I was looking at the Tekonsha units linked above. These things are very similar in appearance, and no doubt identical in design and performance with other universal units I've both seen and installed. I've installed two different ones from two manufacturers, and both have worked just fine. Most of you guys on this forum don't understand how these things work, or how to install them. Below is a picture of one that I installed.
This device is called is called a Pathfinder PAH60. It is a remote fuse block. Inside, it has internal breakers that are 'fused" for about 10 amps (for each circuit that it supplies). If something shorts out the breaker, just shutting the car off and turning it on again resets the breaker. Another one, made by "Show Chrome," is very similar to it. It is available here:
CLICKY. However, I've never installed one of these. The Show Chrome unit costs a good deal less than the one I've pictured above, but I've never installed that one.
So, look at the picture above.
To describe what you see, the
two heavy cables (on the right) power the device straight from the battery. The
four small diameter wires found on the left of the device are the trigger wires. They simply attach to left and right blinker, brake and the running (or parking) lights. These four trigger wires attach to the tail light wires on your car. Any competent installer knows how to do this: easy-peasy. The reason they're called trigger wires is because of how they work. Though they're attached to say for example, your brake lights, they draw no amperage. They "sense" when you hit your brakes and send a signal to the fuse block. That's all they do. Here's the clincher... WHEN they do, the fuse block turns on the brake light circuit. This circuit then powers your trailer's brake lights directly from the battery, drawing NO power from the brake light circuit. This keeps the computer on new cars happy, as it circumvents the car's CANBUS system. Make sense?
So, in the picture above, the
8 wires coming out of the top of the fuse block power your trailer hitch wiring. Each is labeled and it's really easy to hook up. Again, it's a universal fuse block and will work on any car, motorcycle, boat or what ever. It's waterproof and shock proof. These companies have sold thousands of these things. Hope that helps.