> Has anyone out there ever had any problems with using simple parallel

> wiring off the car lights to the trailer lights?

> I was in a U Haul outlet the other day and the guy told me I might

> need some fancy converter box if my wiring had separate amber

> blinkers and red taillights, or some such hoooey.

Well, Hal, the U-Haul guy is quite right even if he doesn't know why.

Think about it. Ignoring the parking lights, for each side you've got two sources on the car, a turn signal lamp and a separate brake lamp, that have to run a single filament on the trailer without interfering with each other. Obviously you want to "join" these signals, however when both sources are "on" you also want the blinker to over-ride the brake at the trailer.

If you merely splice all these together then you'll end up with an electrical feedback mess. If the brakes are applied, all the turn signals would light and vice versa. If both the brakes and turn signal are applied all you'd see is the brake light, no blinking. So a simple splice won't do the job. Diodes could be used to isolate the trailer from the car, but the trailer turn signal still won't over-ride the brake light.

Most automotive stores sell a relatively cheap little transistorized adapter that you can splice in between the common 4-light European system and the common 2-light North American trailer system. This is the gizmo you need for your Volvo.

With Volvo's there are additional trailer wiring considerations. Your Volvo uses a split left/right electrical system to detect burnt out bulbs by sensing an unbalanced load between the two sides. If you don't splice in your trailer wiring correctly you will create an unbalanced load that will result in the bulb out dash indicator coming on.

So here's a few tricks you need to know to correctly wire up one of these little converters to your Volvo:

-Splice the trailer park lights into the license plate lamp circuit. The license plate lamps do not go through the bulb integrity sensor.

-Splice the trailer brake lights all the way up to the brake light switch at the brake pedal. You have to do this to get ahead of the bulb integrity sensor. It's really not that hard to do, just follow the wiring up the left side of the car where the carpet tucks under the sill cover (just reef on the cover to pull it up).

-The turn signal connections can be made at the tail lights. You can catch both wires on the left side.

-Make sure you run a proper ground wire from the car chassis to the trailer chassis (or better yet to the trailer lamp assembly). The hitch and chain do not provide a satisfactory ground.

Of course another approach is to put a 4-lamp setup on the trailer, but few would bother doing this.