13 pin to 7 adaptor issues

[Castle2108]

Is or has anyone else experienced numerous adaptor problems? Mine are mainly Im on my second adaptor and everytime i go to use it next they have stopped working, My vehicle towbar 13 pin on testing is fine, my other car on 7 pins is fine, but now the adaptor wont work any lights except for the indicators the last adaptor only worked the drivers side. Are they prone to breaking or failing? Been everytime I have taken caravan out so far and serrious thinking of having 13pin replaced by a dual 7 pin instead.

 

[steve2019]

I am guessing that your caravan is a 7 pin socket? which would suggest your caravan is likely to have normal bulbs rather than LEDs?
are you sure it isn't a CanBus issue? to my mind there isn't much in the way of electronics in the adapters, just wiring from one pin to the relevant pin on the opposing socket.

 

[Castle2108]

Thanks yes 7 pin on caravan and I dont have a Canbus as the garage checked that last time but mines not fitted with one.

 

[steve2019]

what car is it your hooking up to?

 

[Castle2108]

A Mitsubishi Oulander Phev 64 Plate, The 66 Plate Vw Caddy with 7 pin twin has no issue whatsoever.

 

[steve2019]

its very likely the outlander does have canbus wiring/lighting, not 100% sure about the lighting ecu set up on the mitsubishi but i can tell you that a lot of cars thesedays (vauxhall in particular) have a shut down system on each lighting circuit so in the event of a bulb failure it shuts off the power to that particular circuit until the bulb is replaced, (well actually it shuts it down until the ignition switch is turned off and on again, then if it see's that the bulb is still faulty is shuts it down again)
this has nothing to do with canbus, however if whoever wired in your 13 pin relay box hasn't done a particularly good job or even skipped the relay box altogether and tried to wire the trailer lights directly into the back lights in the car then the canbus will sense an overload on the circuit and shut it down. (this would be evident if the cars lights stop working at the same time as the caravans.)
failing that it may be time to physically check the 13 pin cables and where its been wired in. I've seen some proper shoddy wiring jobs on trailer sockets in my time.

 

[Damian]

Your best bet is to use all 13 pin plug and socket.
The 7 pin plugs are prone to centre pin burn out and the pins closing up as most people tend to wiggle the plug into the socket.
The 13 pin system does away with those problems and once you get used to it is much more reliable and easy to use, as well as only having one plug to connect.

 

[Castle2108]

Thank you I think I will just get them to come back out again as have a lifetime guarantee on thier work and shouldnt be such a headache.