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Can anyone identify these plugs in the spare wheelwell/boot

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by R-P, Jun 4, 2013.

  1. R-P

    R-P Active Member

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    2009 Prius
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    This is a European Prius!

    Will be hooking up the trailerhitch wiring soon. Just want to make sure these are not usefull in any way.
    All pics looking down and shot when outside of the car. Some are OK, some seem to be upside-down.
    I will be measuring them if no answer, but asking you is easier;).

    I'm (wild)guessing these might be the speakersignals for left and right for the subwoofer??? This plug is actually capped off!

    [​IMG]

    Twin-wire plug (this one seems 'upside-down):
    [​IMG]

    And the last one of which I could imagine (wishfull thinking) is for the trailerlights (8-pin plug, 5 wires):
    [​IMG]

    The orange wires are indistiguishable (no further markings on any apart from the white one). The white with a black stripe is probably linked to the other double white-with-black stripe in the background which is wired to a chassis-bolt.

    PS: the blue solid core you see in the left of the pic is not linked to the car, just used this to drop through the feed-through hole in the rear of the wheel-well tub: this will eventually be used for the wiring to the trailerhitch.
     
  2. Britprius

    Britprius Senior Member

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    I do not think any of those connectors are of any use to you. You will need to connect into the wiring by each rear light.
    I have a circuit diagram of the rear lights but it is for the US Prius, it should make little difference If it would be helpful I can post it.
    I wish to fit a tow hitch so may be going down the same rout, but I cannot buy a tow bracket in the UK.
    It is now against the law to use a car for towing in Europe for which the manufacturer does not specify a tow limit weight. It is also illegal to sell a tow bracket that does not comply with the regulations. Toyota specify a tow limit of zero.
    All this makes things difficult.

    John (Britprius)
     
  3. R-P

    R-P Active Member

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    I regularly put my bicycle rack on there to take one of the kids bikes with me, so I want to have a connector for auxillary lighting, as the bike wheels somewhat obstruct the cars lights.

    If it's not much trouble, I'd like to have a look at the schematic/wiring-colors of the (US) taillights. It should make finding the correct wiring easier. I will measure the plugs as well and post if I find out. The wiring is too thin (~20Ga) to provide any serious current, so I know it is unlikely it is of any use to me. Then again, my Volvo V70's headlight wiring is also around 20Ga for a 50W bulb...

    Can you give more info on the towing being illegal? What does that mean for my motorcycle (that obviously has no official towing capacity either)?
     
  4. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    Are the European taillights that much different than US? If not then just buy the kit with auxiliary power supply and it plugs right in to the lights. Just need to run 1 wire to the 12 volt battery for the supply but the battery is right there so very very easy. No chopping into any harness.

    etrailer.com
     
  5. R-P

    R-P Active Member

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    All yanktanks that drive around here have a single bulb with dual filaments for (1) tail-light, (2) indicator and (3) brake-light. I am assuming this is the same for Japanese cars in the US.

    The regular lighting in Europe has the same double filament bulb for the (1) tail-light and the (3) brake-light BUT it has a separate bulb and reflector (orange) for the (2) indicator.

    So I need extra cables* and therefor cannot use the US kit :( Nor can I find the connector mentioned here by EVnut... (I even mailed him about it).

    *I think the kits from etrailer have 4 wires, I need at least 5 (left, right, tail, brake and ground).





    As for the measurements:
    As expected, nothing useful came out of it.
    The 'subwoofer plug' with green wires gave me nothing, not even an AC signal with the (aftermarket) radio cranked up.

    The red on the 8-pin plug is a constant 12V, even with the car off, locked, etc. (I waited about 2 minutes, it may get disconnected if you wait longer, I do not know).
    The orange and blue side-by-side in the 8-pin connector are individually connected to the orange and blue in the 2-pin plug. The single orange is NOT connected to the orange of the 2-pin plug.
    I didn't have anyone to press the brakes, but the indicators and tail-lights did not produce a voltage on any of the plugs.
    [​IMG]
     
  6. Britprius

    Britprius Senior Member

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    Hope this helps
    Exterior Lamps 2of2.jpg

    John (Britprius)