13 pin back to 7 pin

[sandy2210]

I have an ifor trailer with a 13pin plug and a convertor to 7 pin the 13 pin seems to be sealed but had 2 thick cables going into it as i only need the basic tail/brake and indicators will one of the 2 cables going into the 13 pin be the old type 7 pin ie if i cut the cables can i just put a 7 pin on for the basics as there seems to be a problem in the 13 pin (corrosion} as the socket on vehicle working ok
many thanks
sandy

 

[Melvyn Best]

Think I would just fit a new 13 pin plug and use an electric protecting grease ?

 

[rtcosic]

I too am bewildered why you want to go back to the obsolete 7-pin type. I swapped out all the 7-pin plugs and sockets on our various cars, trailers and lighting boards over 20 years ago. Much more secure fitting.
13-pin plugs and sockets are readily available and straightforward to wire up.

 

[sako243]

I too am bewildered why you want to go back to the obsolete 7-pin type

Maybe because the car is already set up with a 7 pin? All six tow vehicles in our family have 7 pin plugs, all trailers have 7 pin plugs and every trailer I've hired or borrowed bar one has a 7 pin plug.

Only trailer I've ever borrowed or used that has a 13 pin is a neighbours and he specced that from Ifor so he could get reverse lights because it lives in a shed with no interior lights so made it easier to see where the end of an 18ft trailer was in the dark. He had fun wiring in the 13 pin socket into his L200 though.

 

[Robotstar5]

Mine came with a similar setup, I had to fit a plug adapter to get the trailer home.

I found each tail light unit had a separate cable and they joined in the plug so I fitted a terminal box to convert the 2 cables to a single 7 core cable.

Old style 7 pin plug fitted

Technically it's not legal as the reversing lights don't work, but I've never had any problems.

 

[dave h 2]

I have an ifor trailer with a 13pin plug and a convertor to 7 pin the 13 pin seems to be sealed but had 2 thick cables going into it as i only need the basic tail/brake and indicators will one of the 2 cables going into the 13 pin be the old type 7 pin ie if i cut the cables can i just put a 7 pin on for the basics as there seems to be a problem in the 13 pin (corrosion} as the socket on vehicle working ok
many thanks
sandy

I had one of those garbage adapters, nothing but trouble from new. 10 years of trouble free towing ended with a car swap that came with a 7pin set up that checked out OK + new 13 pin van. Changing the car to 13 pin fixed all the issues so corrosion it ain't.
The black plug should be wired 12n for all your lights you don't need the grey one unless you tow a caravan with a fridge, the 13pin colour code is on the web connect as required.

 

[ajlelectronics]

An interesting MOT point, 13 pin plugs where fitted are testable. 7 pin are not.

 

[Robotstar5]

An interesting MOT point, 13 pin plugs where fitted are testable. 7 pin are not.

I thought that odd too, a few years ago the tester tested my 7 pin socket, good job it passed or there would have been an arguement

 

[rtcosic]

An interesting MOT point, 13 pin plugs where fitted are testable. 7 pin are not.

Yes!

Dai the MoT got very excited when I presented the old Rover. He finally had a use for the tester he had been required to buy.
It passed of course.

He got excited in the early 90's too when I presented the Rover's predecessor. It was the first Catalytic Converter car he tested. It had ABS too which caused a little confusion too.
It passed of course

 

[dave h 2]

An interesting MOT point, 13 pin plugs where fitted are testable. 7 pin are not.

Otherwise there would be a 95% fail rate if 7 pin were tested.

 

[Bullet2012]

An interesting MOT point, 13 pin plugs where fitted are testable. 7 pin are not.

Currently , Only if visible, so on many vehicles where covered by a piece of the vehicle, then not testable

 

[Dozzer]

The Ifors are normally wired back to a junction box on the front cross-member, so rewiring shouldn't be an issue.
Have both types on my trailers and vehicles, much prefer 13 pin type and slowly getting round to converting everything.
Find PF Jones do really nice wiring kits for what ever you prefer.

 

[CompoSimmonite]

I too am bewildered why you want to go back to the obsolete 7-pin type. I swapped out all the 7-pin plugs and sockets on our various cars, trailers and lighting boards over 20 years ago. Much more secure fitting.
13-pin plugs and sockets are readily available and straightforward to wire up.

I've done the same - changed everything to 13pin as they are far superior. The pins are plated so no corrosion and there are O rings seals to stop water ingress. Obviously there are going to be substandard quality items but I'm never come across any !

 

[ajlelectronics]

I've done the same - changed everything to 13pin as they are far superior. The pins are plated so no corrosion and there are O rings seals to stop water ingress. Obviously there are going to be substandard quality items but I'm never come across any !

The 7 pin system is perfectly fit for the purpose, given decent connectors. However most of it on the market is such absolute junk and that I would say is what causes the issues.

 

[Bullet2012]

Another vote here for 13 pin, most of the stuff I tow have disc brakes with a hydraulic overrun operating system. They then have a solenoid to disengage the brakes automatically for reversing, this is activated by the reverse light signal from the 13pin.

 

[roofman]

I have an ifor trailer with a 13pin plug and a convertor to 7 pin the 13 pin seems to be sealed but had 2 thick cables going into it as i only need the basic tail/brake and indicators will one of the 2 cables going into the 13 pin be the old type 7 pin ie if i cut the cables can i just put a 7 pin on for the basics as there seems to be a problem in the 13 pin (corrosion} as the socket on vehicle working ok
many thanks
sandy

Had the same dilemma last week, life is too short so new board,LED lights with 6 meters of cable to a 7 pin £25....solved.