Post by turbodaddy on Aug 30, 2015 15:02:44 GMT -8
Well, today we beat back the wiring gremlins. It took my wife, daughter, (and me) about 5 hours to finally figure it out.
I would never have thought there could be so many things wrong!!!
I have the original owners manual for the camper, and in "someone's" handwriting on the back page is a correct list of what color wire in the harness does which function. However, "someone else" had completely changed the actual wiring. By removing all of the bulbs (yes, I did listen!), and disconnecting from any power source, I checked each circuit with a multi-meter. Here's what I found in the trailer harness:
White was running / marker lights...Black was right turn/brake...and Red was left turn/brake. So we just connected those wires to the correct colors on the 7 way plug. Made a fresh ground connection on the tongue, then applied 2 amps from a battery charger to each circuit, and everything worked!
Then to complicate things even more, my truck only has 4-way plug. So I had bought a 4-way to 7 way adapter from an (unnamed) trailer electrical supply store. (Not VTS!...I love that place.) We plugged the 4-way adapter into the truck, plugged the other end into the trailer 7-way, expecting everything to be just ducky. NOTHING worked.
Unplugged everything and took a good look at the 4-way to 7-way adapter. I couldn't believe it...they had a blue wire for ground...and it was connected to the center of the plug. Then we went all around checking each terminal and almost all of them were wrong! That's the way it came! Jeez, that sure can cause a normally somewhat sane person CRAZY!!!
This morning I was ready to make a completely new wiring harness 'cause I thought I'd fried the original. Finally we got it all straightened out. I'll try to remember to post a pic after it gets dark. WHOO-HOO! What a relief.
I would never have thought there could be so many things wrong!!!
I have the original owners manual for the camper, and in "someone's" handwriting on the back page is a correct list of what color wire in the harness does which function. However, "someone else" had completely changed the actual wiring. By removing all of the bulbs (yes, I did listen!), and disconnecting from any power source, I checked each circuit with a multi-meter. Here's what I found in the trailer harness:
White was running / marker lights...Black was right turn/brake...and Red was left turn/brake. So we just connected those wires to the correct colors on the 7 way plug. Made a fresh ground connection on the tongue, then applied 2 amps from a battery charger to each circuit, and everything worked!
Then to complicate things even more, my truck only has 4-way plug. So I had bought a 4-way to 7 way adapter from an (unnamed) trailer electrical supply store. (Not VTS!...I love that place.) We plugged the 4-way adapter into the truck, plugged the other end into the trailer 7-way, expecting everything to be just ducky. NOTHING worked.
Unplugged everything and took a good look at the 4-way to 7-way adapter. I couldn't believe it...they had a blue wire for ground...and it was connected to the center of the plug. Then we went all around checking each terminal and almost all of them were wrong! That's the way it came! Jeez, that sure can cause a normally somewhat sane person CRAZY!!!
This morning I was ready to make a completely new wiring harness 'cause I thought I'd fried the original. Finally we got it all straightened out. I'll try to remember to post a pic after it gets dark. WHOO-HOO! What a relief.
