towing electrics legality?

I hate modern vehicles
Ive recently spent a load of time and money on that passat of mine and every step has been a ballache

I have however managed to get about 8 mpg more out of it than ever before by changing once simple sensor
Learning how vagom works and what the faults and values really mean would be impossible without the net though

Ill be glad when im back working on the bus and i can fire the passat off and buy somthing more simple

 

i like to be in charge but my hairline is shrinking - so a bit of both?

 

Hmmm. Don't the spec covers that .

 

think i'll just put a towbar on and blag it, might have to do the relay too by the looks of it if i want the wiring, google seems to think there's no other way with a caddy after 2006.

 

Need I go on?

 

Isnt yours one of those galv trailers that comes flatpacked?

 

them erde ones

 

take it apart and stick it inside the van

 

I bought something similar from IKEA (called "Stønk" or "Bølløx", or summut like that).

 

My T5 has this modern wiring, when I fitted the tow bar I just join into the wires. It works . I never fitted the bleep and still passed MOT.


Yes yes I know it will rot my wires.

 

There's nothing wrong with canbus...saves on wiring and is easy to work with when you know what you are doing.

What's not to like with a technology with fewer connectors to go wrong and enables self diagnosis...also far far fewer car fires caused by canbus.

The issue isn't the technology, it's people wanting a modern machine to use 1910 wiring technology just like no other complex machine left on earth.

 

By law the lights and number plate need to be on the furthest part of the vehicle, trailer or bike rack. So yes, all lights must be working fully.

With canbus you have yourself all confuddled. That's the problem with the internet and people who don't know what they are talking about. If you don't have towbar electrics fitted then you need to have a multiplex system installed. If you try to 'scotch lock' into the existing wiring you could cause a multitude of issues with the vehicle electrics which I won't go into now.

The caddy forum is full of problems BECAUSE they use aftermarket items and more and probably don't know what they are doing. I've not had one issue with canbus.

This year MOT testers now need to test towbar electrics. You need either a visual or an audial monitor fitted.

 

Nah the approved number plates just have to be visible from the front and rear, and if on the rear it should be lit, and if the rear lights of the towing vehicle are fully visible even when the trailer is loaded, and the trailer is tiny (less than two metres overall length), it is only required to have two trailer warning triangles mounted as far back as possible, and at the widest parts of the trailer, although one on each mud guard is acceptable. You also need to have an approved 50mph sign visible on the rear of the trailer, but it is not required to be lit.

You're allowed an over hanging load of up to 2 metres beyond the rear of any vehicle, as long as the load has appropriate warning triangles.

If a trailer or over hanging load obscures the lights of the (towing) vehicle, then a light board needs to be fitted, and if the number plate is obscured, then the light board should have one fitted and lit.

 

For new tow bar and electrics installations only, there is no requirement to retrofit a visual or audible monitor.

 

Think I've got one of those relays kicking about if you want it rick

 

upto you mate if you dont want it? its not that i dont wanna buy one i just cba with the messing about! ive always just scotchlocked into the standard wires and job done, bloody modern crap! i'll have to remove my plylining to get a wire from the fuse box for a perm live for one of these modern bypass relays grrrr! as for the legality of testing wiring on mot its only for the 13 pin sockets not the old 7 pin, true that all new installs need a buzzer or light though, although ive never bothered

 

I do know the UK police do stop you if you tow a trailer with a different number plate even when both are registered to same address and name. Arses

 

Two points. Lighting is required regardless of if the vehicle lights are obscured.

Testing is for both 7 pin and 13 pin

 

I beg to differ:-
Here are the regs direct from VOSA.
What are the new elements to the MOT rest?

For Class 4, 5 and 7 vehicles:
Headlamp levelling and cleaning devices when fitted for HID or LED headlamps

Main beam ‘tell-tale’ warning
Battery (including batteries for electric or hybrid vehicles)

Electrical wiring and connectors

Trailer electrical socket security and damage

Operation of 13-pin trailer electrical sockets using an approved trailer socket tester

Operation of the steering lock (where fitted) including a malfunction warning in respect of an electronic steering lock

Electronic power steering malfunction indicator lamp

Electronic parking brake control and malfunction indicator lamp

Electronic Stability Control (ESC) components, including the switch (if fitted) and malfunction warning

Brake fluid warning lamp illuminated or inoperative

Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS)

SRS components including airbags, seat belt pre-tensioners, seat belt load limiters and SRS malfunction warning lamp

Engine mountings

Speedometer

Indirect vision devices (where they replace obligatory mirrors)

http://webarchive.nationalarchives....THE MOT TEST EFFECTIVE FROM 20 MARCH 2013.pdf

 

Depends on how old your trailer is...I've obviously not towed one that met this standard for a while.

The Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989 Part 1 Regulation 6 (5)

(5) No trailer manufactured before 1st October 1990 is required by regulation 18 to be fitted with any stop lamp or direction indicator whilst being drawn by a motor vehicle fitted with one or two stop lamps and two or more direction indicators if the dimensions of the trailer are such that when the longitudinal axes of the drawing vehicle and the trailer lie in the same vertical plane such stop lamps and at last one direction indicator on each side of the vehicle are visible to an observer in that vertical plane from a point 6 m behind the rear of the trailer whether it is loaded or not.

Although it doesn't mention it, usually there's no tail lamps fitted to trailers that do not extend beyond the allowed length for overhanging loads either, I'm not going to trawl through the legislation for that exemption, which has probably changed since I last looked, so I'll let someone else do that.