In my installation, the hot wire from the battery charges the trailer battery...

 

This wire has nothing to do with trailer brakes.
Thanks for the reply.

 

I tried the Curt unit and after 3 months it failed , found my right rear tail light was stuck on and drained the battery. Two weeks later I had to replace the battery (would not hold a charge could have frozen up here in Minnesota). The 2nd unit was shipped to me from Curt that one lasted 5 months, this time the right rear light was stuck on, on the trailer with no other functions on the trailer. The lights on the Mariner was fine.

With Curts help I was able to get my money back from Mills Fleet Farm (they first said no returns on special orders). I then ordered the ford wire harness and relays. I wish I would have done this from the begining.

Here is the part # from Ford
8L8Z*13A576*BA wire harness
5L3Z*14N089*AA relay and I needed 3
Cost was $156
I want add that the wire harness above is with the backup sensors

 

Thanks mercman, Not the news I wanted to hear. I will keep an eye on mine. May have to do the same thing.
Again, thanks for the heads up.

 

I put this converter on our Fusion about a year ago and have had no problems with it. Ours was setup the same as you describe with an isolated pwr lead to the battery. I believe you are correct in that they want to pull the pwr draw separate from the OE wiring.

You are also correct that a Brake wire is a 100% separate item requiring a brake controller and its own wiring. Also, the 4 pin flat is not an option when electric brakes are involved.

I need to set our E up this spring with a hitch and harness and will do this or a similar converter for the lights. I have a Brake controller that I may also wire in and do a 4 pin to 7 pin conversion kit on the rear at that time to hook up the brakes.

 

I did my own installation and ran two separate fused 10 ga wires from the battery to the rear for the trailer brakes and trailer battery. The trailer lights are tapped into the Escape rear lights. Everything works fine...

 

I, too, used the CURT trailer wiring kit for my Escape along with their class III receiver. After about 6 months the trailer module had failed in that the right trailer lights would no longer work. I ordered another one and this time ran everything through the inside of the truck with a long pigtail extension so the only wiring outside is going to the tail-lights. The pigtail and extension stay in the cargo area when not in use. I have about 8 months on this setup and so far so good. Even though the instructions tell you to secure the wiring module to the frame (or anywhere you can) I don't think it was really made well enough to be exposed to the elements.

 

I need to add a 4 pin trailer connector to a 2003 w/o the towing package. I'm a little confused about what you guys are talking about above, so what do I need for this? No trailer brakes, only a simple 4 pin connector for a small boat trailer. I assume the wiring harness plugs in to the E's somewhere near the spare? My old E has the towing package and that's where the wires ran. I don't see how this needs any relays or beefed up wiring, or am I missing something?

 

Hey MAT
1.) You can look into a converter type , this one uses a single hot wire from the battery that goes back to the rear where you mount the converter. The converter has a trailer plug coming out of it and a set of wires with matching connectors that plugs in line with you tail lights. With power to the converter from the battery, and the inputs coming from the taillights, this tells the converter what to send out to the trailer.

or

2.) Go to your local Ford dealer find out if there is a trailer wire harnes that will plug into or add to your current one.
Also check to see if you already have the relays, they are in the power distribution box under the hood , your owners manual can help you with this, and in mine they are labeled. (my Mariner did not have the needed relays)

After having some bad luck with a couple of converters, I did the ford harness, and I found out that the ford install was 1/3 of the time vs the converter.
Hope this helps and best wishes.

 

I have a 2011 Escape and am planning to buy the Curt 2" hitch next month. Will the lights not work without a power wire from the battery even if my trailer only has basic lights? When I had my Ranger all I had to do was buy a cheap T connector and connect it to one of the tail-lights. Is that not possible for the newer Escape?

Thanks.

 

I still don't get this, I wired cars in the past and never used a relay, just tapped into the lights and used a HD flasher. This is for a small trailer, and there is no need for extra current from the battery. So why is everyone making this out to be so complicated? Am I missing something? I would think the wiring harness has a plug already for the lights, I wouldn't think Ford would make 2 different wiring harnesses for these.

 

The wires on my 08 Mariner are too small to splice and I myself would not even think they could handle a load from any trailer (just because of the size of the wire) and I'm not sure of the wire sizes of the other vehicels on this site.
There is no T- connector to plug into, from what I remember my harness contains the taillights, backup lights , backup sensors, and grounds, and now the trailer wires, that plugs into 1 connector that has atleast 12 wires or more.
Thats why you can use a converter , or add to the factory harness, The relays are required to run the factory trailer harness.
Here is the discriptions from my power distribution box. (under the hood)
Fuse #8 20 Amp Trailer tow parking lamps
Fuse #14 15 Amp Trailer tow turn lamps
Relay #31C Trailer tow left turn relay
Relay #31D Trailer tow right turn relay
Relay #31E Trailer tow park relay
The trailers I have is a 5'x8' Alumna (brand) and a 40"x8' homemade that I'm rebuilding to haul a motorcycle, both have led lights to keep the amp load low.
Agian I hope this helps, and anyone else that can chime in here and help me out please do.

 

Since I am the one who started this thread, let me clue you in.
The Curt wiring harness failed from day one. I was transporting a trailer from PA to NC and needed the wiring harness ASAP. I installed it as per instructions. The lights did not work correctly. I had to take it to a trailer place and have them check it out because I was out of time to screw with it. The trailer shop said, I had installed it correctly but the module was no good. Let me remind you, I had not even used it yet on a trip other then to hook the trailer to it, to see if it worked.
$111.40 later I have lights.
I do not recommend a Curt trailer light harness.

The heavy 12 volt wire from the battery that comes with the after market escape trailer light harness is to power the module to power the trailer lights. The T connectors on the tail lights are used to trigger the module. The factory wiring to the tail lights will not handle the current to power trailer lights.

 

Stopped by the dealer and they have a Ford plug in harness for lights that looks simple enough, but it still requires a wire to the battery. Where do you guys run this wire? On the inside or outside? Where do you run it into the engine compartment?

 

I wrote a letter to Curt MFG. about the problem I had with there product. I also had to take it to a trailer shop to get it fixed, because I did not have the time to figure it out myself before I needed to move the trailer.
They cut out the controllerr because it was bad. The trailer shop said, I had installed it correctly so it was not my fault.
Curt Mfg. is submitting the receipt to pay me back the money that I had to spend to get it to work.
We will see what comes of it.

 

Almost bought the Curt hitch and wiring harness. Glad I didn't now that I've read this! Thanks for the feedback, and I hope the refund you the full amount!

 

Just to inform everyone, I had purchased the Curt hitch and the Curt wire harness. As in my previous post the Curt wire harness was a bust for me, but I am happy with the Curt hitch. It was easy to install (with the use of my motorcycle jack) and I even had the hitch powder coated a silver metalic at my work. Its a very close match to my Mariner. I have also received some good complements because of it. :thumb:

 

Just to update this. Curt Mfg. did cut me a check for the amount that I spent at the trailer shop to get it all fixed.
I was shocked but gratefull.

 

Hey mercman, I appreciate your input and bought the harness and relays for my 2012 escape. The harness is bang on but it appears my fuse box doesn't have the terminals or wiring installed for the relays to go into. Not sure where to go now. Sorry for bringing this back from the dead!

 

I just found this over on Etrailer's site, sounds Like Curt is aware of the issue with the converters

" I spoke with my contact at Curt and he told me that the T-Connector Wiring Harness, # C56160, was improved from the older # 56067 wiring harness. The new # C56160 harness comes with an improved converter box to prevent any power from back feeding onto the vehicle tail light circuits."

I have a 2009 that I installed a Curt hitch and converter on. I never hooked up the 12v to the battery so I don't know if I have an issue or not.....

 

I got one of the modules from etrailer, which one I don't remember I installed more than a year ago and it still works. And yes I had to run a 12v cable from the battery.

 

I just found this over on Etrailer's site, sounds Like Curt is aware of the issue with the converters

" I spoke with my contact at Curt and he told me that the T-Connector Wiring Harness, # C56160, was improved from the older # 56067 wiring harness. The new # C56160 harness comes with an improved converter box to prevent any power from back feeding onto the vehicle tail light circuits."

I have a 2009 that I installed a Curt hitch and converter on. I never hooked up the 12v to the battery so I don't know if I have an issue or not.....

I am glad that I have the newer PN harness. I have the Curt Hitch installed which is a nice hitch. This thread made me nervous as to how the convertor will hold up.
I haven't gotten that installed yet as I do more with a hitch hauler than with my trailer.
I am thinking that keeping the fuse out of it except when towing might be an idea to make sure I don't return to a dead battery at some point.