Re-Wiring the brakes.

JamesBr wrote:
Wow this has gone insanely complex, I think more then actually needed. I agree bad crimps and open to the element are the bigger issues. I but in all the years and all the trailers I have owned, wire gauge has never been a determining factor for if my brakes where operating properly or not.

I think you can save yourself a bundle of headache and hassle by just properly redoing the brake wires. I don't see any need to get into 10-12GA wiring for this. Just clean crimps or if you must home runs will be a lot less hassle, cost and give you the same results. If you prefer home runs and want to clean up the wires on the trailer, consider a Weather sealed 7 pin junction box

At least that way you can home run your lines if that is really what you desire. I use these boxes for more then trailer, I have one mounted on the frame rail of my truck with wires from the upfitter switches and a nice 10GA ground so I can easilly run wires for work lights, my beacon, etc. to be powered by one of the upfitters.

But when I redo my car trailer one of these will be installed since I pretty much need to rerun the whole trailer, after 10 years the current wires are just getting dry and cracking.

It is not "complex", difficult or hard to correctly make the brakes as best as they can be.

Even Dexter MENTIONS 10ga as a "recommendation" for hitch to axle lengths of 30ft (not sure if they are counting wire round trip or not but they DO recommend larger ga wires for LONGER RUNS.

SEE HERE FOR WIRE RECOMMENDATION

The MINIMUM "recommended" wire ga according to Dexter is 12 Ga, trailer manufacturers DO NOT use 12Ga, instead they opt for the cheaper 14ga instead.

While 14 ga "might" work, it is less than optimal and most folks end up cranking the brake controller to max or near max output.

You simply can not apply the 5% loss rule used on 120V AC wiring, 5% on 12V systems is a huge loss (.6V loss from 12V gives you 11.4V which means a lot less current through the magnets which = less brake capacity).

If you are "OK" with minimal sub par working brakes then stay with what you have.

But I myself LOVE having MORE brake control, so much so I do not need to set my brake controller output above 4.5 out of 10 and the trailer brakes WILL stop the truck and trailer using the manual control.

The wiring upgrade for me is priceless :B