Caravan 12 pin plugs

Not compulsory, but if your van is heavy enough to require a breakaway connection and onboard battery activation of brakes, which in turn requires a battery monitor in the tug to show the battery charge for the breakaway system, then 7 pins is not enough. You will either need a 7-pin connector plus other connectors to achieve this or you could fit a 12-pin plug.

"Since January 1, 1988, all new trailers must be fitted with a minimum seven-pin connector (that complies with Australian Standard 2513- 1982), which has sufficient pins to cope with all lighting requirements and electric brakes. This connector can be type 1 (large round), type 2 (small round) or type 3 (seven-pin flat). For sake of consistency, the pin assignments for all three connector types are the same."

They are not compulsory but are becoming the norm. If you wish to power an absorption fridge on 12 V whilst you are towing you need a 12 pin plug and power the fridge via pin 9. If you attempt to power the fridge via a flat 7 pin connector one of two things will happen. If the wiring is heavy enough to run the fridge efficiently then you will burn out the pin carrying the current. If you do run the fridge trough the small pins and you don't get pin burnout then it means that there is a lot of voltage drop in the circuit and the fridge voltage is so low the fridge will not work properly.

As an aside, those who supposedly run a fridge through those small pins and not burn them out are the Richard craniums who also lie to you and say "absorption fridges don't work properly on 12 V." The do run well on 12 V if they are installed properly and have heavy enough wiring.

We need 12 pin plugs for our Quantum Plus as it has disc brakes and uses the ALKO iq7 brake controller. This avoids the need for a second Anderson plug. We purchase alloy plugs from SuperCheap and these are very strong which is what we need for off bitumen work.

As well the power pins are very large. Nothing like the smaller "lighting/control" pins. So quite able to handle the power demand

Rob

Thanks you all that was very helpful .cheers Firmy

When you buy a new caravan, the manufacturer needs to supply you with a wiring diagram and explanation of what wiring is required for your tug, so you can safely drive it out of their yard.
New Age gave me a comprehensive .pdf with diagrams and explanations of what was needed - its a lot more complicated than a camper because of the extra wiring required for the 3 way fridge to run on 12V, the charging lead for the breakaway unit, the monitor lead for Breakaway unit (in NSW), and the sway control unit if you have it fitted.

Mine needed a 12 pin plug plus a grey anderson for battery charging plus a separate red anderson plug for the Alko ESC.

I've recently added another plug to my Bushtracker.....that makes THREE.

I have the original large 7 pin round for all the "usual" things....one of the pins isn't being used. It runs (1) brake lights, (2) brakes, (3) left blinker, (4) right blinker, (5) tail/clearance lights, (6) earth. Note: the numbers quoted above are not in any particular order.

Then I have a 50amp Anderson plug to run the battery charging system.

Recently I added a 7 pin flat plug to cater for (1) rear view camera, (2) reverse light, (3) rear-mounted high-intensity red fog light. Both of those auxiliary lights are 11" long LED light bars, the clear lense being removed and replaced with red polycarbonate in the case of the fog light.

I could possibly have got away with using a 12 pin plug, but my previous experiences with that type is that the cable ends up being very thick and unwieldy, sometimes coming apart on tough/tight tracks/turns.