Re-Wiring the brakes.
My 35' ~10,000 lb GVWR trailer brakes were wired with 14 gauge wire and very poor crimps. All the crimps on that I've seen so far are pretty bad... I'm going to redo it with a quality crimp tool ...
Forum Discussion
Good point on including return wiring. I redid the math. 16G "home runs" are slightly worse than a single 10G run and 14G home run is slightly better. The voltage at magnet for 16,14,10 respectively are: 12.18V, 12.40V, and 12.27V. Double 10G would result in 12.51 to each magnet. All from a 12.8 volt source.
I'm not too worried about the new wire shorting out. It will be placed in a wire loom, that's part of redoing the job correctly. If the magnets short out, the 18G wires coming from the magnet will act as a fuse. I would hope they would melt back until there was an open circuit. Hopefully the brake controller would see the additional current draw an warn with an overload. I haven't had this happen and the instructions for mine indicate that an overload warning exists, but does not provide details on when that alarm would fire.
Here's the in order from "Best" to "Worst" for upgrade options:
1) Dual 10G - either 1 per side or one for front axle and 1 for rear axle. Junction at axle to split off from 10G wire.
2) Home run 14G. Junction at TV plug junction.
3) Single 10G to axles. Junction at axles.
4) Home run 16G. Junction at TV plug junction.
I'm still leaning towards #2 because I like the home run idea.
I'm not too worried about the new wire shorting out. It will be placed in a wire loom, that's part of redoing the job correctly. If the magnets short out, the 18G wires coming from the magnet will act as a fuse. I would hope they would melt back until there was an open circuit. Hopefully the brake controller would see the additional current draw an warn with an overload. I haven't had this happen and the instructions for mine indicate that an overload warning exists, but does not provide details on when that alarm would fire.
Here's the in order from "Best" to "Worst" for upgrade options:
1) Dual 10G - either 1 per side or one for front axle and 1 for rear axle. Junction at axle to split off from 10G wire.
2) Home run 14G. Junction at TV plug junction.
3) Single 10G to axles. Junction at axles.
4) Home run 16G. Junction at TV plug junction.
I'm still leaning towards #2 because I like the home run idea.
