For several years now, a rear fog lamp has been mandatory for trailers and caravans in order to improve visibility under foggy conditions. When this fog lamp is switched on, the fog lamp of the pulling vehicle must be switched off to avoid irritating reflections. For this purpose, a mechanical switch is now built into the 13-way female connector in order to switch off the fog lamp of the pulling vehicle and switch on the fog lamp of the trailer or caravan. For anyone who uses a 7-way connector, this switching can also be implemented electronically with the aid of the circuit illustrated here. Here a type P521 optocoupler detects whether the fog lamp of the caravan or trailer is connected.
If the fog lamp is switched on in the car, a current flows through the caravan fog lamp via diodes D1 and D2. This causes the LED in the optocoupler to light up, with the result that the phototransistor conducts and energizes the relay via transistor T1. The relay switches off the fog lamp of the car. For anyone who’s not all thumbs, this small circuit can easily be built on a small piece of the perforated circuit board and then fitted somewhere close to the rear lamp fitting of the pulling vehicle.
An optocoupler (also called an optoisolator) is a semiconductor device that allows an electrical signal to be transmitted between two isolated circuits. Two parts are used in an optocoupler: an LED that emits infrared light and a photosensitive device that detects light from the LED. Both parts are contained within a black box with pins for connectivity. The input circuit takes the incoming signal, whether the signal is AC or DC, and uses the signal to turn on the LED.
