School me in trailer wiring

Ok I know electronics and wiring and have found myself with an electrical issue I cannot figure out for some darn reason. I have a 96 XJ. I have been using the Hoppy trailer wiring adapter for about 6 years. It is the 4 flat style.I have been having issues with trailer wiring lately. (IE intermittent no trailer signals or brakes) This was tested directly at the adapter. What I'd like to do is remove the Hoppy kit and install just a 7 blade connector and just buy a 4 flat adapter. Can I bypass the Hoppy trailer adapter or do I need a new one? My new to me utility trailer and pop-up use the 7 blade RV wiring and have electric brakes, and my boat uses a 4 flat. I know I will need to buy a brake controller for the trailer brakes to work but I'd like just a 7 blade plug on the Jeep and I'll buy an adapter for my boat. I've searched with no luck trying to find out if I still need the damn converter for the 7 blade style RV plug or can I wire it direct?

My mind:explosion

I may have answered my own question I think. According to this diagram the right and left signal are also part of the brake. So I would still need a trailer wiring adapter would be my guess. Please chime in if you have another way.

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2155943630047362070koyJin

The wiring on the XJ has to have the adapter to separate (or is it join) the blinkers, running lights and brakes. The running lights are always on (when they're on) the brakes, when you brake...but the blinker on the XJ are totally separate.

I have a 6 way female plug on my XJ with trailer brakes for one trailer, but my canoe trailer has no brakes, and only has the Flat 4, for which I do use an adapter. I didn't really follow the "universal" wiring format, just used a voltmeter and went plug to plug.

The MJ wiring is just straight out of the harness to a 4 Flat. Just gotta make sure you have a universal ground so you're not counting on the hitch & ball to be your only ground.

You need the adaptor because you have seperate brake and blinker lights. The trailer has common brake and blinker elements. Tail lights are straight through. Brake combines with blink, when you brake both high elements(L&R) illuminate. If you turn on the blinkers they seperate, one stays on solid(brake) the other blinks(blinker indicating your desired direstion) Colorwise it is brown-runninr
green-right
yellow-left
white-ground
From your post it sounds like you are losing ground. The hitch will gound sometimes but not always. Make sure you are connected to a solid chassis ground in the jeep and a solid ground on the trailer. Remeber the trailer frame is ground and the trailer lights ground through their mounting hardware. It is no good to wire the lights then mount them to the wooden side baords of the trailer.
The real kicker is when you wire the 7 blade plug the colors are going to cahnge. There is a industry standards to trailers, follow them and you should be able to light any standard wire trailer. Flat blade 7 is different than round pin 7 and flat four is different than both of those. It is RV, horse and flat four I think. Good luck and send me a PM if you need more help. Always happy to help.

I started having weird lights issues in my XJ and found that the controller box for the hitch wiring melted down. After disco'ing it, my lights issues went away.

Maybe some of this will help: http://www.etrailer.com/faq-wiring.aspx

FYI, AFTER the adapter and before the 7-way tap off the 4-way so you have both needed connectors available.

I normally use a flat 4 connector for most stuff,but my pop-up trailer needed power and brakes. I adapted a 7wire plug that plugs into my reg 4wire and I have the other wires plug in separately.