# U-Haul Trailer Light Harness



## StuHaul (Aug 29, 2004)

Posse,
Remember a few months ago when I said that I had good news for any of us towing trailers with LED lights (like almost all U-Haul trailers and hundreds of thousands of our personal trailers as well)? See this link if you don't: http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2316915
Point is, after much corporate figuring, my UH colleagues have figured out, produced, and legally protected an in-line harness that solves the Treg's problem of not being able to safely tow trailers with LED lights because of their low power draw. And while they were working on it, they found out that it can be utilized with some audi's or (god-forbid) porsches for those of you that have them.
The harness is now available for $30.
Unless you make your own, there is nowhere on the planet where you can get one of these. And it's basically because of this forum, so we can all be pretty proud of it. And so whether you need one or not, whether you buy one or not - remember that U-Haul has ears in places like this, and that unlike some companies that get bounced around in here, this is a case in point that we actually do something for our customers when we hear about some way they need our help.
Now go buy one and start towing!








-Stu


_Modified by bravocharlie at 5:50 PM 3-27-2006_


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## DenverBill (Apr 18, 2003)

*Re: U-Haul Trailer Light Harness (StuHaul)*

Bravo http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif Can you imagine if a certain manufacturer would listen as closely?


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## bravocharlie (Nov 14, 2003)

*Re: U-Haul Trailer Light Harness (StuHaul)*

Great post. I added it to the FAQs.
http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif


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## j2nh (Oct 15, 2003)

*Re: U-Haul Trailer Light Harness (StuHaul)*

Are they going to offer this for sale online?
Great news. I tow multiple trailers with LED's and its a pain with a Touareg and the warning lights in the MFI.


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## StuHaul (Aug 29, 2004)

*Re: U-Haul Trailer Light Harness (TREGinginCO)*

Thanks for putting it in the FAQ, that's kind of an honor!
-Stu



_Modified by bravocharlie at 5:52 PM 3-27-2006_


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## BoostAddiction (Aug 31, 2004)

*Re: U-Haul Trailer Light Harness (StuHaul)*

HI Stu,
If the pic on your web site is accurate, the device id designed for a 4-wire connection, not the more common 7-connector version that is as-delivered on the Treg and Cayenne.
Do you plan to market a 7-conector version?
TIA,
-Will


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## DicknNancy (Nov 6, 2004)

*Re: U-Haul Trailer Light Harness (BoostAddiction)*

Good question. The Factory electrical connection on our V10 is the large round 7 connector. We would need to use a 7 to 4 conversion plug to use this.
Well done anyways! http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif


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## StuHaul (Aug 29, 2004)

*Re: U-Haul Trailer Light Harness (DicknNancy)*

Yeah, this is true about needing the 7-4. Hopefully many of us have this already; if not, it's good to have. There was a lot of discussion about whether to make the adapter a 7-7, 7-4, or 4-4. (UH's trailers are 4's) A bunch of pros and cons for each, depending on what the user would be trying to do. Going 4-4 was the most simple, cheapest, smallest, quickest to production, and easiest for the user to put in/take off.
They may change the 4-4 adapter (module housing, wire lengths, etc), but it'll probably stay 4-4. But the reason it got made in the first place was because of the chatter in here, so I'll definitely pass on feedback about how to improve this adapter going forward...
-stu


_Modified by bravocharlie at 5:53 PM 3-27-2006_


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## DicknNancy (Nov 6, 2004)

*Re: U-Haul Trailer Light Harness (StuHaul)*

All the trailers we haul have the 7 prong female end








And they have LED's. We ended up adding a couple of incandesent lights just to bump up the resistance.


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## BoostAddiction (Aug 31, 2004)

*Re: U-Haul Trailer Light Harness (DicknNancy)*

Yeah- I don't have a 4-pin trailer- only 7-connector.
I suppose I could get the 4-pin kit and cut it up inside the trailer wiring.
OTOH, my main trailer rarely causes the light warning signal, so perhaps I have enough LEDs so that the total current is high enough, or more likely, have wiring that has enough resistance at the connectors that it satisfies the requirement for the controllers.
-Will


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## 4x4s (Dec 18, 2003)

*Re: U-Haul Trailer Light Harness (StuHaul)*

I don't have a tow hitch, but this topic - and that of vendors listening to thier customers needs - has got me musing.
It's too bad the VW controler doesn't have a "learn mode" for trailer lights (similar to what they have for TPMS). Since the system is just testing for resistance, it seems they could have it adaptable to the trailer you plug in.
Plug in your trailer, and turn on the Touareg. The controller compares the resistance to what it had previously learned, and gives a warning if something doesn't match. You could then put it in learning mode, where it prompts you to visually inspect all lights and if they are working properly, click to accept these settings. From that point on, whatever it learned as acceptible with that trailer is what is used.
If you then plug in another trailer with different lighting, you could change the settings to be compatible without any external adaptors. It doesn't seem like this would have been too hard to do, had the designers thought this through a bit in the begining. Probably impossible (or very difficult) to retrofit now, even if they wanted to though.


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## StuHaul (Aug 29, 2004)

*Re: U-Haul Trailer Light Harness (4x4s)*

My email is [email protected] if anybody wants the link to the thing or has any other suggestions on how to improve the product.
-Stu


_Modified by bravocharlie at 5:54 PM 3-27-2006_


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## spockcat (Jun 5, 2003)

*Re: U-Haul Trailer Light Harness (BoostAddiction)*


_Quote, originally posted by *BoostAddiction* »_HI Stu,
If the pic on your web site is accurate, the device id designed for a 4-wire connection, not the more common 7-connector version that is as-delivered on the Treg and Cayenne.
Do you plan to market a 7-conector version?
TIA,
-Will

Could you use this 7 to 4 pin adapter on each end of the LED Light Trailer Module? Or can't you do that?
The LED Light Trailer Module looks like a good simple product that should help out the VW Touareg, Audi Q7 and Porsche Cayenne owners who tow trailers with LED lights. I'm sure they all run into the problem.


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## BoostAddiction (Aug 31, 2004)

*Re: U-Haul Trailer Light Harness (spockcat)*


_Quote, originally posted by *spockcat* »_Could you use this 7 to 4 pin adapter on each end of the LED Light Trailer Module? Or can't you do that?
The LED Light Trailer Module looks like a good simple product that should help out the VW Touareg, Audi Q7 and Porsche Cayenne owners who tow trailers with LED lights. I'm sure they all run into the problem.

You'd have to cut it up- the adaptor shown won't make a male-female cord, just two male ends (that would a hom... o never mind). Even if you cut them up to make a proper cable, you'd have a lot more connections than desirable. 
If I were going to do that, I wouldn't. It would be easier at that point to just wire up the resistors needed into the -12 wire inside the trailer cord and leave it at that.
IMO, of course.
-Will


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## StuHaul (Aug 29, 2004)

*Re: U-Haul Trailer Light Harness (spockcat)*

Spock,
Thanks for weighing in on this. There is another 7-4 module on the website that is, in my opinion, a cleaner, more plain module that hides itself better. The one you've listed is kind of fancy because it blinks with the brakes and turn signals.
As for going from 4 to 7 after having gone from 7 to 4, the main purpose would be for connection purposes. I mean to say that after using the LED Trailer Module, you will have already cut-out the extra 3 wires, making it impossible to get them back.
One of the reasons we used 4 to 4 is that we wanted it to be an in-line product and we didn't want to mold another piece (that would have slowed production down big-time). We had a car/module side that we could work with, but no module/trailer peice to use (not in-line, anyway) So we used things that we already had molds for to speed it up. For this reason, there's no plan to make a 7-7 LED Trailer Light Module.
If you have a LED light-equipped trailer but has a 7-pin connector, here's what I would do: Chances are that you own this trailer, so I'd simply go down to the closest U-Haul store that can install hitches (find this location at uhaul.com) and have them install an incandescent marker light somewhere on the trailer. This will create a big-enough draw to tow safely. This is a cheaper alternative to buying the LED Module and having the UH Hitch Installer re-wire your trailer's connection to the 4-way flat. Remember, you only need this if you're towing something that only uses LED lights.
If you tow a variety of trailers, some with the 7-connector, some with the 4, some with LEDs, some without, then buy the 7-4 adapter and the LED Trailer Light Module and keep them in your glove box so you're always covered...but still flexible enough to handle any towing situation. I'd caution anyone against adding a resistor to their car's harness because if you do that and then tow something with enough incandescent lights, you risk blowing a fuse under your dash, and that's never convenient. The idea here is to be flexible enough to tow anything anytime. That's why we made our thing an in-line solution.
I'm not to put a link to any of these things in my posts, but email me and I can send links to anyone who wants to pursue these items.
thanks.
[email protected]


_Modified by StuHaul at 10:05 AM 3-28-2006_


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