Wiring Suggestions...

[Preppypyro]

I bought a trailer the other week. Its a tri axle, and the marker lights do not work, not 100 percent sure about the electric brakes, and the right side stop/signal doesnt work.

The trailer has a car battery mounted on it which kinda stumps me. Also when I ripped the old trailer plug off, to install a new one, there was a few wires that werent in the "correct" place in relation to where the plug instructions said to put them.

Heres the wiring that came with the new 7 prong plug
1. white - common ground to terminal 1
2. blue - electric brakes to terminal 2
3. green - light to terminal 3
4. black - battery charge to terminal 4
5. red - stop and left turn signal to terminal 5
6. brown - stop and right turn signal to terminal 6
7. yellow - auxillary ground or auxillary circuit to terminal 7

Heres where the wires were on the current trailer plug.

White wire - terminal 1 (correct)
blue wire - terminal 2 (correct)
green wire - terminal 6 (incorrect)
black wire - terminal 4 (correct)
Red wire - terminal 7 center terminal (unhooked)
Looks like this is the wire that was rerouted to the battery
brown wire - terminal 3 (incorrect)
yellow wire - terminal 5 (incorrect)

Do you think I should just go and hook up the wire to the plug where the instructions say to?
Instead of just trying that should I go rip apart all the wiring and trace the wires to be 100percent sure?
Right now the rest of the wiring is kind of hidden, and it will be quite abit more work to get at it. I was just hoping to figure out the plug first then if need be, tackle some more.

Any tips, hints, or advice would be appreciated

 

[bear]

If you have a multi-meter try ohming out your various wires both end to end and each end to the frame. the battery is most likely there in case the trailer comes unhooked and will automatically apply the brakes. the bes thing to do is just work through the wires if you find a fault of any kind replace the wire and mke sure it is in as good a position it can be (no pinching abrasion etc.) that's pretty much it. as far as the brakes do you have a good brake controller and how is everything set? it can be a pain in the keister to adjust the controller and brake force but is worth it in the long run.

 

[Steve Frazier]

Although there is a standard for wiring, it does not mean everyone follows the standard. Those colors do not necessarily mean they are hooked to the correct component, I'd advise you trace them out and verify that they are. Also be sure your tow vehicle is wired correctly if it is new.

 

[togoffrd]

I take it that you are using the RV style plug found on pickups. Chances are that it was wired correctly to start with. Check around the lights themself for connections that could be corroded or bad. Regular crimp connectors are suspect and so are wire nuts like you find in homes. Any green corrosion should be cut away to fresh copper and reconnected. I like the crimp connctors that have shrink tube made into it. Die electric grease & shrink tube are good too, even over soldered joints.

The ground should be checked to be sure a good connection. Alot of light problems are due to bad grounds.

Like Bear said get a meter or test light and start checking circuts & check for damage. Don't poke tester into wires insulation or it'll be a problem later.


The trailer is probably wired to the standard color code. If hadn't been hacked.

White = ground
Blue = trailer brakes
Yellow = left turn
Green = right turn
Brown = running lights
Red = Brake lights (not normally used with RV style plug)
Black = hot wire ( to breakaway battery)

Good luck

 

[Komatsu 150]

Although there is a standard for wiring, it does not mean everyone follows the standard. Those colors do not necessarily mean they are hooked to the correct component, I'd advise you trace them out and verify that they are. Also be sure your tow vehicle is wired correctly if it is new.

Our Chronkite came from the factory with no attention to color codes. The Red wire was grounded. Also there are two different "standards" for the 7 wire RV plug. When you buy an adapter they will have a diagram showing which wire to switch.

 

[Preppypyro]

Ok so yesterday I did some testing and whatnot. i dont have any meters to test with out at my farm yet.

I found the marker lights and left and right brake/signals no problem.

For my electric brakes there are two wires that tie into the wiring going up to the front. Isnt there just supposed to be one wire?

There was also one of them devices that you hook up to your truck, and if your trailer unhooks, it engages the brakes. Ive never wired one of those in, where abouts do i tie that into?

 

[ASPHALT04]

Trailer Brakes

On the brake end of things one wire is power (usually blue) and the other is probably the ground for the brakes (usually white)[some grounded to frame of trailer and some go right to truck plug ground depending how wired].

The break-away switch..... one wire come from positive post on the trailer mounted battery and the other wire should be connected to the power (usually blue) of the trailer brake circuit.

Here is a pic that might also help you to visualize it also, its pretty generic but will help.

 

[Preppypyro]

Cool thanks for the link asphalt.

I kinda figured one was the ground, but then second guessed myself when I seen it went all teh way to the front.
Its snowing today so I cant go out and finish it, but i think you fellas have helped me enough I can get er going. I will make sure I let ya all know how it goes, and thanks again!