plug adaptor

[Mike Whitney]

Hi all,

The hitch on our vehicle is a standard flat 4 pin, and a trailer we're going to look at has a round trailer plug. Does anyone know if they make an adapter: from flat to round?

I've seen them all over in the opposite configuration, but 3 spots I've been to locally don't have them. I thought it would be a common item, but I'm beginning to wonder....I did a search here, but couldn't come up with anything.

Cheers,
Mike

[kconley]

Hi all,

The hitch on our vehicle is a standard flat 4 pin, and a trailer we're going to look at has a round trailer plug. Does anyone know if they make an adapter: from flat to round?

I've seen them all over in the opposite configuration, but 3 spots I've been to locally don't have them. I thought it would be a common item, but I'm beginning to wonder....I did a search here, but couldn't come up with anything.

Cheers,
Mike

J C Whitney have a bunch of different adaptors from plug to plug. I have 1 that goes from round to flat to tow my boat & flatbed trailer... They might have them at a local Advance Auto or Pep Boys... Later, Bluebeard

[Darwin Maring]

If your camper has electric brakes, U will need to install the round receptacle on your tow vehicle.

[Mike Whitney]

If your camper has electric brakes, U will need to install the round receptacle on your tow vehicle.

I could be mistaken, but the lil'Bigfoot we're looking to buy tomorrow is a 13' and from what I've read, doesn't have electric brakes. The trailer has a round plug, and our vehicle uses a flat 4 pin. I'm just curious if we can get an adapter that will allow us to go from flat to round.

We'll know tomorrow if it does in fact have electric brakes.

Thanks -

[Dave Fish]

If the plug on the new trailer has four contacts (left, right, tail lights, & ground), you have several choices

<blockquote>Use an adapter
Change the plug on the trailer
Change the plug on your TV
Wire a parallel plug on your TV.


</blockquote>You can make your own adapter with the correct male and female plugs and a little wire. Of these alternatives, I would probably change the plug on the trailer.

If the plug has more contacts, that is probably an indication of electric brakes. That means adding wiring for the brake controller, adding the brake controller unit, Etc. Some vehicles come pre-wired with the extra circuits so that it is only a matter of knowing where to plug things in.

Good luck and happy campling.

Dave

[Mike Whitney]

If the plug on the new trailer has four contacts (left, right, tail lights, & ground), you have several choices

<blockquote>Use an adapter
Change the plug on the trailer
Change the plug on your TV
Wire a parallel plug on your TV.


</blockquote>You can make your own adapter with the correct male and female plugs and a little wire. Of these alternatives, I would probably change the plug on the trailer.

If the plug has more contacts, that is probably an indication of electric brakes. That means adding wiring for the brake controller, adding the brake controller unit, Etc. Some vehicles come pre-wired with the extra circuits so that it is only a matter of knowing where to plug things in.

Good luck and happy campling.

Dave

Great info Dave, thanks!

[CD Smith]

This must be what you are looking for. I bought mine at Pep Boys auto parts.






It has the four-wire connector and the additional wires for the battery, brakes, etc.

[Marc]

Walmart and Canadian Tire sell those pictured above...the one I just bought is a Hopkins Multi-Tow. It came with the bracket to mount it to the bumper and has a connector to connect your flat four to it, but there is a seperate white wire you will have to run to ground.Canadian Tire Link Hopefully this helps.

[Tom U]

Hi all,

The hitch on our vehicle is a standard flat 4 pin, and a trailer we're going to look at has a round trailer plug. Does anyone know if they make an adapter: from flat to round?

I've seen them all over in the opposite configuration, but 3 spots I've been to locally don't have them. I thought it would be a common item, but I'm beginning to wonder....I did a search here, but couldn't come up with anything.

Cheers,
Mike

Check the Misc. Items forum. A member has one for sale.

Luck,

[Casita Greg]

If your trailer has electric brakes, you will need the 7-pin round connector.
If you don't have trailer brakes, but have a trailer battery/converter installed, you will still want the 7-pin connector.
If the above features don't exist on your trailer, then you can get by with the 4-pin flat connector.

[Raya]

Just so you don't think you're going nuts, the "flat vehicle to round trailer" plug adapter IS hard to find (whereas the opposite is quite common). When I couldn't find one in Winnipeg, and needed to tow my trailer home, I asked a woman working at Canadian Tire. She knew of my plight and recommended a hitch place in town. I called them and they said they often made them up for people, and could have one waiting for me by the time I got there. They did, it was, and it cost me about C$16.

You could make one yourself like it from parts, as it is just the vehicle end of a 7-prong round (female) to the male end of a flat, with about a foot of wire in between, which is covered by the round. black, ribbed wire-hiding stuff and some electrical tape. For my purposes the two adapters could have been even closer together, but at that point I was just glad to have it. My Boler has no brakes, and I wasn't worried about charging the trailer while driving, so it worked fine.

The ones I've seen in stores do have a separate white ground wire (along with more bulky connectors to cover various options). The one the hitch place made me doesn't have the separate white wire. It seems to work fine, but I'm not sure what problem I might have avoided with the additional ground wire. At the time, the option was not mentioned to me.

Raya

PS: I have written about this before, but I also have a hard time finding things in search mode - even when I know they are there. Not sure what I am doing wrong. One workaround is to use Google and search as follows:

Your Search Terms site:fiberglassrv.com

[Booker B.]

Hi Mike,

You can get the adapter at Lordco - I could not find it at any other auto parts shop as they generally carry female adapters, not male. It was $15 and I have seen it at 3 different Lordco's (Hope, Courtenay, Surrey) so it should be in the Lordco near you. I pulled it off my Toyota when I put it up for sale and I lend it to friends borrowing my 7 pin trailers.