Toad wiring system

[Wayne M]

BTW, they now have wireless magnetic tail lights.

[ChasA]

Any auto parts store should have the diodes in the electrical department.

[pwhittle]

I am wiring up my 2013 Cadillac Escalade and building a plug-in solution using discrete diodes so I can unplug it and return to stock.

The Escalade does not have incandescent turn signals so it may not be an exact match.

Let me make sure it works, and I will post the part numbers.

Paul

[Barrier2]

If your Toad has a Receiver Hitch you might want to try this.
Mount a "T" bar in the receiver and run wires to the front to plug into your MH connection. You could buy a boat trailer light set or the magnetic and run the wire back to back front under your toad. Harbor Freight often sells set up for $10-15. The wires are all that remain on your Toad and could simply be removed since they do not connect to the Toads electrical system. When you mount the light weight T bar in the hitch receiver the trailer lights or magnetic lights are attached to that insuring no damage. The "T" bar is simple light angle iron or square tube about 4' on vertical and another 4-5" for the horizontal. I used a receiver style bike rack which easily converts back (could even use it with bikes as well).
Easy to install easy to remove no diodes or permanent connections and no damage from the Magnetic lights. Worked for me and a Buddy who built one first for his Wrangler. Wranglers require a special harness setup to not interfere with the ECM.
Barrier 2

[Dale & Mark Bruss]

We had a 1994 Grand Cherokee and used the extra bulb system from BlueOx. We had to use that system because the Jeep lamp computer would not handle the diodes. That worked okay. The extra bulbs were is a non-reflector part of the lamp assembly and when we put LED bulbs in, we had to use that focused the light straight out.

We put the same separate bulbs in the 2012 Equinox. The housing was very thick and the extra bulb only stuck into the reflector area a small bit and did not get very much light from them even trying some very high intensity bulbs. Worse thing is that drilling the holes in the lamp assemblies, we got moisture into the housing that we could not eliminate.

We had to change the 2012 Equinox for a 2014 because of hail damage. This time we used the TrailerMate plug and play system. You just unplug the lamp connection, plug in the harness into the car and plug the lamp connection into the harness. Works real well and a lot easier. We had been concerned about the diodes in the harness losing lamp intensity but that is not the case.

[mohamer]

I just set up my Jeep Liberty a while back. I used the Add A Bulb type RM-155. The Liberty tail light has a lower section that does not have any bulb in it, works very nice for the "extra bulb" and very simple.

I like simple....

[roddie]

As an answer to my own question after checking with an electrician buddy who has done his own toad. Anything over 2 amps will do on each line. Still trying to do a separate system as new toad has BODY MODULE (what ever that is??)not fuse for lights. Lights flash if you sneeze near vehicle. Exploring everything including putting existing signal and brake together and using spot in fixture for new double socket and bulb ,to making double red led strips on a magnetic sign strip and plugging in motorhome line inside cargo area and sticking on lift gate. Life used to be so simple. Idiot proofing on everything is making life tuff for common sense. The simple although more expensive solution would be a divorce and magnetic lights .

[Dale & Mark Bruss]

A Body Module is not necessarily a veto. Our Equinox has a Body Module and we use a diode harness to drive the regular lamps.

[l1v3fr33ord1]

roddie-

etrailer sells three alternative splice-in solutions for the 2015 Cadillac SRX. One of them (RM-154) is linked to an installation video. My experience with them is that if they sell it for the car, it works for the car.

[dix39]

My experience with magnetic lights is that they work great until they fall off, but they are quick and versitile.

I've never used "add a bulb".

I like the diode system best because, at least in my case, it allows all the original toad lighting to function including side markers (except headlights which aren't needed). Not being the most proficient electrician, but perfectly capable of getting myself in trouble, I went to the local Trailer Parts Warehouse with my questions about lighting our current toad, a Geo Tracker. I go there frequently and know the people who work there so the owner said, I can sell you this box for $50.00, or these diodes for $10.00. It seemed to be a pretty easy choice so I took the diodes home along with with a wiring diagram he drew on paper that even I could understand and made the installation. It has been working well for the last 6 or 8 years. Now I need to do the same thing with the Metro.

IMHO, the diode system is at least more reliable than the HF magnetic lights I got to tow the Metro back after picking up our "new to us" MH. They fell off and were mangled when we still had several hundred miles to go and it was getting dark. We stayed overnight in the first rest area we came to and went the rest of the way the next day without lights on the toad. It turned out all right but was worrisome to say the least. I had experienced this before and should have just bought two sets which would have probably got us home.

Best of luck.

Steve

[dpinvidic]

Is a Taurus flat towable? I did not think it was.....

found a manual for a 2013 Taurus.

2.0 engine is NOT flat towable, but can be dolly towed.

3.5 engine IS falt towable:
If you tow your vehicle with all four wheels on the ground:
• Tow only in the forward direction.
• Release the parking brake.
• Place the transmission in position N.
• Do not exceed 65 mph (105 km/h).
• Start the engine and allow it to run for five minutes at the beginning
of each day and every six hours thereafter. With the engine running
and your foot on the brake, shift into position D and then into
position R before shifting back into position N.

Regards,

Dan