Trailer hitch on 2021 refresh?

[HP Man]

Thank you! I used that wire to get the lights up and going after being mostly wired for a year!

No problem. Can you kindly share which wires you tapped into on the car for brake, signals and running lights?

 

[Bonelaw]

No problem. Can you kindly share which wires you tapped into on the car for brake, signals and running lights?

The guidance I got was: On the Drivers side the Left Turn/Brake is Green wire and the marker light is White. On the Passenger side the Right Turn/Brake is Brown and the Marker is White. You will only need to attach our brown marker light wire to one of the white wires and it can be on either side of the vehicle. The Red wire on our module will not be hooked up to anything as the vehicle sends voltage down the left and right turn wires simultaneously for brake lights.

Hope it helps.

 

[MarcG]

Has anyone recently had luck acquiring a Tekonsha 119147 kit?

My etrailers.com order from June kept getting pushed back, and I just found out today it won't ship until November..

Also, is there an alternative to this kit with another version? If not, what makes this kit so special?

 

[Webeevdrivers]

Hi all. I unfortunately didn’t search very well and didn’t find this very informative thread before I started another one. I’ll figure out how to close it later. But just wanted to thank all the contributors of this thread for their input.

Curious as someone mentioned on my new thread that tesla may get snarky on warranty issues for things like motors or batteries. Is anyone concerned about this?

Thanks in advance.

 

[dmurphy]

Curious as someone mentioned on my new thread that tesla may get snarky on warranty issues for things like motors or batteries. Is anyone concerned about this?

Thanks in advance.

Not at all, nor have I ever heard such a thing.

Not saying it’s impossible, but haven’t seen any empiric evidence.

 

[MarcG]

Has anyone recently had luck acquiring a Tekonsha 119147 kit?

My etrailers.com order from June kept getting pushed back, and I just found out today it won't ship until November..

Also, is there an alternative to this kit with another version? If not, what makes this kit so special?

Alright folks, I've successully installed the Tekonsha 119147 unit in my Plaid.

I used the guidance provided from this post:

The guidance I got was: On the Drivers side the Left Turn/Brake is Green wire and the marker light is White. On the Passenger side the Right Turn/Brake is Brown and the Marker is White. You will only need to attach our brown marker light wire to one of the white wires and it can be on either side of the vehicle. The Red wire on our module will not be hooked up to anything as the vehicle sends voltage down the left and right turn wires simultaneously for brake lights.

But bearing in mind 2 things:

1. The "brown" wire on the passenger side turn/brake signal is more like VERY light brown, more like salmon/pink colored

2. Tekonsha probably wants you to have this unit installed on the driver side, because the green wire that comes out of it for the right turn signal is much longer than the yellow wire for the driver side turn signal, but given that the power and ground taps I used are on the passenger side and I didn't want to extend those wires and keep the Tekonsha unit in the passenger well, I swapped the yellow and green wires

For those interested, I made a short video showing and explaining the way I installed it:

 

[Bleo]

For anyone who has purchased the eco hitch version - do you have any pictures of what the thing actually looks like? It's like they're trying to keep the design a secret. The website photo is definitely wrong and when they sent me their installation instructions they purposely left a photo of the hitch out of them!

 

[MarcG]

Thought I’d share photos of the trailer in action, now that everything is working properly:

 

[krsgio]

Sweet setup, love Atoms.

 

[2022S-LR]

For anyone who has purchased the eco hitch version - do you have any pictures of what the thing actually looks like? It's like they're trying to keep the design a secret. The website photo is definitely wrong and when they sent me their installation instructions they purposely left a photo of the hitch out of them!

 

[2022S-LR]

Alright folks, I've successully installed the Tekonsha 119147 unit in my Plaid.

I used the guidance provided from this post:


But bearing in mind 2 things:

1. The "brown" wire on the passenger side turn/brake signal is more like VERY light brown, more like salmon/pink colored

2. Tekonsha probably wants you to have this unit installed on the driver side, because the green wire that comes out of it for the right turn signal is much longer than the yellow wire for the driver side turn signal, but given that the power and ground taps I used are on the passenger side and I didn't want to extend those wires and keep the Tekonsha unit in the passenger well, I swapped the yellow and green wires

For those interested, I made a short video showing and explaining the way I installed it:

nice video bud .

 

[MarcG]

nice video bud .

Thanks! Hope it helped / will help others

 

[2022S-LR]

Thanks! Hope it helped / will help others

I’m Towing 3200 lbs travel trailer . drives up hill like nothing was attached , passed a few ice trucks towing similar trailers . I even brought a propane generator for my range anxiety . A lot of curios people asking questions at the super chargers .

 

[leecox]

Hi All,

I went digging into the Parts Catalog and the Service Manual. I found a few things:

MS_SOP16-SOP-20230118.pdf (tesla.com) Last page

Trailer Hitch - Rear Energy Absorber (Retrofit) (tesla.com)

Parts Catalog (tesla.com) - Hitch Wiring Harness
Parts Catalog (tesla.com) - Trailer Hitch

Looks like they have made the Hitch available for over the counter order, without a VIN. Also looks like there is a procedure to install outlined for the Model S. The SOP16 (current version of the Model S HW4 Cars) includes the wiring diagrams for the Hitch in the NA car. It doesn't show the same in the older SOP15 (Refresh Refresh 22-23 HW3 Cars) or the SOP14 (Original refresh 21-22 HW3 Cars). So, it might now be possible to install a factory hitch in at least the newest cars, possibly by a Tesla Service Center.

 

[MarcG]

Hi All,

I went digging into the Parts Catalog and the Service Manual. I found a few things:

MS_SOP16-SOP-20230118.pdf (tesla.com) Last page

Trailer Hitch - Rear Energy Absorber (Retrofit) (tesla.com)

Parts Catalog (tesla.com) - Hitch Wiring Harness
Parts Catalog (tesla.com) - Trailer Hitch

Looks like they have made the Hitch available for over the counter order, without a VIN. Also looks like there is a procedure to install outlined for the Model S. The SOP16 (current version of the Model S HW4 Cars) includes the wiring diagrams for the Hitch in the NA car. It doesn't show the same in the older SOP15 (Refresh Refresh 22-23 HW3 Cars) or the SOP14 (Original refresh 21-22 HW3 Cars). So, it might now be possible to install a factory hitch in at least the newest cars, possibly by a Tesla Service Center.

Nice sleuthing! Nice to know there could be an official path to towing with the refresh S from Tesla.

The one nice thing about an unofficial install however is that Autopilot is not disabled, which comes in super handy on long road trips with trailers.

 

[DayTrippin]

Hi All,

I went digging into the Parts Catalog and the Service Manual. I found a few things:

MS_SOP16-SOP-20230118.pdf (tesla.com) Last page

Trailer Hitch - Rear Energy Absorber (Retrofit) (tesla.com)

Parts Catalog (tesla.com) - Hitch Wiring Harness
Parts Catalog (tesla.com) - Trailer Hitch

Looks like they have made the Hitch available for over the counter order, without a VIN. Also looks like there is a procedure to install outlined for the Model S. The SOP16 (current version of the Model S HW4 Cars) includes the wiring diagrams for the Hitch in the NA car. It doesn't show the same in the older SOP15 (Refresh Refresh 22-23 HW3 Cars) or the SOP14 (Original refresh 21-22 HW3 Cars). So, it might now be possible to install a factory hitch in at least the newest cars, possibly by a Tesla Service Center.

These 2 links went nowhere for me. Do they still work for you?

MS_SOP16-SOP-20230118.pdf (tesla.com) Last page

Trailer Hitch - Rear Energy Absorber (Retrofit) (tesla.com)

 

[aerodyne]

They worked for me. Have signed up for the EPC and service manual?

 

[leecox]

Also another look at the connector/hitch for the latest version:

The older version of the Model X hitch (H revision) has 2 connectors. Looks like the K revision is a single connector. Also notice the hitch receiver in the example, it's a US/CA hitch type not EU, on a Model S. My guess is the Hitch wiring harness has this single connector and the Trailer Brake Controller connector. The issue I find with all of this is, the opposite end of the harness is likely bare wires to insert into the existing harness connectors or pass-through connectors since it goes all the way back to the VC Left controller under the dash.

So to net this out, the older hitch likely won't work with the hitch harness. You'll probably need the K revision, and the hitch harness to get this to work. I'm thinking about ordering the harness just to see. I did find out the K revision hitch is $1200 OTC parts order.

I was also told in-person that Tesla wouldn't install this yet. That even though there's parts and procedure they haven't been given clearance to install a hitch on the Model S.

So the -H Hitch with or without the controller is a good unit for Hitch only or the 3rd Party wiring.
The -K Hitch with the harness might work on 2021+ or 2023+ (HW4) with the two parts and access to Toolbox 3.

 

[dmurphy]

Also another look at the connector/hitch for the latest version:

View attachment 988927

The older version of the Model X hitch (H revision) has 2 connectors. Looks like the K revision is a single connector. Also notice the hitch receiver in the example, it's a US/CA hitch type not EU, on a Model S. My guess is the Hitch wiring harness has this single connector and the Trailer Brake Controller connector. The issue I find with all of this is, the opposite end of the harness is likely bare wires to insert into the existing harness connectors or pass-through connectors since it goes all the way back to the VC Left controller under the dash.

So to net this out, the older hitch likely won't work with the hitch harness. You'll probably need the K revision, and the hitch harness to get this to work. I'm thinking about ordering the harness just to see. I did find out the K revision hitch is $1200 OTC parts order.

I was also told in-person that Tesla wouldn't install this yet. That even though there's parts and procedure they haven't been given clearance to install a hitch on the Model S.

So the -H Hitch with or without the controller is a good unit for Hitch only or the 3rd Party wiring.
The -K Hitch with the harness might work on 2021+ or 2023+ (HW4) with the two parts and access to Toolbox 3.

This looks great! But I don't think there's any wiring at all to tap into. That's likely a "new build" thing. That blue wire harness simply doesn't exist on the older cars. (Mine is an October 2021 Refresh LR ...)

 

[cmarshack]

Also another look at the connector/hitch for the latest version:

View attachment 988927

I find it very interesting that there is the need for a heatsink on that harness? Any EE's who can see why that might be necessary?