Electrical harnesses

To install a trailer hitch on a camper van or motor home, you first need to check that it is compatible with the vehicle's chassis. Once this has been checked, the trailer hitch can be fitted to the chassis of the van or motorhome. The final step in installing a trailer hitch is to connect the electrical harness from the motorhome to the trailer. This connection is crucial to ensuring safe travel when towing a trailer with your motorhome or van.

 

What is an electrical harness and what does it do?

A wiring harness is a set of electrical cables used to supply electricity to the lighting and various electronic components of a vehicle or trailer. All vehicles have wiring harnesses. Without this electrical distribution system, the electronics and lights of your van or motorhome cannot function.

The electrical harnesses play the same role for a trailer. They supply the trailer with electricity to operate its various lights (rear lights, brake lights, indicators and reversing light), so you can drive safely. When installing a trailer hitch, you need to remember to install the wiring harnesses to connect the motorhome lighting to the trailer lighting. This means that the lights on your trailer will come on at the same time as those on your towing vehicle.

 

Depending on the number of connections you need, you can choose between two types of wiring harness:

• The 7-pin wiring harness
• The 13-pin wiring harness

 

The difference lies in the number of connections allowed by the wiring harness. Each pin corresponds to an electrical connection for operating a specific lighting system. Electrical harnesses (or sockets) with 13 pins can be used to operate the most complex lighting and electrical systems.

 

A wiring harness adapted to your vehicle

Each vehicle has its own type of wiring harness, which enables it to operate specific electronic components that are not necessarily common to other vehicles.

Before we can install a wiring harness on your vehicle to connect its lighting to that of your trailer, we need to know the type of chassis your vehicle is running on, as well as the year it was put on the market.

We can install a wiring harness (standard or multiplexed) perfectly adapted to the type of chassis of your motorhome or van. We offer compatible wiring harnesses with chassis from the following brands:

• Fiat
• Peugeot
• Citroën
• Mercedes
• Renault
• Ford

 

How do you test a wiring harness?

Once the cable bundle installed on the vehicle chassis, it is necessary to test its operation. There are several stages to this test, which requires a high level of technical expertise:

• - Checking and cleaning electrical cables using protective gloves to identify any anomalies
• - Identification of the presence of arcing around cables when the vehicle's engine is switched on
• - Testing the resistance of electrical harnesses using a multimeter