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Towing Electrics
Towing Electrics are an essential part of your towbar installation.
Cars are becoming ever more complex and it is vital to consider how your towbar electrics are installed.
Whether you are using your towbar to tow a large caravan, or simply just to support a bike carrier, you will need some electrics with your towbar.
In the past towing electrics were simply connected to the rear lights of the car, and that was it. Modern cars are now computer controlled, with advanced safety features, and complex wiring systems. Towing electrics are no longer 'simple'.
For this reason we now fit Vehicle Specific Wiring as standard on over 98% of our towbar installations.
We would only use Aftermarket Wiring on a very few older vehicles where Vehicle Specific Wiring is not available.
All of the towbars that we fit have a 13 pin electric socket installed as standard.
This means that your towbar electrics will be compatible with all modern caravans, newer trailers which are fitted with a 13pin plug, and nearly all cycle carriers.
If you will be towing an older pre-2008 caravan, or a trailer with a 7 pin plug, you simply need to add on of the adapters shown below.
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towing electric
Adapters
Towing Electrical Adapters are used to convert one type of towbar electric plug to work with another.
If you have 7 pin electrics fitted on your car:
A 7 pin to 13 pin adapter is most commonly used when you have a towbar fitted with 7 pin electrics for a trailer, but you want to attach a cycle carrier which has a 13 pin plug. It can also be used to plug in a caravan which has a 13 pin plug.
It is important to remember that the adapter will only extend the 7 pin functions, for example it will provide power the for the normal road lights. It can't however add the extra functions that are provided by a full 13 pin installation, so it won't power the reverse light on your cycle carrier or caravan, and it won't provide any of the battery charging or interior power to a caravan.
If you have 13 pin electrics fitted on your car:
A 13 pin to 7 pin adapter is used when you have 13 pin caravan electrics on your car, but you want to tow a standard trailer, or use a cycle carrier which has a 7 pin plug.
A 13 pin to twin socket adapter is used when you have a 13 pin socket on your car and you need to tow an older caravan that has twin plugs.
These adapters are often required when you have a detachable towbar fitted and want to tow an older caravan. This is because the electric socket on most detachable towbars folds away when not in use, so there is no room to fit twin sockets. Instead we fit 13 pin electrics and you would need the adapter as well.
13 pin to twin socket apapters are available in two types; A compact one piece plug in adapter which is neater, however the is not always enough room around the 13 pin plug on your car to use this type of adapter. In this case you need the 13 pin to 7 pin adapter which has a 13 pin plug and 2 separate wires for the twin sockets, this isn't as neat, but it will fit in all cases. If you're in doubt about which would be best for you, please just get in touch.
If you have twin electrics fitted on your car:
You can obviously already tow a trailer with 7 pin electrics, because you would just use the single black socket, so no adapter is needed.
If you have an existing towbar fitted with twin electrics and you buy a new caravan with 13 pin electrics, you can save the need to modify the electrics on your car by using a twin to 13 pin adapter.
