End game - non - brp- trailer woes. Success

[OverHillAndDale]

:yes:
I was ready to melt down my Aluma trailer and sell it for scrap. The lights worked fine if I hooked them up individually to a 12 volt battery, but not when I connected through the BRP connector. I discovered something curious - resistance to the ground changed when I put on the turn signals or brake. Perhaps this is how the bike goes in to trailer mode for the 2014 on up which don't have a trailer setting through the dashboard? At any rate, all the lights worked unless I hooked up the running lights, then it all went straight to hell.

At any rate I bought a Big Bike Parts adapter. Today I disassembled the back end of the bike, removed the seat, then removed all last components of the BRP hitch adapter. The BBP was easy to install EXCEPT for all the disassembly of the bike and running a power and ground all the way to the battery, which is in the frunk on the 2014s. It is a 5 pin adapter, so I bought and installed a 5 pin flat connector. This is better suited to my trailer anyway since it has separate brake and turn signal lights. It separates the bike power from the trailer power via solid state (I think) relays.

At any rate, it worked beautifully. The trailer LEDs work as they're supposed to, so I was able to test-pull the trailer for the first time today.

I don't know if the BRP adapter only works well with BRP trailers or if my unit was defective, but since I'm towing a non-BRP trailer and since I installed the adapter myself, I suspect I won't get anywhere trying to get BRP to warrant the adapter.

Thanks for everyone who offered advice (and sympathy) from my previous posts.

 

[billybovine]

:yes:
I was ready to melt down my Aluma trailer and sell it for scrap. The lights worked fine if I hooked them up individually to a 12 volt battery, but not when I connected through the BRP connector. I discovered something curious - resistance to the ground changed when I put on the turn signals or brake. Perhaps this is how the bike goes in to trailer mode for the 2014 on up which don't have a trailer setting through the dashboard? At any rate, all the lights worked unless I hooked up the running lights, then it all went straight to hell.

At any rate I bought a Big Bike Parts adapter. Today I disassembled the back end of the bike, removed the seat, then removed all last components of the BRP hitch adapter. The BBP was easy to install EXCEPT for all the disassembly of the bike and running a power and ground all the way to the battery, which is in the frunk on the 2014s. It is a 5 pin adapter, so I bought and installed a 5 pin flat connector. This is better suited to my trailer anyway since it has separate brake and turn signal lights. It separates the bike power from the trailer power via solid state (I think) relays.

At any rate, it worked beautifully. The trailer LEDs work as they're supposed to, so I was able to test-pull the trailer for the first time today.

I don't know if the BRP adapter only works well with BRP trailers or if my unit was defective, but since I'm towing a non-BRP trailer and since I installed the adapter myself, I suspect I won't get anywhere trying to get BRP to warrant the adapter.

Thanks for everyone who offered advice (and sympathy) from my previous posts.

Now I understand why you were having trouble. You just can't plug a 4 wire harness into a 5 wire trailer. The trailer has to be rewired to match. The turn signal lights on the trailer need to be abandoned and the brake light have to be separated into 2 different circuits. So there is nothing wrong with your BRP harness.

There is no connection between the the trailer and trailer mode and the BRP harness does not do this automatically. If you want your bike in trailer mode you must put it in trailer mode from the settings menu while stopped or comes up instead of the settings menu while moving.

 

[OverHillAndDale]

I had already purchased a 5 pin to 4 pin adapter and it didn't work. Even just trying to jumper the running lights 12 v and the ground pin wouldn't work.


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[billybovine]

I had already purchased a 5 pin to 4 pin adapter and it didn't work. Even just trying to jumper the running lights 12 v and the ground pin wouldn't work.


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There is already a 5 to 4 adapter built into the BRP harness. Once the brake and signal lights have been combined it cannot be adapted back. It's like unscrambling an egg. You needed to go the the Big Bike Parts harness in the first place.

 

[OverHillAndDale]

I don't want to start a debate here, but let me try to explain again.

Using nothing but the BRP square connector and the trailer hitch harness, I jumpered straight from the ground on the bike to the ground on the trailer, then from the running light on the bike to the running light on the trailer. At this point there were no converters of any type other than the BRP harness. Although the voltage measured 12V at the plug, when I connected it to the trailer in this manner the lighting would not work. The trailer lights worked fine when I tried the same experiment using a 12V battery. I could get the brake lights, the turn signals, etc to work independantly, but when I connected the running lights everything went squirrely. The trailer vendor suggested that the electrical harness would not put out enough current or that the ground in the harness didn't provide a constant near-zero resistance, which is what I confirmed.