adapter, so I do not take any credit for any of it. Just sharing this, to those trying to figure out if it can be done.
Moving on, the adapter is a 7 pin/blade normal American plug that goes into the back of the JGC and the other end of the adapter is the 13 pin German (European) socket. We tried it without this product and all worked except when you hit the brakes the brake lights were faded and the blinker lights were lit up as if they were the brake lights. So, had to get this product and separate the brake/blinker light on the American side and have separate brake and turn wires on the German side.
Put this product between the two in the middle of the adapter, wired it up and all works great!
I used 2 zip ties around the product and a bunch of electrical tape to hold it to the adapter, at least to give it a better look.
Now I only have to plug in the adapter whenever I use a German trailer and all works correct. When done towing, remove the adapter and everything is back to the American system. Did not have to cut/splice or do anything to the wires on the JGC or the trailer, all was done at the adapter.
Thanks again to etrailer for providing awesome customer support and shipping!
Jeff
Used to add little LED marker turn lights on the corners to vintage two circuit airstream trailer. The led corner lights now are red running at night, red stopping by day and switch to yellow, when turning, day or night.
madison was great!
Gwendolyn Y.
3/5/2025
Thanks for giving Madison a shoutout! I'll make sure she sees this :)
Interested in adding a third light up higher on your trailer for additional visibility? This product will separate the turn signal and brake signal on a four pin connector so you can add a running and brake light up higher to be visible. Simulates the third light that most cars and trucks have these days in the center of the back window. Positive for the semi-trucks visibility. You do not really think they can see the normal trailer lights 12" off the ground when following close behind or coming over a hill do you?
Included a picture with just the running lights illuminated.
Thank you etrailer for having the right products in stock! Most other dealers did not know what I was talking about and one even told me it was against the law. Called state highway patrol and they encouraged the additional third light! I also added the higher side running lights when semi's are merging behind you at night.
The tail light converter worked better than expected. Successfully added a third brake light to a unique trailer. Took the guesswork out of project with the instructions provide.
I was looking for a way to add a third tail light to a vintage trailer and this proved to be just the ticket. Easy to install and worked great right out of the box.
Plenty of communications from etrailer staff along the way. Just wish they would provide tracking info so you could plan for expected receipt date.
Great service on a part I wasn't aware was available. Was going to use a 7 pin adapter to power seperate lights on a little camp trailer. This will simplify my needs.
Thanks..
Easy painless installation!
I used this product to install a third brake light on my TC Teardrop camper.
I wanted to covert a rear, high, center, red light from a running light to a 3rd brake light. This was the answer. It took less than 1/2 hour to plan and install this converter and it works perfectly. I now have a 3rd brake light on my Off Grid Trailers Pando 2.0.
Shipping was fast. Installation was easy. Works as designed. Couldnt ask for a better result. Now my tow car is all wired correctly.
Easy to install, easy to wire and it Works great!
Paula
7/8/2024
This tail light converter is still working exactly as it should be. I love the peace of mind that comes from having distinct amber blinking lights for my turn indicators instead of only the red light blinking. It makes the back of my trailer so much more visible!
The "Vehicle To Vehicle Tail Light Converter", Item #118158 is serving my needs well. I refitted my trailer completely using all LED lights. I mounted the converter inside the "C" channel underneath my tongue mounted toolbox for a little added protection. I also soldered all connections throughout the re-wire and used heat shrink &/or liquid rubber over all connections. I feel that proper planning prevents poor performance. I ordered numerous lights from etrailer also, and all are working fine. When I chose to call them with a question about one of their products, it was answered quickly and appropriately. I am a business person, and that's customer service!
Jim R.
4/6/2021
The tail light converter is still working fine. I have no regrets.
My taillight adapter arrived quickly, undamaged, and exactly as advertised. Prior to ordering, I emailed etrailer.com techs with a question. They responded quickly and with excellent advice.
This little converter is simple to install. My trailer has a shared turn signal/brake wire. The adapter allows me to connect a lighted license plate frame that also has a third brake.
John D.
3/5/2015
What great customer service! You guys and your products are fantastic. The items I bought are working 100
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Victoria H.
1/13/2025
Hi Gary, as long as it is unused I can help you get this returned. Please let me know what you would like to do.