Camper shell third brake light

STONBROK · #1 (**permalink**) 03-19-2008, 02:57 PM

I'm trying to hook up the third brake light for the camper shell on my '03 Tacoma. I have 3 wires on the shell and am trying to attach them to a new wiring harness that plugs into an existing harness for a trailer. So far I can get the third light to work when I include one of the turn signal wires but have had no success working out any other configuration that makes the third light work without blinking when I use the turn signal.

BamZipPow · #2 (**permalink**) 03-19-2008, 07:06 PM

Do you have any pictures of the connectors and wires that yer trying to connect together?

dibble9012 · #3 (**permalink**) 03-19-2008, 07:15 PM

I'm guessing that the three wires are dome (+), brake (+), and ground. Ground is ground, brake hooks up to the brake wire in the trailer harness, and dome hooks up to constant 12v in trailer harness. What color are the wires?

cnold · #4 (**permalink**) 03-30-2008, 06:36 AM

You may not have a constant 12v in trailer harness if yours has only a four pin trailer connector. In the seven pin trailer harness the wire to pin #4 (black) is usually the trailer battery charge wire (+12 volt) but on some Toyotas, that wire is isolated from the battery when the key switch is off. The green wire to pin #3 is for tail lights. When hooking up the interior light on my 2001 Tacoma, I just hooked to the break and tail light wires behind the light assembly. That required the tail lights to be on for the light in the shell to work but at least I don't forget to turn it off and run the battery down. Toyota uses a separate stop and turn circuits that require the use of a converter to convert independent bulb system to the common bulb system of the average trailer. If your third brake light blinks with the turn signals, your "Taillight Converter" is not working or is wired improperly.