Running Lights for Vehicle on Dolly

[BelovedSisters]

I tow my car on a Demco Kar Kaddy. The Kar Kaddy has lights on the hubs that work for turn signals and braking, but I need to have running lights on the car for when I am driving at night.

I've searched these forums with every term I can think of, and I can't find anything about running lights.


2016 Jayco Redhawk 29XK, Ford E-450 Super Duty towing 2004 Dodge stratus coupe on Demco Kar Kaddy SS

[Farmboy666]

I just upgraded my dolly with LED's but unless you are directly behind and some distance back from the dolly the lights are blocked by the car being towed. Add that to the fact that the back of the car is at least 10ft farther back than the lights is an invitation for somebody not paying attention to rear end it. I bought a set of magnetic tail lights and put them on the rear of the car. My plug on the hitch has a 7way and a 4 way so I have them both plugged in, cheap insurance against a rear end collision and a ruined vacation.

[bukhrn]

If this is the Demco (or one anywhere near it), it has all the lights you need.
http://www.dyersonline.com/demco-kar-kaddy-3.html?utm_medium=shoppingengine&utm_source=googlebase&gc...

[avan]

G7ARYM wrote:
I too have a Demco Kar Kaddy with over 50,000 miles on it. The lights provided I am told are all that are needed to be legal. You may want to call Demco to see if they are aware of anything different as it is in their best interest to let customers know if additional lights are recommended.

OP Your trailer behind your MH has tail lights, turn signals and brake lights. That's all that is needed. The fact that your trailer has a load (car) on/in it is not material. As the quoted poster infers, if more was required in any state, you can bet your bottom dollar that profit motivated manufacturers and dealers for tow dollies would have add on kits that they tout and sell, Camping World would be stuffing your mailbox with sale flyers for add on toad lights. It's called capitalism.

[G7ARYM]

I too have a Demco Kar Kaddy with over 50,000 miles on it. The lights provided I am told are all that are needed to be legal. You may want to call Demco to see if they are aware of anything different as it is in their best interest to let customers know if additional lights are recommended.

[bukhrn]

The lights on my RV are absolutely visible even with the toad on the dolly, plus, the dolly has lights, (Brake, Tail & Turn signal) on the fenders, which are also clearly visible as they are wider than the toad. I don't see a need to add extra lights.

[tobydad]

I use the magnetic tow lights and put them on the trunk of the car. Run the wires over the car and plug into the motorhome connector. I put the wires under the windshield wipers to prevent them from blowing around in travel. The dolly lights on the fenders are difficult for drivers to see because they are so far away from the end of the car.

[DrewE]

Have you verified that the tow dolly lights do not also have tail lights as part of them that perhaps are not working properly? I've never heard of a trailer light setup that only included turn and brake lights. I also have not heard of everything. At any rate, the light connector for it has a circuit for the tail lights, and if there aren't any now it would not be a hard job to add them.

(Yes, I know a dolly is not a trailer, but the lighting should be basically the same, except there's no license plate light as there's no license plate.)

[j-d]

BelovedSisters wrote:
I've searched these forums with every term I can think of, and I can't find anything about running lights.

You mean "marker lights?" sometimes called "parking lights?"

Usually all we do, is light the Stop/Turn/Tail aspect of the towed vehicle. You sound like you want to light the side markers too, like a trailer might have. Is that what you mean?

If you really want to do that, there should be a way to tap into the towed vehicle's wiring and power up that circuit through a diode. The diode would allow the coach's power to light the towed, but not feed back into the coach if you turned the towed's lights on while still plugged in.

Easier solution: Just turn the towed's Parking Lights on. Shouldn't run a good battery down even on a long night time run.

[corvettekent]

Tow lights

[Beverley_Ken]

When we had the dolly, I added separate bulbs in the taillights on the Accord, same system as if towing 4 down.
In order to use both, I made a Y-adaptor (4 pin lights only) that plugged into the MH and then to dolly and car. Brake/turn and taillights on both.

Ken