Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
TRAILER BRAKE LIGHT ADAPTER
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The current disclosure relates to an adapter for electrical connections
between a
vehicle and a trailer.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Brake lights on a vehicle may be pulsed briefly when applying the
brakes in order to
increase visibility or attention to the brake lights of following drivers.
Brake lights on existing
vehicles may be modified in order to provide flashing functionality in order
to increase the
safety of the vehicle. Such flashing functionality is typically provided by
modifying the existing
brake light wiring, or brake light itself, in order to install the flashing
circuitry. Similar flashing
circuitry can be installed into the brake lights of trailers that can be towed
by a vehicle.
[0003] While the brake light flashing circuitry may provide safety benefits,
the installation
requires familiarity with the electrical wiring of the vehicle and/or trailer.
Additionally, the
installation may require skills and/or tools beyond those of average drivers.
[0004] An additional, alternative and/or improved apparatus for use in
flashing brake lights is
desirable.
SUMMARY
[0005] In accordance with the present disclosure there is provided an adapter
for a trailer's
brake/signal lights comprising: brake light flashing circuitry comprising a
brake signal input
and a brake signal output that is pulsed when a brake signal is applied at the
brake signal
input; a first half of a vehicle-trailer connector comprising a plurality of
physical electrical
connections for removably connecting to a vehicle connection or a trailer
connection, at least
one of the electrical connections of the first half of the vehicle-trailer
connector electrically
connected to the brake signal input or the brake signal output of the bra9ke
light flashing
circuitry; and a body at least partially enclosing the brake light flashing
circuitry and the first
half of the vehicle-trailer connector.
[0006] In a further embodiment of the adapter, the first half of the vehicle-
trailer connector
comprises a vehicle side connector and is electrically connected to the brake
signal output of
the brake light flashing circuitry.
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[0007] In a further embodiment of the adapter, the first half of the vehicle-
trailer connector
comprises a trailer side connector and is electrically connected to the brake
signal input of the
brake light flashing circuitry.
[0008] In a further embodiment of the adapter, the first half of the vehicle-
trailer connector
comprises a first half of one of: a 7-pin round connector; a 7-pin flat
connector; a 6-pin round
connector; a 5-pin flat connector; and a 4-pin flat connector.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0009] Further features and advantages of the present disclosure will become
apparent from
the following detailed description, taken in combination with the appended
drawings, in which:
[0010] FIG. 1 depicts a truck and trailer incorporating a brake light adapter
according to the
current disclosure;
[0011] FIG. 2 depicts a further brake light adapter;
[0012] FIG. 3 depicts a further brake light adapter; and
[0013] FIG. 4 depicts an illustrative schematic of light flashing circuitry.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0014] An adapter for connecting a trailer's electrical wiring to the tow
vehicle's electrical
wiring is described that incorporates light flashing circuitry that flashes or
pulses brake lights
before steadily applying the brake lights when the brake is applied.
Incorporating the flashing
circuitry into the body of the adapter greatly simplifies the installation of
the brake flashing
circuitry. The adapter with the flashing circuitry can be plugged into
existing connectors for
the vehicle-to-trailer electrical connections, allowing the flashing circuitry
to be easily
incorporated into the vehicle/trailer.
[0015] FIG. 1 depicts a truck and trailer incorporating a brake light adapter
according to the
current disclosure. An automobile 102, such as a truck, may include equipment
for towing a
trailer 104. The trailer includes brake lights, turn signals etc. 106 that are
electrically
connected to the tow vehicle 102 by respective electrical wiring connected
through a vehicle-
trailer adapter 110. The vehicle-trailer adapter 110 provides a physical
electrical connection
from the vehicle's electrical wiring 112 and the trailer's electrical wiring
108 allowing the
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Date Recue/Date Received 2022-08-24
vehicle 102 to control the trailer lights. The vehicle's wiring is terminated
by a vehicle side
connector 114 that provides half of a physical connection. The vehicle side
connector 114
has a physical shape for connecting to a corresponding connector 116 on the
adapter 110.
The vehicle side connector 114 and the adapter connector 116 have
corresponding physical
features to ensure that the two connectors can only be connected together in
one orientation
to ensure that the correct wire connections are established. The connectors
114 and 116 are
depicted as a 4-pin trailer connector.
[0016] The adapter 110 includes light flashing circuitry 118 that uses the
electrical
connections to the vehicle wires as input and provides corresponding output
signals that
cause brake lights to flash or pulse before being applied steadily when the
tow vehicle's
brakes are applied. The light flashing circuitry may be provided in various
ways. While it is
possible to provide the functionality using, for example, a microcontroller,
doing so would
require the microcontroller to be powered. Depending upon the vehicle
connector, power
may only be provided to the adapter when the brakes are applied. Accordingly,
the light
flashing circuitry may be provided using simpler components, such as timer
circuits such as a
7555 timer integrated circuits, counting circuits, such as 4024 integrated
circuits, and other
electronic components such as resistors, capacitors, transistors, etc.
Regardless of how the
electrical circuit is implemented, it flashes brake lights of the trailer, and
then holds them
steady, when the brakes are applied, or more particularly, when there is a
brake light signal
applied at the vehicle connector 114.
[0017] As depicted, in addition to the adapter's connector 116 that connects
to the vehicle
connector 114, the adapter 110 further includes a connector 120 for connecting
to a
corresponding trailer connector 122. The connectors 120 and 122 connector have
corresponding physical features to ensure that the two connectors can only be
connected
together in one orientation to ensure that the correct wire connections are
established. The
connectors 120 and 122 are depicted as a 4-pin trailer connector, which is the
same as
connectors 114 and 116. Although both connectors of the adaptor are depicted
as being a
respective portions of 4-pin train connectors, it will be appreciated that
each connector 116,
120 of the adapter 110 may be different from the other as long as it matches
the respective
mating end of the vehicle or trailer.
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Date Recue/Date Received 2022-08-24
[0018] Without the adapter 110, the trailer's wiring connector 122 may be
connected directly
to the vehicle's connector 114 such that when the brakes are applied, the
trailer's brake lights
will light up without pulsing or flashing. The adapter 110 may be inserted
into the connection
between the trailer and vehicle by connecting the adapter to the vehicle
connector 114 and
the trailer connector 122. With the adapter 110 connected, the trailer's brake
lights
flash/pulse when the vehicle's brakes are first applied before being held on
while the brakes
remain applied.
[0019] The adapter described above is provided as a single unitary body that
encloses the
light flashing circuitry as well as the physical connectors for connecting the
adapter 110 to the
vehicle, and the trailer to the adapter. Although depicted as a single adapter
with respective
portions of a 4-pin trailer adapter, various different implementations of an
adapter are
possible that allow light flashing circuitry to be plugged into a connector of
the vehicle-trailer
electrical connection.
[0020] FIG. 2 depicts a further brake light adapter. The adapter 210 provides
similar
functionality as the adapter 110 described above. In contrast to the adapter
110 which
included two separate physical connectors for connecting respectively to the
vehicle's
electrical connector and the trailer's electrical connector, the adapter 210
comprises a single
physical connector 212 for connecting to the trailer's connector 122. The
adapter 210
comprises light flashing circuitry 118 electrically connected to the
electrical connections of the
physical connector 122. The physical connector 122 comprises corresponding
features with
the connector on the trailer that ensures that the connectors can only
connected together in a
single orientation. As depicted, instead of a second physical connector for
connecting the
adapter to a corresponding connector of the vehicle, the adapter 122 includes
a number of
individual connectors 202a, 202b, 202c, 202d (referred to collectively as
individual connectors
202) for directly securing the electrical wires 112 of the vehicle to the
adapter. The individual
connectors 202 are depicted as terminal blocks that allow individual wires to
be secured to
the blocks. The individual connectors 202 may be provided in other ways
including, for
example push connectors, solder pads, wires, etc. With the adapter 210 secured
to the
vehicle's electrical wires 112 the trailer connector 122 may be plugged in to
the physical
connector 212 of the adapter in order to connect the electrical wiring of the
trailer to the
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vehicle's wiring system. The adapter 210 provides light flashing functionality
to the brake
lights of the trailer simply by plugging the trailer connector into the
adapter.
[0021] The above has described an adapter that allows any trailer that is
plugged into the
vehicle with the adapter to benefit from the brake light flashing
functionality. It is possible to
provide the brake light flashing functionality to the trailer connection.
[0022] FIG. 3 depicts a further brake light adapter. The adapter 302 is
depicted as being a 7-
pin round trailer connector, although other connector types and pin numbers
may be used.
The round adapter 302 can be plugged into a corresponding physical connector
304 on the
vehicle. The connector 304 provides electrical connections 306a for the
vehicle's electrical
wires. When the adapter is plugged into the connector, corresponding
electrical connectors
306b make electrical contact with the electrical connections 306a, and so the
vehicle's wiring
112. Each half of the vehicle-trailer connection, namely the connector 304 and
the adapter
302, may comprise some corresponding features 308, 310 that interact with each
other to
ensure that the connection can only be made in one orientation.
[0023] The adapter 302 comprises a body that encloses the electrical
connections 306b as
well as the light flashing circuitry 118. The adapter 302 may include
additional circuitry
including power circuitry 320 that may provide power to additional components
from the
electrical connection to the vehicle. Depending upon the type of connections,
one or more of
the electrical wires may provide a power signal. For example, the adapter may
include
additional electronics for providing various features such as cameras,
location functionality for
determining a position of the trailer, communication functionality, etc.
Regardless of any
additional functionality provided by the adapter, the light flashing
functionality is electrically
connected between the electrical connections 306b to the vehicle and the
trailer's wiring 108.
The adapter may include a housing for enclosing the electrical connections and
the light
flashing circuitry and any other possible circuitry or elements. The housing
may include
handles 322 or other features for aiding in plugging in and removing the
adapter.
[0024] FIG. 4 depicts an illustrative schematic of light flashing circuitry.
It will be appreciated
that the same light flashing circuitry may be provided in various ways,
although one particular
implementation is depicted in FIG. 4. The adapter 400 is depicted as a 7-pin
connector with 7
input pins 402 and 7 output pins 404. However, the adapter 400 may be a 4-pin,
5-pin, 6-pin
Date Recue/Date Received 2022-08-24
or 7-pin adapter using substantially the same circuitry but with the
appropriate number of
input and output pins. As depicted, input and output pins #1 provide a right
turn signal and a
brake signal, input and output pins #5 provide an additional brake signal,
input and output
pins #6 provide a battery signal, and input and output pins #7 provide a
backup signal. As
depicted, the signals between the input and output pins #1 and #2 are broken
within the
adapter housing. The output pins #1 and #2 are driven by respective driving
switches 406a,
406b which in turn may be controlled by respective control switches 408a,
408b. The input
pins #1 and #2 are connected to power merging circuitry 410 that combines the
signals from
each of the #1 and #2 input pins and provides the combined signal to power
storage and
regulator circuit 412, which is also connected to the ground signal of input
and output pins #3.
The power from the power storage and regulator circuit 412 is provided to an
MPU, signal
decoding and switch lamp control circuit 414, along with the ground signal.
The brake and
turn signals received from input pins #1 and #2 are connected to respective
signal
conditioning circuitry 416, 418 which in turn provide the conditioned brake
and turn signals to
the MPU, signal decoding and switch lamp control circuit 414. The MPU, signal
decoding and
switch lamp control circuit 414 processes the input brake/turn signals and
outputs control
signals to respective switch controls 408a, 408b which in turn control the
driving circuits 406a,
406b for outputting the appropriate brake and turn signals, which may be
flashed, to the
output pins #1, and #2.
[0025] Upon the application of power to either of the input lamp lines at
input pins #1 and #2
the MPU circuitry 414 will power up, start analyzing the state of these signal
lines as passed
through the signal conditioners 416, 418 and pass the immediate high-low, or
on/off, condition
of the input lines to the output lamps connected to output pins #1 and #2
using either of SW1
or SW2 by controlling the control switches 408a, 408b. The input lines may be
in various
possible states, namely braking; turning right; turning left; hazards; braking
and turning left;
braking and turning right; or braking and hazards.
[0026] Upon determining a braking state the MPU will suspend the current
output state, which
was immediately applied, and inject or apply a new flashing state to the
output pins.
[0027] The flash state provides 4 rapid flashes with equal on-off times to the
brake lights and
starts a pulse delay timer. The purpose of the pulse delay timer is to allow
normal brake light
conditions to occur within a reasonable time period. That is, if the brake
lights are pulsed
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Date Recue/Date Received 2022-08-24
manually by the driver, the flashing circuitry does not flash the lights each
time the brakes are
applied. If the MPU detects another braking state before the pulse delay timer
has expired,
the regular brake lighting is applied and the pulse delay timer period may be
extended. Once
the pulse delay timer expires and another brake event occurs, the MPU may
again enter a
flash state to flash the brake lights when the brakes are applied.
[0028] As described above, a power storage component is attached to the MPU
and provides
a regulated power supply. The power storage components provide sufficient
power storage to
allow the MPU to continue to operate when the conditions of the input lines
may not have
power applied. The power storage supplies the necessary power to keep the MPU
awake
long enough to allow it to count down the pulse delay timer until it expires.
[0029] The power merging circuit isolates the input lines so the MPU can
analyze the current
state and also merges or combines the power from each line to one common
connection.
From this common connection the output power switches (SW1, SW2) are fed along
with the
power storage component. The signal conditioner components provide voltage
level
translation and noise reduction/immunity to the MPU so it can analyze the
input signal states.
The control switch circuits 408a, 408b provides voltage level translation from
the MPU to the
output driving switches SW1, SW2 406a, 406b.
[0030] It will be appreciated that although a specific implementation of the
flashing circuitry is
described above, there are a number of alternatives that may be implemented to
provide the
same light flashing functionality.
Although certain components have been described, it is contemplated that
individually
described components may be combined together into fewer components.
Similarly,
individual components may be provided by a plurality of components. One of
ordinary skill in
the art having regard to the current teachings will appreciate that the
components described
herein may be provided by various combinations of components, other than the
specific
implementations described herein as illustrative examples. Numerous additional
variations on
the apparatus of the various embodiments described above will be apparent to
those skilled
in the art in view of the above description. Such variations are to be
considered within the
teachings of the current description.
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