Power cord coming loose

[salem]

The display of my brake controler will show a "C,"meaning "connected" when my power cord is inserted correctly. (cord from the 5er to the bed of the pickup) On the last couple of trips I noticed the "C" was gone. I pulled over and found that the cord had worked itself loose. Is their a procedure to solve this? A spray perhaps? Do I need a new male or female receptacle? Thanks

[Oaklevel]

I had to replace the plug in the truck bed........The spring that holds the cover down had broken (this holds the plug in all the way so it does not work loose)........ The trailer plug kept coming loose & I would loose some of the trailer lights (turn signals)........Works like it should now........

[beemerphile1]

Like others have said, on mine the lid comes down over the tab on the plug and holds it in. Is the lid on yours broken?

[jrs1871]

The problem with zip ties or electrical tape is that it is a one time use. We use a velcro strap around our cord connection. You can buy different lengths of velcro straps in the electrical department of a hardware store. They are used to bundle cords together but work great for this. When not in transit, we just wrap the velcro strap around the cord so it is always readily available.

[korbe]

The spring cap sets behind a ridge on my plug to hold it in place. Has yet to pull out.

[salem]

It's a six pt. plug, and it does have that little ridge across the top. Maybe I'm not pushing it in hard enough. (but I'm doing it the same way I have for seven years and it just started slipping out) I'll keep an eye on it. That wrapping a few strands of tape around it sounds like it might be worth a try. Thanks for your comments and suggestions.

[wa8yxm]

Is this a 7-pin round connector.....

A little known feature of this is the spring loaded weather cover for the "Socket" it plugs into also contains a "lock" that holds the plug in the socket.

First thing i would is clean the plug and socket (Actually the plug is the socket and the socket is the plug but hey, We won't quibble since I would clean both).

Then once you plug it in press the cover doen onto the plug and make sure it latches the plug in place.. If that is you have not broken that feature off.

[michael8rc]

I insert the plug into the socket and then wrap electrical tape around the plug and the spring loaded cover of the socket about three times. This plug will never come out unless you take the tape off.

[RoyB]

This is the bungi stretch cords i was referring to. They come in all sizes and lengths from WALMART... These just keep pressure on the trailer cord when it is plugged into the socket.


The top of the trailer plug has a catch that you are suppose to sort of snap the flip place over after you insert the trailer plug. On my newer truck it doesn't do as good a job as my older ford truck connector did..

Note the raised catch on the top of this connector plug. This is where the spring loaded flip door on my ford truck trailer connector snaps in front of this raised part and holds it into it inserted position. Perhaps your truck bed connection doesn't have this feature..



You can almost see the piece on the bottom of this spring loaded lid that will snap over the raised area of the plug to hold it in place.


This is a ETRAILER.COM truck bed mount extension cable kit


I really haven't looked at any of the truck bed connections but I think they all use the same idea

Just submitting all of this to help you figure a good fix for your particular problem of the trailer cable coming out on its own..

This is what I found on my trailer plug install at any rate...
Roy Ken

[robsouth]

Since you have a 5th wheel and are plugging into the truck bed wall, I don't think the "chain slots" would work well for you. I lift the plug lid, plug in the chord, let the lid down over the plug and wrap a "zip tie" around it and cinch it up. It won't come out until you clip the zip tie. Good luck.

[RoyF]

It's just a miniature "bungee" cord - with metal hooks on each end.

[RoyF]

Ditto on stretch cords. Use the short kind, about 6 or 8 inches. Get a box of them from Walmart - they have all kinds of uses: to secure power cord as RoyB said. I put some on cabinet doors which can (and have!) work themselves open during travel and then catch when you try to open or close the slides.

[salem]

Roy, thanks, but I'm having a trouble picturing just what it is you're telling me to do. Are you saying purchase something called a "stretch cord?"

[RoyB]

Its called a stretch cord. Two wraps around the trailer cable and hook into the chain slots in my case... Your install should have something to tie the hooks of the stretch cord into to hold it in place.

Thats what I do anyway...

My older truck had a better lock/latch action for the trailer plug then my newer truck does. Mine has never pulled out but I also started using my stretch cord idea just to make sure...

Roy Ken