4 flat vehicle plug to 7 prong round trailer plug adapter?

[alf]

So, if everything goes according to plan this weekend, I will be buying a 2014 Quicksilver 6.0 trailer. In going over some of the trailer details with the seller, I discovered that they have modified it to a 7-prong round plug so that they could charge the battery while driving. My vehicle has the flat 4-prong plug though. Is there an adapter that I can buy that will allow me to plug my 4-prong vehicle plug into the 7-prong round trailer plug? At this point, I only want to have brake lights and turn signals so I can get the trailer home. Then I can work on the rewiring that would be needed at a later date. Thanks for any help you can give, I am totally unfamiliar with anything except the classic 4-prong plug setup.

Would something like [a href="https://www.etrailer.com/p-37185.html"]this[/a] do the job?

[pinstriper]

So, if everything goes according to plan this weekend, I will be buying a 2014 Quicksilver 6.0 trailer. In going over some of the trailer details with the seller, I discovered that they have modified it to a 7-prong round plug so that they could charge the battery while driving. My vehicle has the flat 4-prong plug though. Is there an adapter that I can buy that will allow me to plug my 4-prong vehicle plug into the 7-prong round trailer plug? At this point, I only want to have brake lights and turn signals so I can get the trailer home. Then I can work on the rewiring that would be needed at a later date. Thanks for any help you can give, I am totally unfamiliar with anything except the classic 4-prong plug setup.

Would something like [a href="https://www.etrailer.com/p-37185.html"]this[/a] do the job?

You will need that as part of converting your rig to 7 pin, yeah, and can then add the brakes and power to it when the time comes. This is not an adapter, however, it is permanent.

[hogtyd]

Congrats on the 6.0 purchase. As pinstriper mentioned, that adapter will work, but is intended to be a permanent install and not a removable/temporary adapter. But it looks like it would probably be your best option, as all of the temporary adapters I've seen are designed to go from 7-round (vehicle end) to 4-flat (trailer end) and not the other way around like you need in this case. So just bring some zip ties and make sure the vehicle-end of the adapter is secure to your trailer hitch or some other good mounting point and cap or tape off the extra wires until you do a permanent install...or revert the trailer end connector back to 4-flat if battery charging is not of interest.

have a good trip!

Graham

[charliem]

[font size="3"]The Hopkins kit will do the job and get you home assuming the previous owner wired the 7 pin correctly. There may be a cheaper adapter, but this is easy and available. No need to mount it yet; just tape it up. Eventually you will want to mount it permanently and wire in the battery charging circuit.
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[alf]

Well, I bit the bullet and had the 7-way round plug installed properly, wired to the vehicle battery. Picked up the 2014 QS 6.0 this morning, and the hookup worked like a charm. I like the Hopkins kit, because it has a 4-pin plug as well. Thanks for the feedback!

[charliem]

Well, I bit the bullet and had the 7-way round plug installed properly, wired to the vehicle battery. Picked up the 2014 QS 6.0 this morning, and the hookup worked like a charm. I like the Hopkins kit, because it has a 4-pin plug as well. Thanks for the feedback!

[font size="3"]Alf,

Glad you got your QS and all worked OK. Having the 7-pin installed you should verify the battery charging line disconnects when the vehicle ignition is off. This prevents the trailer from discharging your TV battery if you camp without uncoupling. The installation should include a relay (and a fuse) for this purpose.[/font]

[alf]

So, you're saying that I should put a voltmeter on the TV pins to see if any of them are live after the ignition is turned off?

BTW, I've heard of Prius owners who leave the ignition on. When the Prius' accessory battery runs low, the engine turns on and recharges the battery. This could be a nice plus when boondocking.

[charliem]

So, you're saying that I should put a voltmeter on the TV pins to see if any of them are live after the ignition is turned off?

[font size="3"]Yes, I would. The TT battery charge line is on pin 4 of the Bargman:

[attachment id="1732" thumbnail="1"]
[/font]
BTW, I've heard of Prius owners who leave the ignition on. When the Prius' accessory battery runs low, the engine turns on and recharges the battery. This could be a nice plus when boondocking.

[font size="3"]Interesting idea. I wondered about something like that, but I'm not familiar with the Prius details.[/font]

[pinstriper]

So, you're saying that I should put a voltmeter on the TV pins to see if any of them are live after the ignition is turned off?

BTW, I've heard of Prius owners who leave the ignition on. When the Prius' accessory battery runs low, the engine turns on and recharges the battery. This could be a nice plus when boondocking.

[span style="font-size:13.3333px;"]Prius owners have plenty of strange ideas that you ought not necessarily adopt. Hypermiling on someone's bumper or coasting at 20 in a 35 zone are just a few examples.


[/span]Since the use case that Charlie is talking about includes parking at a rest stop or sightseeing attraction or restaurant or such in transit,  I rather doubt that leaving the whole shebang with the ignition on or Mo forbid, actually running, is going to have a good outcome.

Ditto for hooking up in your driveway the night before you leave. You are likely to come out in the morning to find....absolutely nothing.

For boondocking, all of us have the option of hooking up to the TV and running the engine to recharge the trailer batteries, the only advantage with the prius is the self-start.

[daplumbr]

[quote timestamp="1474845945" source="/post/24956/thread" author="@alf"]So, you're saying that I should put a voltmeter on the TV pins to see if any of them are live after the ignition is turned off?

BTW, I've heard of Prius owners who leave the ignition on. When the Prius' accessory battery runs low, the engine turns on and recharges the battery. This could be a nice plus when boondocking. [/quote]I hope that is not the case with a Prius! Carbon monoxide kills and it would be terrible to have your car engine turning itself on in a closed garage just because you forgot to turn off the ignition. 

[alf]

[quote source="/post/24956/thread" timestamp="1474845945" author="@alf"]So, you're saying that I should put a voltmeter on the TV pins to see if any of them are live after the ignition is turned off?

BTW, I've heard of Prius owners who leave the ignition on. When the Prius' accessory battery runs low, the engine turns on and recharges the battery. This could be a nice plus when boondocking.

I hope that is not the case with a Prius! Carbon monoxide kills and it would be terrible to have your car engine turning itself on in a closed garage just because you forgot to turn off the ignition. [/quote]I suppose that if you left the ignition on accidentally while your Prius is parked in a garage, at some point the engine might start up to recharge the battery. However, I am referring to deliberately leaving the ignition on when boondocking so that the Prius engine will recharge the trailer battery.

I know of several Prius owners who use a DC-to-AC inverter on their Prius battery during power outages. The inverter supplies AC power to a few appliances/lights in the house, and the Prius will continue to charge the battery that the inverter is attached to.

I know about those hyper-miler types, but I'm not one of them. Without doing anything special (other than not driving at 70mph), I easily get over 50mpg, and that is just fine for me. On that 300 mile trip from Bend, OR to Snohomish, WA, we pulled our QS 6.0 over a couple of 4,000' elevation passes and drove the interstate at over 60mph, and we averaged almost 41mpg for the trip. I'm thinking that no other RV setup can touch that.