For those of you that are flat towing...where did you buy your diodes? I looked at towing/wiring kit today at an RV place but they wanted $80 for something that looked like about $20 worth of diodes and wire.

Why don't you just get the magnetic ones the tow companies use?

I took a pair of trailer lights from Wal-Mart for about $10-$15 and mounted them on to a piece of flat stock welded to a piece of hitch tube that I slip into the receiver of the rear bumper.

:p

Why don't you just get the magnetic ones the tow companies use?


I've thought about it but decided against it because I'm trying to limit the amount of stuff I have to carry around.

I'll check but I know that I only paid $45 CDN for the kit. Includes wiring front to rear, nicely weather-proofed diodes, and the four wire plug. Just called the guy and the price has gone up to $65!!!! but at least you would win on the exchange...HTH

on one of mine I just cut the wires on the stock lights and put in a flat four plug on each side of the cut and ran another flat four wire harness from the front to the rear along the frame with a flat four plug back by the stock tail lights, might cost you a whole ten bucks for everything!

on one of mine I just cut the wires on the stock lights and put in a flat four plug on each side of the cut and ran another flat four wire harness from the front to the rear along the frame with a flat four plug back by the stock tail lights, might cost you a whole ten bucks for everything!

Agreed, but I'm trying to eliminate reverse current flow to the front of the towed vehicle (aka Toad) and (in the unlikely event) reverse current flow from the Toad to the tow vehicle. Hence my question, where did you folks (i.e. those people using diodes) buy your diodes?

Ok, for those of you that are interested in doing the same thing. Here's what I found with a little surfing.

The diode:
http://www.roadmaster-tow-bars.com/electrical_diodespg-image1.jpg

4-wire to 5-wire wiring diagram:
http://www.towingworld.com/Info/fig4.pdf

Source for the diodes:
http://www.roadmaster-tow-bars.com/electrical_diodes.html


And a recap: This system protects the "Toad" and the towing vehicle from current backflow and gives the added benefit of isolating the turn signals to the rear of the Toad while towing. In addition, you don't have to carry or mount separate lights for flat towing. I know this is all very low tech but someone here will benefit from this info (I hope). :smokin:

how can you get reverse current flow when you unplug the stock lights from the factory harness(cut and splice in new plugs that wernt there befor) and plug them into your towing harness via your new flat four plugs (two for the stock lights and one for the new towing harness)and a plug for what ever your plugging into your tow rig! to simple, go to radio shack a get a couple of diodes x4 about 10 amps should be way more than you need to do it.

If anybody is the DIY type and is looking for a good supply for diodes you can try www.allelectronics.com . They are where I get most of my parts when I have an electronic project going on. You can build 3 of those diode boxes for $3 worth of diodes from them. That is using 6amp rated diodes.

Kevin

I scored 100' of umbilical cable, like 7-8 conductors, don't recall exactly, at a yard sale for $5. I bought the plug I needed for the Sammi and mounted it in the front, where my tow-bar mounts. I patched into the electrical system in front. It works just fine. I tow with an F250 (with the tow pkg) and i have never had any problems. What reverse current are you worried about? From where? My lights are turned off on the Sammi, but it doesn't hurt anything when I turn em on. Used the setup for years. It is very clean.

I have a bag of big diodes I bought at a yard sale. Over-rated for what I do, and not the most efficient, but they work fine.