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American / Foreign switch
#1

I stumbled across this American / Foreign switch today in the aft right engine cabinet (Pic attached). What does this do? The switch was in the position with button push in on Foreign side. Is that correct?


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Mike & Jeannie Ginn
2000 Newell #555 - sold July 2020
2019 Leisure Travel Van FX model
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#2

That is for the taillights to the toad. American was the three wire setup, Foreign was the now standard four wire setup with separate turn signals.

If you look in the stainless panel on the rear side, you will find a box that traces to that switch.

I am a proponent of wiring the toad to have the yellow turn signals flash. I originally wired my toad the old standard way so that the red lights blinked. I had a lot of problems with people seeming ignoring my signals. When I rewired the toad so that the yellows blinked, my sense was that folks payed more attention.

Richard and Rhonda Entrekin
99 Newell, 512
Maverick Hybrid Toad
Inverness, FL (when we're home Cool )
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#3

Anybody have a schematic for this switch and accompanying box?

06 M450LXi 3 slide
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#4

       
Here I go again - resurrecting an old thread with (probably old) questions.    My rear 12V electrical cabinet contains a Hopkins "Electronic Power Taillight Converter."    It is similar to products made by Draw-Tite and others (photo attached.)    It promises right on the unit to "protect tow vehicle from trailer shorts."    Its inputs come from the trailer light breakers, but it pulls separate power from the main terminal block in the cabinet.   And only the yellow and green outputs are hooked up to the trailer connector. The remainder of the trailer connector wires are coming from their factory before-converter sources. Currently the trailer lights work, but the turn signals are reversed.

I plan to run dolly lights and wireless toad lights, plus a brake controller that takes its signal from brake lights. 
Do I need this Converter?    Why might it have been installed in the first place?    And, to stay on topic, should I set the switch to Foreign or American?

Chester has no recollection or documentation of it, so it's probably been on there since the original owner.
Thanks!
Chuck

2001 #579 ("Chester's Coach")
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#5

Hmmm, if your coach is wired like mine, you will find relays for the tail, brake, turn, and backup lights in that compartment.
Look on the inside compartment of the rear panel. Mine are clearly labeled.

So, that has two appreciable things to consider. One, is that the circuitry is already protected by those relays, and PLENTY of power is available for trailers and whatnot. Two, since the turns, brakes, and tail are separate the wiring is already EURO or four wire style. The converters were put on there to convert backwards to a three wire setup for the trailers.

If you have the relays, then the Hopkins device is redundant.

You have to decide whether you are going to run your dolly and trailer lights, three wire or four wire. I originally wired my tow car the old school three wire where the turns are incorporated into the brake/tail. I have all kinds of issues with drivers acting as if I weren’t giving a turn signal. I rewired the toad with a four wire setup so that I now blink the yellows on the toad. The turn signals are now what people are used to seeing. If you decide to go old school or three wire you will need a 4 to three converter.

Richard and Rhonda Entrekin
99 Newell, 512
Maverick Hybrid Toad
Inverness, FL (when we're home Cool )
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#6

Richard, I do have the relays as you describe.  All my trailer hardware is 3-wire, which the Euro/American switch seems designed to accommodate.    As I get the Hoppy unit out of the system to restore the original configuration, I'm finding more questions.   
I want to confirm that the seven-pin connector on the trailer hitch is correct and work backward from there.    I find numerous different diagrams online for the (Pollock) connector, many with different pin assignments.    There are even different Ford and GM versions.  To add insult, the Trailer Plug diagram in the Newell manual is for a type that doesn't look like either the Pollock or the Euro 7-pins (attached.)  That's probably just a sideshow to my task, but does anybody know that that is?

My real question is whether the attached Pollock diagram is sufficiently standard so that flat four adapters downstream will see the right thing.
Thanks!

.pdf Trailer Plug.pdf Size: 162.73 KB  Downloads: 0
   

2001 #579 ("Chester's Coach")
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#7

Have you looked in the bay that is on the other side of where the American / Euro switch is. We have similar vintage coaches and that is where my relays are. It would be really surprising if you did not have them. ( Open the door where the engine batts are and look to the left...behind the door.)

bill

Bill Johnson
Birmingham, Alabama
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#8

Hi Bill,
Yup, I knew I had the relays. I'm deeper in the weeds because there was a trailer power adapter added that I'm trying to get rid of. I'm pretty much under control EXCEPT that I can't figure out how the Euro/American switch was originally wired. It's a SPDT switch that takes the brake light signal and sends it either to the brake pin of the 7-pin trailer connector (Euro mode,) or to wherever it gets split through diodes to the two turn signal pins (American mode.) I'm starting to think there was an original "3-wire" adapter in the cabinet that fed the left and right turn signal wires to the 7-pin connector on the hitch.
Any ideas?
Thanks!

2001 #579 ("Chester's Coach")
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#9

Chuck,

My coach had the same contraption that mike posted in the pic to start this thread, but i dont remember how it was wired to the 7 pin. It came out immediately because it was not wired to work with my toad. I realize thats no help except to say that you may have to work backwards from the four pin to get the setup that you need.

Richard and Rhonda Entrekin
99 Newell, 512
Maverick Hybrid Toad
Inverness, FL (when we're home Cool )
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