From January 2009, the touring caravan industry in the UK has decided to move to a 13 pin connection between the tow vehicle and the caravan in place of the current 7 pin pair (known as 12N and 12S).
Accordingly, all new caravans approved by the NCC will be provided with an ISO 13 pin connection from the start of model year 2009 (effectively from September 2008). This move has been agreed to bring the UK caravan industry in line with the majority of mainland Europe, though some European manufacturers have chosen to adopt a different format 13 pin connection.
The advantage of moving to the ISO connection is to eliminate the needs for two plugs and to replace them with a more robust and weather resistant coupling. The new cabling used on the caravans has been upgraded to take into account the greater electrical demand in modern caravans.
There is no immediate need for caravan owners to have the electrical connectors fitted to their cars as a 13 pin to 12N/12S adapter is available (Part No. 035-624) and can be ordered from Bosal. Indeed some caravan owners with the older connection pair may need this format if they also tow other trailers with 7 pin plugs.
For current and older caravans with twin electrical socket system we offer adapters to connect to tow vehicles fitted with the new format 13 pin ISO connection (Part No. 035-724). Conversion sockets are also available from Bosal in 13pin to 7pin (Part No. 022-504) and 7pin to 13pin (Part No. 023-654) format.