Trailer Converter

[Mr Steve]

I recently replaced my rear turns with '59 caddy bullets.  All went well and they function perfectly as run/turn (1157 sockets).  I want them to function as brake too, but am having difficulty here.  I've tried two different trailer converters.  One was a 3 wire to 2 wire, neither brake nor turn worked, so I assumed it DOA.  I then bought a hoppy 4 wire.  Wired that in and turns work, but brake still does not, although brake flashes with turn.

I'm tapping into the harness under the right side cover.  Perhaps I am wiring it in reverse or something.  I assume that the bullet end of the connector goes to the rear and the socket part to the front (ie. using the bullets as the trailer side and the sockets as the car side), is this correct?  I know I have the right wires, at least, but am a little puzzled as to why this isn't working.  I did split the brake wire so I could plug in the trailer converter and still have the brake pass back too (preferred splitting it into two connectors rather than vampire tapping it).  Maybe I'm getting feedback?  Is there some diode I also need?

Red/White '97 std fwiw.  Long time owner and vrcc member but forgot my old pass and the system does not send it to me, had to register new.

Thanks,

/steve

[X Ring]

I did this on my Valkyrie and my 750 Shadow before this and didn't have any problems with it.  I got the instructions off Chet's Rattlebars page but can't find it now.  Use the Hoppy 48845 converter.  The module has 4 input wires (Right Turn, Brake, Left Turn, Tail Light {Run}) and 3 output wires, (Right Turn/Brake, Left turn/Brake, Tail Light {Run}).

The color-coding of the wires on these modules follows a standard which is: Green-Right, Red-Stop,Yellow-Left, Brown-Tail.

Cut the Brown wires from the converter.    Access the front to rear wiring harness connectors under the right side cover.  Make a y bypass wire for the brake.  You want 1 lead to bypass the converter for the tail/brake light and the other to go to the converter.  Connect the right turn wires to the front and rear light blue wiring harness leads for that side.  Same with the left turn signal wires, orange.  I used bullet connectors so I can change the the system back if I need to.  In fact the setup on my Valk is the same one that was on my 750 ACE.  I removed it when I sold it and reconnected the stock connectors.

Now you've got the turn/brake taken care of.  To get run you need to run the wires to the license plate light.  I vampire tapped the wire.  

[Mr Steve]

When you pull those bullets out of their sockets in that right side harness, is the socket side what you use as the car side of the trailer converter and the bullet side used as the trailer side?  Or is it the other way around?

[X Ring]

IIRC, the male bullet is on the rear wiring harness; therefore, you will have to put male bullets on the input side and female bullets on the output side.  As Sandman is over an hour away, to be sure you need to go look at your bike.

[Mr Steve]

Ahhhh, if that is the case then that is what I am doing wrong.  I've been using the socket side as input and bullet side as output, which wasn't working and caused me to think I had bum converters.  Chet's page didn't specify and I couldn't find details in the Clymer book either.

Thanks,

/steve

[X Ring]

The converter I used didn't have connectors so I had to put them on myself.  My converter is also marked car on one end and trailer on the other.  You have to remember we're using something to adapt a cage wiring harness to trailer; therefore, you have to remember the car end of the converter is input and the trailer end is output.   

[Mr Steve]

Mine didn't have connectors either, I thought we were talking about the harness on the bike under the right side cover.  Anyway, wiring with the bullet side of the bike harness to the car side of the trailer converter didn't work for me either.  Maybe I already blew the converter wiring it backwards first.

[X Ring]

We were talking about the bike's wiring harness but you have to put male connectors into female connectors.  The Japanese connectors are smaller than American connectors so you have to open the Japanese female connectors and squeeze the American female connectors smaller.  Also the Japanese female connectors are in weatherproof covers.  You have to make sure you get the American male connectors all the way in.  You might have to go to a electrical supply shop and buy male bullets without the color insulator, they can get in the way.

You can check the converter by using a multimeter to check resistance of the the two circuits, left and right.  Start by checking the turn signal on each side first then try the brake input with the each output.  If you get inifinity, it's got a break.  You can also connect the inputs and check voltage coming through.  Use something to keep the brake lever squeezed, connect one lead of the multimeter to an output wire and the other to a ground.  Flip the key on.  You should have voltage.  Make sure you check both outputs.  If you don't get positive results with other tests, return the converter, tell them it doesn't work and get a new one.  Yours could have been bum from the beginning.

The first time I did this on the 750, it took a while.  When I did it to Sandman, not nearly as long.

[Mr Steve]

I'm adept with wiring.  I understand about needing to add bullets and sockets to the trailer converter.  I also understand that the male connectors go into into female and that the american bullets are larger than the japanese, which required modification to both sockets to fit the smaller and the larger.  I also understand the trailer converter wiring, it's very simple and straightforward.  My only issue was nothing I found in either chets diagram or the clymer book told me which side of the bike harness was which.  I started under the assumption that the sockets in bike harness were the input side and the bullets the output side.  I wired it that way first, which you said was backwards and so I may have blown the converter because it still didn't work when I rewired it in reverse using the bullets of the bike's harness as the input side (I'll test with a multimeter, should have just done that first anyway, not doing so and instead just making the assumption was a bit of stupidity on my part).