Just wondering: Do trailer hitches include an outlet into which a cable harness connector can mate in order to make the turn signals and brake lights work on the trailer simulatanously as the lead vehicle? Also, on the lead vehicle, is there some contact under the rear bumper or in the trunk from which a jumper wire would be placed…and then, I WAG, it’d run to the hitch’s outlet?
Unless I’m outdated, no. It is a separate unit that you install, if not already standard wiring, to the lead vehicle, and to the trail vehicle, if it is something homemade. There is a universal connector that comes on some vehicles and most commercially made trailers, campers, etc. A trailer hitch is just a mechanical thing. You can buy kits that contain the connectors, but a hitch is just the framework that has the “ball” on it.
There are a couple of different kinds of electrical connections. For a light trailer, you just need a 4-pin connection that gives you tail lights, brake lights and turn signals. If you’re towing heavier trailers, you need a 6 lead connection that gives you the lights, but also an electric brake on the trailer.
If you’ve already got a trailer, make sure you get a connector that matches the wiring on the trailer.
And some connectors have extra pins for connections to charge a battery on the trailer as well as an electrical ground. Batteries on trailers are used for “brakeaway” protection by activation of electric brakes if so equipped. They are also used to power other equipment that might be on the trailer such as a hydraulic pump or a winch.
My utility trailer uses a seven pole connector.
Adaptors are available to interconnect various units, however if your tow vehicle only has four wires and the trailer needs six or seven you are SOL!