Can Red Trailer ID Lights be Wired to Come On Only with Brake Lights

Updated 06/07/2016 | Published 06/06/2016

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Question:

how would you wire up the ID lights on a 7 wire harness so that the brake light function only comes on with the brake lights and not the turn signals. seems to me that the left turn/brake or the right turn/brake use a single wire for both signals to the appropriate side. is there a wire within the harness that only sends a braking signal that you would wire the red wire into?

asked by: Jordin

Expert Reply:

Trailers in the US have combined brake lights and turn signals so getting a brake light only from a combined circuit requires a converter of some kind. ID lights # MCL22RK3B are meant to tie into the running light circuit so they do not have a converter. To get them to come on only with the brake lights and not the turn signals you would need to wire them into the combined brake/turn signal wire on either side via converter # C56196.

You would tee off from the left turn/brake light wire and splice to the yellow wire on the converter. Tee off of the right turn/brake wire and splice to the green wire. White is ground. On the output side, you can cap off the yellow and green wires since they are turn signals only. The red wire would then be brake lights only and you can wire the ID lights to it.

expert reply by: Michael H