RE: brake lights

[madrone]

 
Hello.
 
 We have a 7-way connector between our 2000 Toyota Sienna and our 2000 Coleman Bayside. The brakes, tail lights, and turn signals work fine, and the trailer battery gets juice from the car.  However, the brake lights have never worked since we bought the trailer a month ago.
 
 After reading the advice on problems with lights, I thought we could easily diagnose and fix this problem.  We cleaned the contacts on the trailer receptacle, and have determined that all sockets on the car are live.
 
 Looking at the wiring diagram for the 7-way connector, we note that there is no direct connection for the trailer brake lights.  Since the brakes and tail lights both work, we think there must be a problem with the brake light wiring in the trailer.
 
 Can anyone point us towards a wiring diagram for the trailer brake lights and/or tell us where we might look for a bad connection?
 
 Thaniks in advance,
 

[mike4947]

 madrone
Here s alink showing the wiring of a common 7 pole connector: http://www.farmco.com/technical%20bulletins/trailers/7%20pole.html
 Note that the turn and brake lights use a common wire and light a common bulb filament, So it the turn signals work the wiring in the trailer is OK.
 
 Of course my wiring catalog lists every Toyota except the Sienna, but all the ones listed do require a taillight converter to convert three wire vehicle lights to two wire trailer lights.
 
 First thing I d check is whether the brake lights are putting jiuce to the wires they are supposed to at the vehicle plug. If not a converter may be in order.

[madrone]

 mike4947
Thanks, Mike, this is very helpful.
 
 We are still confused, however.  There is a black thing with a cap that
 might be a converter, but we re not sure.  It has three wires (two of
 which are the turn signal wires) and a ground going in and no wires
 coming out.
 
 What does a converter look like and where does it hook up?
 
 Thanks again,
 

[mike4947]

 madrone
They can actually look like most anything. Some plug in wiring harnesses come with them built in and you can t tell where they are.
 I bought one for my Ranger and bought a plug in wiring harness and found the harness already had one in the " T"  plug that plugged into the truck s harness. It s someplace around here buried. If I find it I ll post a picture and the wiring diagram.
 Next time you re at Wally World or any automotive supply look around and you ll see them for various makes and models.