I have been fitting a tow bar to my 56 Panda multijet diesel . It got dark before I had chance to fit the electrics but I see behind the rear bumper is a six wire plug is this for wiring up the trailor socket if not what does it do.. Any electric whizz kids out there?

I don't have any specialist technical knowledge but 6 wires would equate to 1 rear lamp, 1 brake lamp, 2 indicators, 1 reversing light and 1 fog. You could connect a voltmeter between each connection and earth then operate the various lights to see if this is correct. Would be handy especially if you could find a suitable plug to attach to it. However, if you can't and just try to Scotchlock into the wires behind the bumper, you may find that over time water and corrosion causes you problems. Might be better to drill through the body work using a grommet to protect the wiring and provide water tight connection, then pick up the wiring in the boot.

That is a dedicated socket for a pre-wired trailer wiring loom. See here as an example:
http://stores.channeladvisor.com/towbar/Items/ZEKFT0003?

Yes, if you choose to make your own connections instead, do them inside the car, not behind the bumper. But, that pre-wired system means you don't need to add a separate indicator relay and beeper - it may even operate an extra warning light on the dash to show the trailer indicators are working

P

Looked at that link to the pre-wired trailer loom. What a useful thing. I've not fitted a towbar for years but still have happy memories of working out the wiring on the car, drilling the bodywork to bring the wires into the boot then connecting it all up. The biggest job was on a Volvo 740 Estate where, in order to bypass the blown bulb sensor which would otherwise have been damaged, I had to run several wires right to the front of what was a very long car.

this might help...

https://www.fiatforum.com/grande-pu...ng-towbar-12-n-socket-7-way-bypass-relay.html

Aldi had some car voltage testers in the other week with a insulation piercing clamp to test for voltage ideal for working out which wires which.. although if there is a plug in loom i'd use that although there isnt one on the Grande punto..

Went in to fiat main dealers.... yes the plug behind rear bumper is for a trailor light socket and no they wont sell me one unless I buy tow bar as well because they dont have a part number for it so I will remove plug and connect my own socket wires to the car wires

notsmartcar

here you go (hope its the right one)

http://stores.channeladvisor.com/towbar/Items/zekft0003?

comes as a kit and you get a video instruction guide on the site

http://www.fittinginstructions.co.uk/plugin/FI-001-BE.pdf



hope that helps

Thanks Andy was hoping to save the£60 it costs though

notsmartcar said:

so I will remove plug and connect my own socket wires to the car wires

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that wont work unfortunately there is a electronic unit needed to make it work

your best looking into a 7 way bypass relay but you need a constant 20amp supply from the battery so you have to rip the car apart to get the wire hidden...

Ok now Im worried why would I need a 20amp supply to work trailor lights . Carnt I just tap in to the rear light units them selves then

Dont panic its not as hard as it sounds

the reason for the 20A (might be 15A need to double check on mine) supply is because of the modern wiring looms in cars many now having built in Bulb failure monitoring which monitors the resistance caused by the bulbs in the event of a blown bulb the resistance in the circuit changes triggering a warning lamp on the dash often accompanied by an annoying beep (on my punto anyway)

So by plugging in a trailer the extra bulb now in the circuit alters the resistance and turns on the bulb failure system warning.. But it also protects the cars light control circuitry
and according to the tech at the local towbar supplier fiats wiring is thin (he drives an Alfa so is well aware of quirky Italian electrics )

the 20A supply is used to power all the road lamps on the trailer Via a 7 way by-pass relay. The relay is connected to the light's +ve supply via a coil then to earth making an magnetic field closing the contact allowing the power from the 20A supply to flow to the trailer light. (if you dont know how a relay works sounds complex but it isnt really http://home.howstuffworks.com/relay1.htm ) this only alters the resistance a tiny bit and therefore fools the bulb monitoring into thinking its working OK and rather than drawing the power off the lights supply the lamp is powered from the 20A supply the reason its a big supply is say your driving in Fog and you are about to turn at a junction, you have the road lights, fog light, brake lights and an indicator as you can tell this is quiet a draw on the cars electrics..

all that it involves in real life terms is the 7 trailing wires out one end of the relay (all colours match that of the trailer socket lead) to be scotched locked onto the light cluster loom (well 6 and the white one to earth) and the trailers socket 7 core wire fitted at the opposite end of the relay unit to a row of screw terminals (well 6 again and one to earth)

The reason they are classed as 7 way is the 7 way is for a reversing lamp on a caravan which is wired into a 12S (gray caravan plug) ((doubt you will be towing a caravan so dont worry about that)

Then the final connection to the relay is the 12v 20A supply which goes into another screw terminal.

the sounder for the indicator working warning is built into the unit so no need to worry about that..

IF i can find a scrap one in the garage i'll get you a photo up.... they cost about £20 in addition to the socket and wire/ scotch hooks

Dont be tempted to pull the supply from the cigar lighter as these are switched leaving you to need the ignition on to allow the hazzards/ parking lamps to work..

as you can see its a small unit (thats an AA battery above it)

the 12v is the terminal for the 20A supplu

TT= output for dash warning lamp for indicators (optional if it has a built in sounder or the place you can attach a 12v buzzer live wire and the negative wire to earth if it hasn't)

the terminals on the right are listed 1 to 7 then R you will notice there is no terminal marked (3) as this is Earth and goes with the other white wire on the relay to earth (on the chassis of the car)

the others are in pin number order:

so pin 1 is the left indicator so the yellow wire on the relay goes to the indicator wire on the loom and your sockets yellow wire goes to terminal 1

and so on hope that helps

With the bypass can you attach the wires from the bypass to the trailor plug rather than pluging them onto the individual internal wiring?.

The towbar arrived today and the first thing I did was threw the scotch locks in the bin. I always solder wiring together and cover with heat shrink. ANyway I would rather use the wiring to that plug if it's useable.

ais far as I know No you cant

(assuming your referring to the multiplug under the panda) as its Dead until you plug in the 2 electronic control modules into the loom....

http://www.fittinginstructions.co.uk/plugin/FI-001-BE.pdf

(tbh im no expert on the panda but i assume this is the case from other cars)

best thing to do is check with a meter but i Doubt it will work without the modules..

Happy with your advice, will check with a multimeter before fitting which I should do on Mon as working till then. Thanks again for your reply.

P.S. the wiring instalation guide is crap but i've fitted a few towbars in the past so should be ok with it.

Alan.D said:

Happy with your advice, will check with a multimeter before fitting which I should do on Mon as working till then. Thanks again for your reply.

P.S. the wiring instalation guide is crap but i've fitted a few towbars in the past so should be ok with it.

Click to expand...

dont know if this will help from when i did my grande punto

https://www.fiatforum.com/grande-pu...ng-towbar-12-n-socket-7-way-bypass-relay.html

In the end I wired up socket wiring with scotch locks (not ideal I know) to the wires on the back of the car rear lights I also put an indicator bleeper in the system. All the car lights still work perfectly so its seems no extra relays are needed

Fitted the towbar last week and wired in all the electrics to the by-pass relay (soldered them in ) BTW there is a 12v permanant feed at the rear of the car (nearside) maybe for the rear boot light as I never had that option fitted? but saves having to trawl a wire to the front and all works perfectly

hello all.

I fitted my own towbar to my mk5 golf tdi. I to used the 7 pin electrics and the kit came with the mulitplex bypass relay, which i scotchlocked in to the vehicle electrics and took my 12v feed from the 12v aux sockt in the boot. The system works very well.

I have a question if i may.

My father in law wishes to fit a detachable towbar yo his panda multijet. does he need to cut the bumper or are other OEM bumpers available with OEM covers built in to the bumper?

Does anyone have any pictures?

Many thanks

BEn

You don't have to cut the bumper with the standard tow bar, if you get a detachable one then I'm sure the same will apply but that info will be available from the towbar supplier as there are a few out there making them. Although I have never seen a detachable one for sale but then again I have never looked