How To Wire Towbar Electrics | Mk7 Ford Transit Van Camper Conversion | Tow Bar Wiring Guide | 011

How To Wire In Towbar Electrics | Mk7 Ford Transit Van Camper Conversion | Tow Bar Wiring Guide | 011

In this Ford Transit Camper Conversion episode, I install the towbar electrical socket wiring my Mark 7 Transit Minibus.

There's a more detailed written version on our blog which you can find here: https://www.spannerrash.com/towbar-el...

More modern vehicles use a CANBUS, Car Area Network Bus, system. This means that it uses signal wires to relays to turn the lights on and off, rather than sending the power directly to them from the switch. You need to use a towbar electrics bypass relay to wire into these. This van is old school so I didn’t need to use one of these.

In an ideal world you would use the vehicle specific trailer wiring that the manufacturer provides. There should be connections already in the wiring loom to connect it. These are usually quite expensive, and I couldn’t find the connectors in the loom anyway.

Next best is to use the vehicle wiring diagram to get the wire colours to connect. I was surprised to find a lot of conflicting and different information about the wire colours. I expected that a Transit would be pretty standard over many years, but this doesn’t seem to be the case.

The belt and braces way, which I do in this video, is to work out the colours of the wires from the connector to the rear light cluster. This works with most vehicles that have the older type of wiring.

Here's what I used in this video:
7 Pin Electric Towbar Wiring Kit: https://ebay.us/Vvw5Us
7 Core 0.5mm 11amp cable: https://ebay.us/iiY83F
Loom Tape: https://ebay.us/7YMbiE
Solder Sleeve Connectors: https://ebay.us/O2LuVn
12v Test Probe: https://ebay.us/zMQFO5

Right-hand rear light cluster wiring
Red - Foglight
Black/Green - Earth
Purple/White - Brake Light
Yellow/Grey - Tail Light
Green/Orange - R/H Indicator
Green/Brown - Reverse Light

Left-hand rear light cluster wires used
Blue/Brown - Tail Light
Grey/Orange - R/H Indicator

I worked out which wire was which fairly easily, I used solder seal sleeves where I could, which I find really good to connect one wire to another. Apart from when it is windy :) I only used Scotch Locks where I had to tap into another wire. I am not that keen on using these, but they do work well.

Once I had tested that it all works I covered everything with Loom Tape to stop the wires from straining and to keep everything neat. I did find it a little tight to fit the cluster back in with the extra bulk above the connector, but it went in OK with a little persuasion.

I was really pleased when I completed the job. Probably never tow a thing with it, but at least I know it works.

For more helpful how-to guides and restoration project logs, visit our blog: https://www.spannerrash.com/

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