JoeIndy35

Hello all! Sorry to resurrect such an old thread however, I had a question. I know all the wonderful reasons why you all wanted a stock factory tow hitch, I get it. However, I am not that deep about it at this point. I am looking to tow a 3,000 lb camper. I found that Uhaul can do a full install for around $580. They use a module that does not connect into the Audi electrical at all. They put these sensors on your turn signal and break light wires and that then sends power to the trailer lights. So the Audi would have no idea it is even there (much better than actually tapping into those wires).

So my question is what is wrong with this? My Q7 has zero prewire for towing. My rear parking sensors stopped working years ago, my lane assist stopped working years ago, and I could care less if my rear camera comes on when I am backing up and staring at my hutch. I've pulled a 3,500 lb boat with a truck that only had 180 hp, no trailer brakes, and it did it just fine. I see no reason why I can't just go the Uhaul route for what I am trying to pull. Now if I was wanting to max this thing out pulling a 5,500 lb trailer then yes I can see the benefits of the computer knowing its pulling something and adjusting the engine and transmission and even the brakes, but I just don't think I need to spend all that extra money with the Factory set up if I really don't need to.

Thoughts? I just want to make sure that I would not be making this huge mistake.

2012Q7204

This is EXACTLY what I need for my Q as I have no factory inteface for the trailer lights.

If you could post the part number of the device UHaul uses I would be eternally grateful. I would even order it and install it to test it for you before you proceed

JoeIndy35

Hello,
I just went on UHauls website and clicked on the trailer hitch link. Put in your vehicle info and it lists all you need. You have to select the wiring that is zero splice specifically. Then you can place the order for delivery or on site install. The price is great. For me I think the most difficult part would be finding the correct wires to clip the sensors on. Please let me know how it goes!

timshuwy

Check out etrailer.com as they have tons of information... Saw that you have a 2012 Q7 without wiring... Their site allows you to search and this is what I found:
https://www.etrailer.com/t1-2012_Aud...iler+connector
This is how i figured out what I needed for my old 2011 Q5 that was not prewired, and it worked great. I purchased the Curt wiring and Curt brake control at the time (before I got my Q7 that is pre-wired)

2012Q7204

Thanks! Turns out both UHaul and etrailer don't ship to Europe but I found a seller on eBay that imports the etrailer kit and purchased that (200 euros ouch).

Anyway, from what I've read it seems like this is definitely the best way to go as you don't need to splice anything. Looking forward to installing it and hooking up my bike rack.

I still need to figure out how to connect the etrailer harness to the oem audi trailer hitch wiring which looks to be 13 pin but one step at a time!

Word to the wise, never buy a q7 without the factory tow package (including the hitch and all wiring)! Royal Pita and expense for something that should come from the factory.

2012Q7204

So, got the converter kit installed which was very easy to install and high quality. All of the lights work now but I have a question that I am hoping someone can help me with answering.

The bike rack I purchased has a lightboard with a pair of white license plate lights, red tail lights and amber turn signal lights. There are NO dedicated stop lights and the brakes are integrated with the turn signals. That is to say that when you apply the brakes, the turn signals will become solid and if you happen to be using one of the directionals, the other directional will remain solid.

Now this is all well and good and from my exhaustive research on the subject, functioning exactly how it should EXCEPT for the fact that my brake lights are effectively amber instead of red and I can't find any information stating to whether this is correct/acceptable or not.

The instructions for the bike rack light board do not even mention brake lights at all which seems strange to me as those would seem even more important than turn signals but I get that they might have left that out of the documentation if the standard is for brakes and turn signals to be integrated.

Can anyone telle if they have a similar setup and / or if this is correct? I know I can get a converter to separate out the brakes and turn signals but at this point, I am tired of this project and would like to leave it as is for a bit to work on other things. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help. Cheers!

cuatrokoop

Amber brakes lights are not acceptable in the USA, Canada or EU per regulations.

lungs414

sub'd

Jack Wu

Since you bike rack has Brake light integrated with the turn signals - I assume that the Stop wire and Turn Signal wire both are connected to the same bulb (amber turn signal Right and Left lights). there is no way to make Amber to be Red unless you change the Turn Signal lamp to be Red...

I used to make my 2" hitch LED cover to be functioned as Right, Left and Stop light by connecting 3 wires (Right, Left and Stop to that LED with each wire series with a diode with negative site connected to the Hitch LED cover... When turn signal is on, the LED is blinked; when Brake is applied, the LED gets solid on and when both turn signal and brake, are on, the LED gets solid on...

Jack Wu

My Audi Q7 comes with "Pre-wiring for optional trailer hitch with towing capacity of 5,500 lbs"which means near by the place where I can snap in Tow Control Module, I can see a 12 pins RED male plug (someone already post a nice picture) and 2 pin female socket wrapped with while foam (someone already mentioned this similar post... So in order to go by OEM configuration, i nee to at least to get a Tow Control Module which is expensive.... and wiring harness which is also expensive but it could be make by our self as some one already posted a pdf. The anther option is to use non-OEM wiring kit (by passing using Tow Control Module) to get wires directly from the bulbs with a "control" (don't know what needs to be controlled) unit like one made by Curt and Tekonsha...

I'm wondering for 4-Way Flat connection and a simple towing, could we just directly connection hitch wires directly from R/L Turn Signal, Running, Stop lights? If we go by this, then the current load will be roughly doubled... If that causes the problem, we can replace all trailer bulbs with LEDs ?