Issues with LED lights on trailers

[Nuclear Fusion]

After about 8 emails to Tesla, which were effectively ignored, asking for a solution to the fact that LED lights on trailers don't illuminate in tow mode, Tesla have telephoned me & advised they have no solution.
This means you cannot tow trailers with LED lights. Pathetic, as all trailers manufactured now have LED lights, which effectively means Model X cannot tow trailers

 

[Nuclear Fusion]

Which then begs the question, are they falsely advertising?

 

[StanMI]

I have no help, but I do have a trailer with LED lights and am considering an X............... Subscribed

 

[outdoors]

After about 8 emails to Tesla, which were effectively ignored, asking for a solution to the fact that LED lights on trailers don't illuminate in tow mode, Tesla have telephoned me & advised they have no solution.
This means you cannot tow trailers with LED lights. Pathetic, as all trailers manufactured now have LED lights, which effectively means Model X cannot tow trailers

Help me out @ohmman. I have LED tail lights in my 23ft Airstream. I have towed them with a friends X with no problem. Am I missing something. Is the OP in the US? Brand of trailer?

 

[Evoforce]

Something is not adding up. Lots of people are towing with S/3/X.I tow also and had to add a trailer wiring kit that works for all style bulbs for my S. You were given wrong advice...

 

[Obsoletion]

What is happening with the lights when you plug in? are they just not working at all?

 

[Nuclear Fusion]

I have no help, but I do have a trailer with LED lights and am considering an X............... Subscribed

Doing an internet search shows this to be a common issue with more recently manufactured SUVs (not just Tesla) - the have a 'light blown' signal & because LEDs draw such low power the canbus 'thinks' the light is blown
That is how I understand it

 

[Nuclear Fusion]

What is happening with the lights when you plug in? are they just not working at all?

Correct.
But a multimeter applied to the pin of the electrical trailer plug (from the X) shows that a electrical signal is being sent (eg: left hand indicator is activated)

 

[brkaus]

Correct.
But a multimeter applied to the pin of the electrical trailer plug (from the X) shows that a electrical signal is being sent (eg: left hand indicator is activated)

Are they the correct polarity?

 

[qdeathstar]

you just need to add a few power resistors between the ground and light outputs. or across the leds... not a great solution but one.

 

[NoMoGas]

There is a work-around for this. Hard wire a trailer harness with brake light off of the third brake light and turn signls pulled from the front fenders. It's a pain but it works.

you just need to add a few power resistors between the ground and light outputs. or across the leds... not a great solution but one.

Or this

 

[Nuclear Fusion]

Are they the correct polarity?

Didn't check - it was at the trailer retailer at the time, a week go
Maybe the Model X trailer plug is faulty - but I have been towing a trailer with incandescent lights no problem for the last 5 days

 

[Nuclear Fusion]

Just spoke to another trailer retailer & they said they have to change the LED lights over to multivolt lights, to solve the problem

 

[mswlogo]

Just spoke to another trailer retailer & they said they have to change the LED lights over to multivolt lights, to solve the problem

Do you think you can handle plugging this in?

https://www.amazon.com/57003-7-Way-Blade-Electrical-Adapter/dp/B00AFVOF3M

This is just one of many ways to solve it. This just adds load resistors to trick it.

We are in transition. It’s a well known problem. Model X was designed for the most common trailers 3-4 years ago. Things are changing. There are simple work arounds.

Issues happen if you use LED blinker bulbs, cars won’t see the proper load and miss behave. So you add a load resistor to simulate the old load. No big deal.

 

[ohmman]

I have a Curt 57003 adapter that will allow LED lights to work with older Model X vehicles. Newer Model Xs do not need this adapter, according to reports in the forum. I don't know the cutoff, but if you're having trouble, this is probably the adapter that you need, @Nuclear Fusion.

Edit -- cross posted with @mswlogo who has the correct answer above.

 

[brkaus]

Didn't check - it was at the trailer retailer at the time, a week go
Maybe the Model X trailer plug is faulty - but I have been towing a trailer with incandescent lights no problem for the last 5 days

Incandescent lights don’t care about polarity.

but they do make resistive loads for led replacements. My truck needed it When I replaced my tail lights for it to work correctly.

 

[Nuclear Fusion]

Do you think you can handle plugging this in?

https://www.amazon.com/57003-7-Way-Blade-Electrical-Adapter/dp/B00AFVOF3M

This is just one of many ways to solve it. This just adds load resistors to trick it.

We are in transition. It’s a well known problem. Model X was designed for the most common trailers 3-4 years ago. Things are changing. There are simple work arounds.

Issues happen if you use LED blinker bulbs, cars won’t see the proper load and miss behave. So you add a load resistor to simulate the old load. No big deal.

Cheers mate. I'll order one.

 

[steilkurve]

I have a Curt 57003 adapter that will allow LED lights to work with older Model X vehicles. Newer Model Xs do not need this adapter, according to reports in the forum. I don't know the cutoff, but if you're having trouble, this is probably the adapter that you need, @Nuclear Fusion.

Edit -- cross posted with @mswlogo who has the correct answer above.

I tow a 2020 Airstream Bambi 22FB with a 2017 Model X and the lights work fine. No adapter required.

 

[mswlogo]

I tow a 2020 Airstream Bambi 22FB with a 2017 Model X and the lights work fine. No adapter required.

All it needs is a minimum load. Your trailer might have other loads. The Main lights might be LED and maybe side markers are still incandescent. Or your trailer might have the forethought to have a built in resistor to minimize customer issues.

 

[compu85]

In our prior Touareg, I had to use a trailer plug adapter with some resistors in it to make the trailer control module happy. IIRC I got it on Amazon.