| Author | Message | ||
| Chris 85 RTS
Rating: N/A |
I hooked up a Hidden Hitch Powered taillight converter today to convert my busses separate turn/brake lights to the standard common turn/brake lights on a trailer. I was surprised the when a blinker is on, and I hit the brakes, the brakes override the blinker. That is, the side that was blinking stays lit up. I know that when I connect to my Explorer, the blinking side keeps blinking, and the other side lights up for brake. Is anyone using one of these converters who can verify how it works for me? Chris | ||
| David Hartley (Drdave)
Rating: N/A |
You got a bad one it sounds like. or you don't have 12 volts feeding the module and a good ground. | ||
| Chris 85 RTS Rating: N/A |
Being an electrical engineer, I have been trying to figure out how you would design a circuit for this. I can easily design one that does what this one does, but can't see how you would make one that does what I think it should do. Maybe I'll hear back from the company eventaully, I guess I was hoping for some immediate gratification. | ||
| David Hartley (Drdave)
Rating: N/A |
Search the archive for tail light converter. Mostly its relays and you can decide to use 12 volt relays instead of the 24 volt ones we use on MCI's... Much more reliable and heavier duty than those molded converters. | ||
| John MC9 Rating: N/A |
It kinda' sounds like you've bought the wrong model. Take a lookie here: www.theautochannel.com/ | ||
| Chris 85 RTS Rating: N/A |
Actually this is relays, you can hear them click when the blinker goes or the brakes go on. Just seems that the brakes overriding the blinkers is not right. Ah, I see, I saw the schematic for the relays. Now it makes sense and I now thing this thing is not working correctly after all. Returning it will be the problem, cause I cut a wire.  | ||
| Earl-8-Ky Rating: N/A |
Your brake lights and turn signal may be on seperate circuts,if they are then your brake lights may over ride the turn signal. I had to put in two seperate lights to get mine to work. | ||
| Jerry Liebler (Jerry_liebler)
Rating: N/A |
Chris, The relay circuit to 'adapt' the seperate turn and brake lights to 'combined' consists of 3 SPDT relays. The brake relay's common contact goes to the 12 volt source and the common contacts of the turn relays go to the coresponding trailer lights. The normally closed contact of the brake relay is connected to the normally open contacts of the turn relays. And the normally open contact of the brake relay is connected to the normally closed contacts of the turn relays. Regards Jerry 4107 1120 | ||
| Chris 85 RTS Rating: N/A |
Problem found, details on the 6pm evening news. | ||
| Chris 85 RTS Rating: N/A |
Okay, not being one who gives up easy, I checked the converter on a battery stand alone. It does work as it should, blinkers override brakes. But it still did not work on the bus. I then checked the voltage on the taillights when the brakes were on, and it was less than 9V. I have 4 taillights, so I started removing them one at a time, with the brakes on and a blinker on. When I removed the 3rd one, voila, blinker started working. I measured the current, about 2 amps per light, so my guess is that the wiring is marginally sized. I did reseat all the connectors I could find, but it did not help. Since I had just run a heavy guage wire from the battery to power the converter and the accessory pin on the 7-pin trailer connector I added, I decided to add a relay in the rear, to activate the brake lights, instead of drawing the power all the way from the front. WOW, my brake lights on the bus are way brighter, I mean like the sun. What a difference, and the trailer brake lights work as expected. Whew, I am glad that is over! Thanks for sticking with me. | ||
| John MC9 Rating: N/A |
Yeah... Like we had a choice... HAR!! Hey.. good to read that you've solved it. Good goin'. |