Tow plugs - how many types are there?

[catch-22]

I had a quick look at my tow plug today and it looked different to the standard round plug I am used to seeing. It was only a quick look so I may be wrong but are there different types/formats of round tow plugs? I am fairly sure it had Land Rover printed on the outer plastics..

[Landy110]

There are normally only two types of round plug a six pin and a seven pin unless this is some kind of specialised one.
The norm these days is seven pin in line as aposed to round.
Steve.

[Blknight.aus]

theres 5 (but you'll generally only see #2+3)

1. 5 pin round, 4 spots around a central earth ,rare these days
2. 6 pin round 5 posts around the central earth, common
3. 7 pin round 6 pins round the central earth with the pins spaced around so that there could be another pin at the bottom, common
4. 7 pin round as above but with all the outside pins spaced evenly. only seen a few.
5. the big 7 pin one that trucks use that occasionally makes it onto the landy.

[Wazza]

Mine has a 7 pin Large

[Ruslan]

Mine is "flat", all pins in line. Have to use adaptor ($10 from K-Mart) to connect to other end.

Cheers,
Ruslan

[p38arover]

There's more.

5 and 6 pin small round
5 and 7 pin large round
7 and 12 pin flat

Dunno about now but years ago, the type of plug depended on the State in which it was used.

The big round was quite common in some States. I've got a brand new old stock socket in the garage.

See here: http://www.narva.com.au/Trailer_1.html

[LandyAndy]

The new standard is the flat type.
Eastern staters,unsure which ones run a much bigger dia plug than us,its a dead give away to the origins of a vehicle when you see the plug!!!
Was 5 or 6 pin over here,grew to 7,but not as big as dia plug as others use.
Andrew

[drivesafe]

Hi catch-22, here’s the pin outs for both the 7 pin Round and Flat trailer connectors.

Cheers.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/

[ladas]

I assume by the term "clearance lights" - it means side / rear / tail lights.


Hi catch-22, here’s the pin outs for both the 7 pin Round and Flat trailer connectors.

Cheers.

http://www.traxide.com.au/Info7 JPGs/Trailer-7R-Info.jpg

http://www.traxide.com.au/Info7 JPGs/Trailer-7F-Info.jpg

[dannydesch]

Hi guys,
can I jump in with a question?
I will be renting a trailer in a few weeks and I have round pins (Disco 3). How do I know if I need to buy a conversion before I rock up at the place? I see many cars here in Canberra with the flat plugs.
Also. the guy at the garage told me I needed to change the fuses as I would blow them, he said. Amy of this true?

[ladas]

Hi guys,
can I jump in with a question?
I will be renting a trailer in a few weeks and I have round pins (Disco 3). How do I know if I need to buy a conversion before I rock up at the place? I see many cars here in Canberra with the flat plugs.
Also. the guy at the garage told me I needed to change the fuses as I would blow them, he said. Amy of this true?

Without seeming blunt - I would have thought the best way to find out would be to call the people you are renting the trailer from.;)

However most trailer rental places have adaptors in stock (but they are only a few $'s from most autopart places) Autopro/Supercheat/Burson's etc.,

Change the fuses - no I don't think so. The only issue I know about is that D3's don't like trailer lights that are the LED type, but there is a fix for that as well.

Do a search in the tech forum for D3 trailer (sometimes spelt trailor) and I am sure you will come up with the right info.

[Blknight.aus]

Hi guys,
can I jump in with a question?
I will be renting a trailer in a few weeks and I have round pins (Disco 3). How do I know if I need to buy a conversion before I rock up at the place? I see many cars here in Canberra with the flat plugs.
Also. the guy at the garage told me I needed to change the fuses as I would blow them, he said. Amy of this true?

trailer rental places usually have a socket on the trailer they then lend you the appropriate cable to connect from that to the back of your vehicle..

unless theyve screwed the wiring (it does happen) on their side you shouldnt blow fuses but make sure you know what ones do what in your vehicle before hooking up the trailer JIC.

If your going to a place that also leases trailers that go behind 24v vehicles they may be fitted with a series of "droppers" that cut 24v to 12v, these are pretty primative and have a much larger draw on 12v this is occasionally enough to blow fuses.

[catch-22]

Wow I post before I go to bed....get up and check and I have all of the information I will ever need on tow plugs.....

I Love this site :D

Thanks again all.....

[Pedro_The_Swift]

after product testing round plugs of various pin numbers for many years---


go with the flat ones,,

supacrap actually sell the female end in a 1 metre length already wired up,,

[dobbo]

I assume by the term "clearance lights" - it means side / rear / tail lights.

Not really almost all horsefloats have clearance lights attached


oooohhh Pretty, pretty, shiny, shiny.

[rovers4]

Hello all,
The blowing fuses bit comes in when you fit a replacement alternator with a much greater ampere rating.
Although it is still classified as a 12 volt unit, the system voltage while running can get up to 14.6 volts. This causes a bit of extra current and the old tail lamp 5A fuse gets a bit hot. Put in 8amp fuses to overcome.

Better still, also put in extra relays at rear, to give separate supply and use outputs to drive one of the fitted the rear and towed units.
You can usually only get to interupt the rear wiring to one fitted light set due to the wiring harness location and where they have split it out.
Hope this helps.
Rover4.