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Issues with LED lights on trailers
- Thread starter Nuclear Fusion
- Start date
Incorrect, as a blanket statement. My 17 ft trailer is 100% LED outside and inside, and all the trailer lights work perfectly when I’m towing it with my mid-2017 X.
trekkie
Member
Optronics Load Resistor for LED Lights - Male PL-3 Plug and Pigtail - Qty 1 Optronics Accessories an
i can't remember which youtbue channel used one of these. TFL? they were doing some extreme towing up a mountain pass, had to install ones of those for the little trailer they were trying to tow to oregon it think it was.
i can't remember which youtbue channel used one of these. TFL? they were doing some extreme towing up a mountain pass, had to install ones of those for the little trailer they were trying to tow to oregon it think it was.
Yinn
Active Member
2016 & 2017 MX had no issues with a trailer using LED tailights. Everything turned on and worked as expected. Once again the only consistency with Tesla is that they're inconsistent.
It is possible, even likely, that the amount of draw differs for different trailers/campers, and that's the reason we have different outcomes with our MXs.
Yinn
Active Member
More than possible, that’s the actual answer.
The adapter changes the resistance and draw, which is why it works with it. The hitch won’t be able to read single LED or low powered LED trailers. But if you have one that’s powered by a strip of LEDs or used redundant lights, it’ll draw enough to work.
Do you realize the problem is too little current drawn by the LEDs, right? So if your trailer has lots of LEDs, it will draw enough current that it won't trigger a problem with the controller. I don't get that a controller will kill the power if there isn't enough load. That makes no sense. Limiting power when there is too much current drawn makes sense, but not too little.
Yinn
Active Member
Because it’s trying to determine if a bulb is out. If there’s not enough draw it says yes, broken bulb. With a broken bulb, you wouldn’t want to keep feeding a current as it has a potential to lead to shorts.
Yes, I do. I was pointing out that the OP made a definitive and categorical statement that was demonstrably untrue.
I think it is important to correct posted misinformation.
I don’t think that’s the issue. That’s a common issue if you change incandescent bulbs to LED within a car. Where the car knows the load range it should see and if you change it, it gets mad.
The problem is the Model X goes into Trailer mode based on the load it sees on the trailer harness. The min load expected was to high for a LED setup. Add a little more fake load with resistors and you are all set.
Sounds like newer Model X adjusted for this.
It would be hard for Model X to know a bulb is out on your trailer. It could have learn mode and save it and watch if it goes lower. But I don’t know any vehicle that does that.
Give that just a bit of thought. The purpose of detecting a bad bulb is to let the driver know to replace it. Once a bulb has broken the filament there is very little chance of it shorting in any way that would cause a problem. A broken piece of filament falls across the internal wires and it burns up. If the current remains off, how will the circuit know the bulb has been replaced?
Ordered one. Now I need an adapter for it at both ends to work with flat 7 pin
Any suggestions?
Hi Nuclear Fusion,
Could you please show a picture of the flat 7 pin you need to adapt to???
Thank You,
Shawn
Could you please show a picture of the flat 7 pin you need to adapt to???
Thank You,
Shawn
I’m no expert on all the types of trailer connectors and figured they had an adapter that would add load resistors to solve your issue. So I did a quick search and sure enough they did.
But the one I did link is a flat blade and should plug into the Model X and plug what ever you were plugging into the Model X into the adapter.
Googling around I see there are round pin style and blade style (in similar arrangement). I’ve only ever seen the blade style (like what’s on the Model X).
It sounds like they sent you the wrong one? You really don’t want that many adapters, even if you find what you need. They probably offer both styles and screwed up.
The one I linked had “blade” in the name. Which is what I think you want.
Compare the pics in the link with what they sent. Easy mistake to make.
Good luck.
rgedad
Member
I just bought a boat and went from DFW to Florida to pick it up. I brought with me the 7-Pin to 4-pin flat adapter cable I had used for years with my little Harbor Freight utility trailer (Incandescent lights). When I had passed papers at the sellers house, and hooked up the trailer, with the adapter, the trailer LED lights did not work - much to my chagrin. In addition the Tesla did not recognize a trailer was attached. The seller said that he had purchased a special 7-pin to 4-pin flat adapter for his car so the trailer LED lights would work with his VW. I tried his 7-Pin to flat 4-pin adapter on my car, and the lights worked. I gave him $20 and thanked him profusely for letting me have his adapter.
It issue was probably just needing more current draw than the LEDs provided.
It issue was probably just needing more current draw than the LEDs provided.
Rossy
Member
I totally missed this, we were towing 3 years plus multiple u hauls. Did have one u haul with LED lights that didn’t work.
Sooo today we were 90 minutes away from home at a small RV dealer picking up our new toy...and we’ll no trailer lights but the brake controller worked. Ordered a Curt 57003. There is also a Reese/Bergman 20142 lamp out bypass plug that should work. Bummer. So no toy until tomorrow.
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Rossy
Member
Good question. The computer in a Volvo sends a pulse out periodically looking for a load. It won’t power up 12 v until it sees that load. Possibly to protect against a short. Once it powers up, if the bulb opens, it detects the loss of load and flags a warning. I’m assuming Tesla works similarly. I could hook up an oscilloscope to it tomorrow or probably in a week or so to determine what it’s doing.
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