13pin towing plug

Morning everyone, my new trailer came yesterday and in all my haste it came with a 13pin towing socket not a 7pin like on my landy td5, I got an adapter from Halfords but would like to do a proper job is it a mission to change the rear plug from 7pin to 13?

Hi

Is this Any help

Your existing socket probably only has a 7 core wire feeding it, so yes...it would be a faff to backtrack and fit the 13 core variety. Why bother? The adaptor will do the job, and should you ever need to tow anything else with the 7 pin plug then simply remove the adaptor - easier than running off to Halfords again and getting the other adaptor! And anyway....does your trailer have a fridge????

A genuine Land Rover 13pin plug with wiring loom for td5 cost (a few years ago) just over £100 from main dealer, and took a couple of hours to fit. No cutting or splicing cables required.

Or do it the other-way, and swap the trailer plug for a 7 pin one, no benefit to the 13pin as far as I can see!

If you fit a 13-pin it will be tested at MOT time. Does not apply to 7-pin sockets.

Hello lads thank you for you’re reply, it’s a electronic tipper trailer with its own battery and I don’t think the battery is getting charged up with the adapter I got from Halfords as there are certain pins missing g on the adapter bit... looks like I’m going to have a shed out a load more money now! At least my lights work anyway

You currently have just the black 7-pin socket on your car which is why the trailer battery isn't charging (the revese light won't work either.) I have both types of socket on my car- 13 and 7-pin. Means I can tow anything without messing about with adapters which don't always work. The old system of twin black and grey 7-pin plugs (which you'd need for the trailer battery) takes up the same amount of space, and adding the 13-pin while retaining the 7-pin gives more flexibility.

Wiring the lights is easy enough on these as they just splice into the bullet connectors behind the lights. All the road lights for both plugs can be connected up this way. You can now legally tow any trailer regardless of which connector it uses.

For the auxiliary power supply, there may already be a purple wire bundled up in there which is a permanent fused supply. Use this to power pins 9 and 10 via a voltage- sensing relay. Mostly these expect you to be using the old grey plug so the "pin 4" output goes to pin 9 and "pin 6" goes to pin 10.