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Towbar help please!!

S

Sonia_5128519

Hi, We have upgraded from towing a small camping trailer to a folding camper. Our problem is that we have single electrics on our tow bar -fine for the trailer!but so that we can chill the fridge and charge battery on camper during a journey we need double electrics. I've noticed that Towsure sell an extension convertor lead where you plug it into a single socket and it produces a double, would we be ok using one of these? or would we be overloading the power? Some advice would be appreciated-thank you
 
Hi Sonia,

Assuming that you have the black 7 pin socket on the back of your car (correctly referred to as the 12N connector) - you should see 7 copper coloured pins (or sockets) - then this only has intermittent power - for things like turn signals, brake lights, etc., and in any case the wiring is only rated for low currents - enough to run lights.

Charging the battery needs a few amps, but the fridge needs 10 amps or more - so heavy duty cable is used to supply this - and it needs to be "always on" unlike the lights.

So you need to visit a tow bar fitter and have the 12S socket fitted if you have a 12N socket.

If you are lucky enough to have the (superior) 13 pin ISO 11446 connector on your car - this already has all of the correctly specified wires in place - in which case have the camper sockets changed to a 13 pin plug - or buy a 13 pin ISO to 12N+S adaptor.

The 13 pin ISO socket (standard on many new cars) is waterproof, secure - with a twist lock, corrosion resistant, and was designed to handle the high current demands of appliances like fridges.

The much older 12N+S connectors were not designed to handle high currents and you need to take care that it is kept clean, and provide a good contact - otherwise you may notice that the plug and socket gets hot.

Fitting an adaptor is OK, but you have just introduced the deficiencies of the 12N+S system into a correctly designed connector - which is why I don't like this retrograde step.

Robert
 
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