Trailer harness — powered converter vs non-powered splice without a converter

[Kulebrero]

please disregard, delete this post. A friend gracefully explained the simple harness will draw the signal and power from the car’s electrical system which may overwhelm the circuit. The custom harness has it own power so it only borrows the signal from the car’s electrical system without the risk of popping the circuit. I’m good to go and what to do. Thanks!

I know less than zero about wiring harnesses and car electronics.

I’d like to use a tire trailer for track duty. I’ve been waiting for manufacturers to produce a plug and play trailer harness for the Gen 2 86 without luck.

I figured I’d attempt to splice a Gen 1 Curt Trailer Harness into my Gen 2. The harness comes with a converter that requires power directly from the car’s battery. The trailer itself came with the wires needed to be spliced directly into the left, right, and brake lights.

Does the Curt harness with the powered converter offer any benefits over a direct splice? The trailer doesn’t have brakes. The wiring is only to power the brake lights and turn signals.

Please help!

[tiger1964]

Originally Posted by Kulebrero

A friend gracefully explained the simple harness will draw the signal and power from the car’s electrical system which may overwhelm the circuit. The custom harness has it own power so it only borrows the signal from the car’s electrical system without the risk of popping the circuit. I’m good to go and what to do.

If successful, if you could provide a "tutorial" with photos, showing how/where to splice in, a link to whatever parts you used... that would be great. You won't be the last to want a wiring harness (we have two trailers, one utility and one for the kayak, and the BRZ will be the tow vehicle).

[Kulebrero]

Originally Posted by tiger1964

If successful, if you could provide a "tutorial" with photos, showing how/where to splice in, a link to whatever parts you used... that would be great. You won't be the last to want a wiring harness (we have two trailers, one utility and one for the kayak, and the BRZ will be the tow vehicle).

Unfortunately, I had to take it to a mechanic friend of mine to help me wire the harness.

He found the brake lights and turn signals are two separate wires so the old Gen1 harness wouldn’t work at all. I had to mount a set of lights on the trailer for the side markers/running lights and brake lights using a 4-pin harness. And another set of lights for the turn signals also with a 4-pin harness (basically, the running light pin doesn’t get used on this harness).

The trailer came with just one harness and set of lights that were supposed to serve a dual purpose of signaling braking and turning. But since the car brake and turn signals are independent, we opted to use two harnesses and two sets of lights (all LED).

On the plus side, you don’t need a powered harness unless your trailer has a ton of lights or something. He spliced the harness right into the brake lights for the first harness and then spliced directly onto the turn signal wires with the second harness. There’s probably a better and cleaner solution, but at least it works. I’ve driven it about 1,000 miles so far without issues.