Has anyone wired the license plate light on the Smart for towing?
The tail, brake/signal lights were easy. I chose to put isolating diodes in so the existing lights would work. And that does a good job. I did not do the license plate because i could not find a convenient place to splice into that circuit.
I have towed for years without a license plate light activated on the toad while being towed, but I believe it is required in some jurisdictions nonetheless.
Any comments or suggestions on this subject. If I find an easy way to tap into that circuit I will hook it up, otherwise I will continue to tow as is. I seldom tow in the dark anyway.
Wow, good idea! We never lighted up a license plate and have been lucky I guess. A few months ago we sat with a police car behind us for 20 minutes at a train switchover. It was 1 in the morning, I guess he didn't think about the lack of a license plate light either.
I have towed for >10yrs without having the plate lit but I have been lucky I was never stopped for it. I was ticketed a long time ago for my car not having a functioning lite. The bulb was out and I never noticed it was bad.
It would be a simple task to connect the tail light circuit to the license plate light if the wire could be found and accessed in the harness going into the tailgate. I will look at this further and put a tracer signal right on the light socket and see where I pick it up back in the harness. Will post my findings.
If I had a schematic diagram the task would be easier. Anyone have a schematic diagram for a Smart?
My left trailer light has a clear lens with 4 white LEDs to light the license plate so no additional wiring was required. Most trailer light setups I've seen are that way. Got the LED trailer lights from Harbor Freight.
It will be easy Libero. Empty out your tailgate, lower it and open it. There are around 6 torx screws, I think it is around 4 in the middle and 2 on the outer edges (those are visible without lowering the tailgate).
Plenty of room to put a diode back there or you can trace the correct color wire back into the cabin and adding the diode there splitting power from your already existent wiring.
Sounds like an easy job, 30 minutes tops as long as you have a diode already. (ironically I have some in my glovebox, never used them)
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I used to pull a landscaping trailer. The first thing we'd always do on the trailers is to move the license plate from the cheap plastic hangar on the back of the fender - where it hangs 4 inches off the ground and easily breaks off - and mount on the outside of the rear gate, just above the hood line of most cars and in the car driver's face, with galvanized screws, washers, and nuts. We never got pulled over for doing this.
License plates have reflective coatings on them. Unless it is covered by mud or snow, an officer's headlights will light up the license plate.
Tail lights are needed on toads and trailers as a visual aid to others that something is being towed. This is why trailers have side marker lights - so idiots won't T-bone the trailer at night.
Most trailer light kits tap into the towing vehicle's tail lights. For many tow vehicles the tail lights/turn signals barely have enough power to illiminate 2 sets of tail light. Tapping the toad's tail lights to illuminate the license plate will just dim the tail lights even more.
If illuminating a license plate was a requirement then the magnet-mount Mickey Mouse ears would come with a 3rd light for the license plate.
Last edited by ManchVegas; 04-28-2012 at 01:08 PM.
Minnesota has a permanent license for some trailers. The sticker for that goes on the tongue and is therefore not lit. Can't say for sure about a Toad but I would assume the toad's license would be all you need. With a smart's plate in the center of the tailgate, the car behind you would light it with their headlights.
I used to pull a landscaping trailer. The first thing we'd always do on the trailers is to move the license plate from the cheap plastic hangar on the back of the fender - where it hangs 4 inches off the ground and easily breaks off - and mount on the outside of the rear gate, just above the hood line of most cars and in the car driver's face, with galvanized screws, washers, and nuts. We never got pulled over for doing this.
License plates have reflective coatings on them. Unless it is covered by mud or snow, an officer's headlights will light up the license plate.
Tail lights are needed on toads and trailers as a visual aid to others that something is being towed. This is why trailers have side marker lights - so idiots won't T-bone the trailer at night.
Most trailer light kits tap into the towing vehicle's tail lights. For many tow vehicles the tail lights/turn signals barely have enough power to illiminate 2 sets of tail light. Tapping the toad's tail lights to illuminate the license plate will just dim the tail lights even more.
If illuminating a license plate was a requirement then the magnet-mount Mickey Mouse ears would come with a 3rd light for the license plate.
Manch - Your comments are interesting and thank you for providing input, but it is a fact that license plates on towed vehicles must be illuminated in some jurisdictions, this is not speculation. I don't believe the purpose of the law has anything to do with the light being a visual aid. While Luminesent plates are quite visible when a light is directed at them, this does not meet this criteria defined in ordinances requiring lit plates.
Having stated this, it has been my observation that most people do not have the plates lit on thier toads, (I am one who never had my toad plates lit while towing) this does not change the fact that it is a requirement to have plates lit on towed vehicles in some areas.
I will be doing the necessary engineering work to determine the ease an practicality of applying requisite voltage to illumimate the plate lights on a Smart Car. If the solution is problematic I may just take my chances and let it go. I just wondered if anyone else had done this or has schematics that would make the task easier. I can trace wires, take voltage, current and resistance measuremnts at strategic locations to determine if wire tolerances and voltage levels are maintained.
Most RV's have sufficient wiring at the 7 PIN connector with adequate voltage and current capacity in the circuit to light up more than two simple incandescent fillements in bulbs found in many vehicles. Of course if the TOAD uses LED's then the current requirement is less. I will determine the current required to illuminate the bulbs on the SMart Car tail and Plate Lights. I will also determine the current capacity on my RV hitch circuits. Plus determine the voltage drop at the rear of the TOAD while under load etc. When I complete my testing, I will provide my findings on the site so others may benefit from my engineering efforts.
Again, Thanks for the comments.
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I searched the California DMV's online database with regard to illuminating rear license plates. I prefer citing chapter and verse whenever possible. 24601 is all that I could find, so I looked for other provisions that could negate/alter it.
Either the taillamp or a separate lamp shall be so constructed and placed as to illuminate with a white light the rear license plate during darkness and render it clearly legible from a distance of 50 feet to the rear. When the rear license plate is illuminated by a lamp other than a required taillamp, the two lamps shall be turned on or off only by the same control switch at all times.
24601 doess not distinguish between a vehicle being driven or a vehicle being towed, so I looked at 24605. Section (c) of 24605 says the vehicle towing another vehicle may not be required to have stop/turn lights on the vehicle being towed. If I were stopped in CA for having an unlit rear license plate on my towed vehicle, I think I could successfully argue before a judge that 24601 creates an undue burden to illuminate the license plate when my motorhome and smart car in tow satisfy the language in 24605(c) to not require stoplamps and signal lamps on the towed vehicle. It's the "all lamps or no lamps" argument.
As many of California's motor vehicle laws are more strict than those in the other 49 U.S. states, many U.S. states follow California in making their own motor vehicle laws. This makes citing California law useful as a generalization for all U.S. states.
Canada may be very different with regard to illuminated licenseplates on a towed vehicle, but I believe that in the U.S. this is a non-issue for towed vehicles. If you ever gets cited for it in the U.S. you can be rest assured that it will be somewhere after citation #10 in a long list of citations because the LEO decided to throw the book at you after pulling you over for some other major violation(s).
sections (a) and (b) apply to tow truck operators.
section (c):
Quote:
(c) Whenever any motor vehicle is towing another motor vehicle, stoplamps and turn signal lamps are not required on the towed motor vehicle, but only if a stoplamp and a turn signal lamp on each side of the rear of the towing vehicle is plainly visible to the rear of the towed vehicle. This subdivision does not apply to driveaway-towaway operations.
Translation:
(c) Whenever a motorhome is pulling a toad, stoplamps and turn signal lamps are not required on the toad, but only if a stoplamp and a turn signal lamp on each side of the rear of the motorhome is plainly visible to the rear of the toad. This subdivision does not apply to driveaway-towaway operations.
Thanks Manch, you really did some research re CA statutes, that is great and appreciated. I don't recall which juridiction I read about towed vehicles needing the license plate light but I know I read it when looking at some statute and am willing to go without if it is not easy to do. I have done so for years anyway without any incident. Most toads travel without a light on the plate anyway. Some places don't have legislation for toads and just refer to towed vehicles so it could be a grey area indeed. Nontheless I will do some technical research to see the feasibility of doing it on my toad and will share my findings. The more lights on the rear just makes the vehicle more visible in any case.
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