RonP

I have towed my enclosed numerous times and never really though about bckup lights until I was behind my trailer today. I guess I never even though about them on the trailer. well, I then thought I really never noticed them coming on so I hooked up and sure enough all lights work on the traile rbut the backup lights.

I got out the trusty multimeter and I have no power on the middle pin when the truck backup lights are on. Shouldn't there be power on that center pin?

here is the bigger question, is there a difference between what wiring comes factory and mopar wiring that is added? I bought this truck used with less than 4,000 miles on it. I had a friend run the vin and it appears that the truck didn't come with a hitch installed as in the system it is listed as this

Dealer Installed Option

Code Description Code Description Code Description
XERA TOWING BALL HITCH FOR TRAILER

does that mean I may be missing something else the towing package would have?

The wiring harness they added may not have the provison for backup lights. Is that possible?

sorry for the long email and all the questions. just want to see if I can get them to work, if not, no big deal. towed many times without them already.

Ron

FireMarshal3311

I could be wrong, but on the factory harness, I don't think the backup lights are part of the towing harness, you have to add them, as most people don't have or run back up lights.

Cory

BlueRam01

The factory wiring and the factory add on kit has the backup lights on the center pin. I have both albiet not 3rd gen.
I would suspect a connector problem assuming the regular backup lights are working. There is no relay but it is possible that there is a fuse in the new system.

RonP

Ok, looks like I need to break out the multimeter again and do some troubleshooting. the backup lights on the truck do work. I think the 7pin connector uses a violet wire for the middle pin(backup lights). This harness was added for sure. It plugs into the 4wire connector and then it has just a couple other wires that run up fron for bat power and trailer brakes. I am not sure where it gets the reverse feed from, anyone?

thanks guys

Eskimo

If there's only 2 additional wires coming off the 7-pin, you didn't have the reverse light provision.. You don't see many trailers with reverse lights anyway...

But, all is not lost.. you can tap into the reverse light wire at one of your tail lights..

Somewhere (dry) on your trailer or the truck (maybe behind the taillight housing?), use a relay to power the trailer's reverse wires off the main 12v+ wire from the truck, and use the truck's reverse light to switch the relay. This will keep the laod off the already-too-thin reverse wires.

RonP

Thanks. I am going to take a better look tonight. Now I think I remeber seeing 3 wires coming off. if not, i am going to do exactly as you stated. then again, I never worried about the backup lights on the trailer and haven't missed them so I may not even mess with it.

take care

Hoss

If it was an aftermarket connector then there is a very good chance that whoever installed it just didn't hook up the center pin. I had a 7-pin installed on our church bus at a reputable place on Saturday. They told me that they usually only hook up the center pin if the customer asks them too. Didn't make sense to me. Why buy a 7 pin if you're not going to hook up all of the connections?? I've never checked the one on my truck so I don't know if it works or not.

RustyJC

The center pin on my factory 7-pin receptacle is hot, and the back-up lights on my 5th wheel work fine (after replacing the back-up light switch in the NV5600, but that's another story!)

Rusty

RonP

ok, quick fix. Traced the violet wire and they had tapped the reverse lights like they are supposed to. The problem was they didn't lock the tap and it had seperated. So I replaced the tap and the center pin is hot. I hooked up to the trailer and the backup lights work.

Thanks for the help fellas.