Getting UK Thule Bike Rack Lights with 13-Pin Connector to Work with a US 2014 Ram 1500  

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Expert Reply:

As you probably know bike racks in the UK have to have lights on them. In the US they do not. So you could either not have lights or you would have to change either the connector on the bike rack or the one on your 2014 Ram 1500. I strongly advise changing the connector on the bike rack because it will be easier and less costly than changing the one on the truck and it will also keep your truck standard with the 4- and 7-Way connectors in case you need them for something else.

You would only need to determine which of the wires on the bike rack are from the left brake light, right brake light, and the running lights. On a European 13-Pin connector there will be more than one wire for running lights so you would splice those together and then connect them to a trailer side 4-Way brown wire.

The left brake light wire on the bike rack will connect to the yellow wire on a trailer side 4-Way and the right side brake light wire will connect to the green wire. You could either splice the left and right turn signal wires in with the brake light wires on each side respectively or leave them disconnected. This is because on a US trailer connector the brake lights and turn signals are on the same circuit/wire. If you leave the turn signal wires alone then those lights won't come on at all. If you attach them with the brake light wires then they will come on with the brake lights and turn signals.

For a trailer side 4-Way you can use # HM48110. The white wire is the ground (called Earth in the UK). This is a short connector since you won't need one with long wires attached.

expert reply by: Michael H

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