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The skid plate stays on. No 13 pin shinnanegins. No swing down, pop up, slide over nuthing. Just plain towing.
Seriously .. do you really care about preserving the European specific, USA ignorant connector? Will you ever live to hear yourself say "Dang, I wish I still had that 13 pin connector so I could tow this Euro trailer!"? I seriously doubt it. Cut the stupid thing off and get to towing. You'll never look back.
Did you install a 4 pin or 7 pin US connector?
If 4 pin, what do you do with the connector and converter now? The biggest problem with 4 pin is they have no mounting system and always end up dangling somewhere. My last car, and most other people I know with 4 pin connectors have them running out of their trunk or under rear hatch when in use, and keep them inside the car when not in use. But since the AR connector is already outside the car, the connector needs to get stowed somewhere. That was really my biggest motivation to keep the factory system.
Well, even if you keep the factory 13 pin, the 13 pin plug from Europe just plugs into that and the module into THAT. So ... the converter's still outside the vehicle!
Admittedly, I "struggled" for 3-4 minutes this evening, trying to figure out what to do with that mess, but in the end, I put what was left of the 13 pin connector into a zip lock baggie, tie wrapped it up tight, tie wrapped the module to IT and then tucked it all up into the cubby. The convert came with double stick tape, which I will use once I've proven all is well. I did a quick test this afternoon and had problems with the trailer wiring.
So naturally I decided to dismantle the entire trailer, take a grinder to every square inch of it (H O U R S of work!), buy $60 in Rustoleum Professional, L.E.D. lighting, replacement galv bolts and stain the decking and spar varnish .. and repainting is next.
FWIW, I just looped the wiring and the converter around the hitch so that the 7-pin connector hangs free, even with the bottom of the bumper cover. Not elegant, for sure, but it should work.
Yes it's outside, but the module I bought is a sealed unit, and it's only outside when in use and not all the time.
I just thought of two more things. Does your car have Parktronic? If so, then how does it get disabled when a trailer is connected? The Euro plug takes care of that. Also, leaving the Euro plug on the car gives the option of towing US 4, 5, or 7 pin trailers by just making an adapter harness for each one. Not that I plan to do that, but for some people it might be an advantage.
If I decide I want to tow a 7 pin (I heard the 5/6 is not common) then what I'd do is install a dual socket on the car, where the 13 pin was. That would be elegant. Likewise, I put the backup lights on the list for future consideration.
For now ... I can move onto the work that needs to be done on the trailer itself and the yard.
I don't remember about the brake - if that's supported in the 7 wire. Should be really easy to find out, though.
As for the backup sensors, that's a mechanical switch in the 13 wire connector. When you physically insert the plug it engages a switch which shuts off the sensors.
From another DIY (13 pin to 7 or 4 + 3):
Function - 7 pin color - Euro pin
Brake - red - 6
Right Turn - green - 4
Left Turn - yellow - 1
Tail/marker - brown - 5 or 7
Ground - white - 3
Battery - red (or black) - 9
Brake - blue - 'seperate'
Backup - purple - 8
Since the 7 pin has electric brake pin, wondering where the 'seperate' on the Euro plug should come from?
I'll post the image here because it is easier to understand for those not familiar with the diagram.
Originally Posted by vtraudt
Since the 7 pin has electric brake pin, wondering where the 'seperate' on the Euro plug should come from?
There is no electric brake pin on the Euro plug. But there are many unused pins (2, 10, 11, 12, 13). My suggestion would just be to splice the wire from the brake controller into one of those (preferably the one with the largest gauge wire) to add the electric brake into the 13 pin connector.
I also have a 13-pin connector but live in the USA.
Over the years some independent companies have stepped up to help us all.
I tried to save money by buying a cheap 13 to 7 and a 7 to 4 set of adapters, since those are easier to find.
A voltmeter showed about 2-3 volts on the 3 pins against ground, but when I connected the cheap 3x5 trailer from Home Depot, no lights. Does anyone know why?
I saw a $17 13-4 adapter on ebay. There was also a more expensive 13-4 adapter that appears to have some electronics in there. I decided to find it on amazon because they do have a money back guarantee:
After this is delivered, I will drive out to the home depot again and ask if I can test it. I will hopefully report back the result here.
In other news, my hitch on my Audi A6 is fully OEM. It's nice. But, I guess a microswitch is bad? Even after I was done and put the hitch back up into the chassis, I am getting a red flashing LED in the CD compartment as well as a hitch error on the dash. I guess I will need to try wiggling something but I am not sure what to wiggle. If anyone knows please reply.
Also, what's the towing capacity on an OEM hitch for an Audi A6?
05-05-2010, 07:01 PM
