any towbar fitters? 5 wire 12n 7 pin socket

[KidKoala]

I bought a second hand towbar for my b5 passat.

It came with single 12n socket.

The loom coming from the 7 pin socket only has 5 wires.

It appears to be missing the 2nd tail light connection and fog.

A couple of questions

1) why do I need 2 sidelight connections?
2) both sidelights work on lighting board, so can I just leave everything as is?
3) is it safe to have both sidelights running off 1 wire or do i need a relay here.

I will fit an in line audible buzzing relay for the indicators and leave everything as is if all is safe.

[TooMany2cvs]

KidKoala said:

1) why do I need 2 sidelight connections?

Because, sometimes, LH and RH are connected/fused separately. Think "parking lights", where one side comes on independent of the other, often if you leave the indicators on with the ignition off.

KidKoala said:

2) both sidelights work on lighting board, so can I just leave everything as is?

That lighting board wires both together. Others might not.

KidKoala said:

3) is it safe to have both sidelights running off 1 wire or do i need a relay here.

Shouldn't be an issue. The fuse should go before any wiring issues.

But, tbh, I'd never re-use towbar wiring anyway. The price of a socket and a length of multicore is cheap compared to fannying about trying to trace iffy electrics because of corroded connections.

Edited by TooMany2cvs on Saturday 12th April 18:42

[KidKoala]

I thought seeing as its a 7 pin socket it would be wiring both sidelights together internally as it only has 1 wire for them...

[TooMany2cvs]

KidKoala said:

I thought seeing as its a 7 pin socket it would be wiring both sidelights together internally as it only has 1 wire for them...

The 7N socket has one pin for each side's tail light.



Whoever did the wiring might have done both to one pin.

[KidKoala]

I assumed they bought it wired up. I'll check with a meter to see if both pins terminate.