Removable Towbars & Hidden Electrics ?

dealgan

Hi,
Is it possible to get twin electric sockets which can be hidden from view when you remove the towball of a removable towbar ?

I thik I heard about them before .. they hinged up out of view ?

Cant find any reference on any of the towbar sites, or googling

Cheers.

Silvera

Try some of the Caravan owners club sites - may have info on this.

Failing that give a towbar centre a call, e.g. Parnell Trailers, Greenhills Road, Tallaght.

Silvera.

AMurphy

the trailer tow light connector on my mom's Pug 307 is that way, ie it swings up out of view... however, before you run off and get one, consider where and when you might be driving. Given the car is often used for farm purposes... there is nothing worse than kneeling in CowPoop scratching about in the dark trying to find the item and swing it down into view and given the Irish weather, watherspalshing, corrosion, dirt, etc. I recommend putting the socket on a pigtail inside the boot.
Then when you want it, just string the wire from The trailer into the boot.. I have not cut a wire on the lip yet and the plugs stay nice clean and dry.
Just get very flexible wire from 220VAC flexes, I have used specialty wire for use on oily locations. And/or open out the wires and lay them parallel/flat where you want them passing over the lip seal of the boot.

dealgan

Argh .. conflicting info.

The honda dealer says "yes, I *think* it folds up out of the way" - I'm still waiting to find out for sure, but the cost of the electrics is so high, there must be some special feature to it .. (around 180 euro plus the towbar !!)

All other towbar fitters I asked say, "No , the one for the CRV doesnt fold up."

Its for towing a folding camper (bit like a trailer-tent cum caravan thing) so its just for weekends camping & holidays ..etc. Hopefully no mucky fields in the middle of the night.. unless my new gps thingy goes wonky !!

Mabye I'll just go with a fixed towball & fixed electrics .. cheaper & simpler, but its just that "for a few dollars more" it would be nice to have it hidden when not in use.

Cheers

edmund_f

thinking of something along the lines of www.hiddenhitch.com, although it is removeable, not foldable. Perhaps you could store the hitch part with the camper?

no idea about the electrics though, perhaps some type of quick release socket, sure someone would have an idea how to do that..

hitch = towbar americanisms

AMurphy

Hitch/Towbar , what's the difference. I have a removable hitch with easy to exchange balls on mine.

See; http://www.cabelas.com/products/Cpod0013926.jsp

as for the wiring, it's simple. Only problem I have these days is the OEM wiring in the cars is so small, I'm not sure it is capable of supplying a trailer with sufficient current.
haynes has a reasonably good book on Auto electrics and explains the trailer tow lights.... the only problem I encountered in they used Far-side and Near-side in place of Left and Right. so the indicators could be reversed.

The Haynes manual also covered trailer tow amplifiers/relays for cases where the OEM wiring supply wires are too small for the number of lights on the trailer.