Putting a hitch on GF's Rogue, and when I looked for a wiring harness, all I could find were powered stuff, that requires running a wire from back to front, to the battery. Seriously? These things aren't cheap. Whatever happened to just tapping into the taillight wires, with a flat-4 wire?
The lights on the trailer are LED, FWIW.
Flat 4-wire only works on older US stuff that uses the same filament for stop & turn. That's why you need a converter.
In reply to EvanR:
That and the wiring in newer cars seems to be sized on the ragged edge of catching fire and/or unacceptable voltage drop.
BrokenYugo wrote: In reply to EvanR: That and the wiring in newer cars seems to be sized on the ragged edge of catching fire and/or unacceptable voltage drop.
Copper is both heavy and expensive.
Only car I've ever added a hitch to was the Miata -- at least it's easy to get to the battery. :)
With LED trailer lights, you can get away with a cheap splitter/multiplexer wired directly. If you have incandescent bulbs, the multiplexer can't deal with the current and will fail rapidly unless you run the lights through relays. (And this learning experience is why teh RX-7's trailer wiring is so horrifyingly messy)
LED trailer lights are all but invisible in the daytime, though.
I'm actually a little surprised that a vehicle for which Nissan could reasonably expect people to tow with doesn't have a wiring run for power already. When I put the wiring in teh Volvo, I used a powered kit for some Ford thing (hey, $20 at Summit returns/scratch n dent section) and found that Volvo has a dangling connector behind the trunk interior that gets power and ground. Turns out, it's specifically for trailer wiring.
In reply to Knurled:
Eh, the Rogue is only rated for 1000 lbs. Trailer is only ~450.
My thoughts were in line with LED is low amp draw, so the old way should be sufficient. Am I safe in that assumption, or should I bite the bullet and get the powered gizmo?
hah! Something Land Rover actually gets right. My disco just required a small converter that plugged in to the harness. I think it took me longer to unscrew the taillight to get at the wiring than to install the kit
I don't know about that vehicle specifically but a lot of modern cars drive the lights from the body control module which both monitors current draw to check for problems and has limited current capability in the first place. Personally, without detailed information specific to that vehicle I'd just use a kit installed as directed.
In reply to APEowner:
Probably a wise direction - less headaches.
APEowner wrote: I don't know about that vehicle specifically but a lot of modern cars drive the lights from the body control module which both monitors current draw to check for problems and has limited current capability in the first place. Personally, without detailed information specific to that vehicle I'd just use a kit installed as directed.
This is good advice. The led option is a possibility, but how long until you forget, plug in something with a bunch of incandescents and cook the rear light module? Also, I bet there is battery power back there anyway.
Streetwiseguy wrote: Also, I bet there is battery power back there anyway.
The reviews I read and videos I watched for the three different Rogue specific modules all have a wire that needs to be run up to the battery. 
If all the kits are made that way, there's probably a good reason why. You might very well be able to rig it the old way. Chances are though, if it didn't cause immediate issues that it will eventually cause some kind of PITA at the very moment you are towing over a mountain pass in the pouring rain and it's 40 degrees.
Seriously, the more you can insulate (HA!) yourself against Murphy's gremlins when towing, the happier you will be in the long run.
I put a powered harness on my Caravan, and even with running a feed up to the battery it was easier than splicing into the factory wiring. The light connections just piggyback into the existing tail light connections. It has it's own fuse, so if it blows it only kills the trailer lights.
My powered harness should be here Monday. 
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