Trailer lighting within the VW?

[Mrorangecrush77]

Hi, curiosity has gotten the best of me and I’m thinking I could tie directly into my buggies existing wiring harness and utilize the cars own lights rather than those silly magnetic tow lights. I’m curious if this is feasible or if I may run into electrical problems along the way? I’d guess it would work from my truck as the trailer harness is already fused. So long as the wiring is off in the buggy or battery disconnected? Any ideas?

[Dale M.]

YEs it is.... I uses a umbilical from PU 7 pin plug to 4 pin plug on front of buggy....

Used isolation diodes onto buggy wiring to keep feedback from illuminating front of buggy lights...

Diodes....
https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories-and-Parts/Hopkins/48955.html

Also "typical" wiring instructions at above link...
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“Fear The Government That Wants To Take Your Guns"
"Kellison Sand Piper Roadster" For Street & Show.
"Joe Pody Sandrover" Buggy with 2180 for Autocross (Sold)
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All suggestions and advice are purely my own opinion. You are free to ignore them if you wish ...

[rayjay]

I would install connectors in the existing wiring harness up in the trunk just after the fuse box. Then I would make a towing lights wiring harness that would go from the connector at the hitch up to the trunk. Unplug the first connector and then plug the towing wiring harness to the male connector that leads back to the tail lights. Voila. Super simple tow light arrangement. When you get where you are going you disconnect the tow light harness and reconnect the original tail light wiring and you have normal brake and tail lights again.

I was also going to use trailer harness connectors back at the engine so that instead of disconnecting a bunch of wires I could just disconnect one large connector and then remove the engine.

[Mrorangecrush77]

[Mrorangecrush77]

I like the idea of the isolation diodes! I don’t think I would have thought of that, do I need to disconnect the vehicle in tow battery? I think all of this will come to fruition when the “full rewire” commences. Building up the guts and trying to find time to tear it all apart

[rayjay]

[Dale M.]

NO need to disconnect towed vehicle battery.... IN my application the umbilical stays ZIP tied to tow bar.... Install tow bar, plug in both ends of umbilical and we are off.... Technically the towed vehicle battery should be isolated by the switches that controls the lights...
_________________
“Fear The Government That Wants To Take Your Guns"
"Kellison Sand Piper Roadster" For Street & Show.
"Joe Pody Sandrover" Buggy with 2180 for Autocross (Sold)
============================================================
All suggestions and advice are purely my own opinion. You are free to ignore them if you wish ...

[Mrorangecrush77]

[EVfun]

Just a couple of thoughts...

If you are using bare terminals and heat shrink tubing (which I recommend) instead of pre-insulated terminals then I recommend the Klein 1005 crimper. Don't get a cheap substitute, the real thing works and lasts and is only around $30.

The other thought is that if the car is wired normally and working correctly you shouldn't actually need the isolating diodes. That said, I have them on the brake/turn signal wires in my current buggy as a safety measure (a power backfeed will happen if you accidentally leave the turn signal switch on or your brake light switch sticks on). I don't have a blocking diode on the tail light line. On the current buggy the front parking lights are separate from the tail lights (front parking lights go out when the headlights are on) but on my first buggy not having the blocking diodes meant that the front parking lights and tail lights were on when the towing vehicle had its lights on. That was less than 1 amp of extra load.
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