Battery-Trlr pigtail wiring fix and Upgrade
The last two days here in Bellingham WA I decided to tackle a project that I had wanted to do since I bought this trailer. The Battery cables and the Trailer/Truck Pigtail wiring were a total mess. Al...
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Excellent work! This is one mod that everyone should do. At the very least, it's definitely worth inspecting all the connections. What is the box mounted to? Looks like there's metal welded to the frame?
I just did something similar. I'm an EE and am disgusted by how bad our wiring was. One of these days I'll post an in-depth "story" about what I found and did. Our 2 mini-breakers were a badly corroded mess. Several of the wire nuts were upside down and filled with water causing corrosion of the wires. Worst thing was the main positive #8 wire from the battery - the crimp type ring terminal at the breaker was barely crimped and the wire simply fell out of the terminal when I touched it. Very serious consequences if it fell out while towing at 60+ mph on a downhill stretch and you lose trailer brakes as a result.
Our manufacturer (KZ) did not wire the elect. stab jacks in accordance with Lippert's specs. They used #14 wire when it should have been #10 and did not install fuses (in addition to the breakers).
I mounted 2 mini-breakers, 2 fuses (for jacks) along with all splices in a watertight box and used 3/4" compression type PVC connectors. In my case, I soldered all splices and used a standard wire nut over them. I also added a watertight 12 VDC receptacle for our 12V compressor. A tight fit, but still all got in there okay. It is possible that water may collect inside the box due to condensation so I drilled a couple of small holes on the underside of the box. I installed a 2nd redundant ground connection from the battery to the frame for added reliability and safety. The 2nd pic is the main ground lug - badly corroded (in under 2 years), only 9 of 19 strands on one wire made it into the lug and I could not budge the screw at all.
The wiring to each of the brakes has light gauge wiring and the connections are of course suspect. Some day I'll take down the coroplast and upgrade it all but that's no Sunday afternoon project.
ps: Bellingham has the coolest hardware store ever, Hardware Sales. Very old school like out of the 1950s. I got the ring terminals and other bits there as they have a great selection.
4X4Dodger wrote:The worst part hasta be laying on your back for hours in a cramped position. :(
All told the parts cost me a little over $100 but I think is well worth it. I hope it helps those of you who may be having problems with this area of your electrical system or those that just want to upgrade it.
4X4Dodger wrote:I could not agree more. All the manufacturers do it pretty much the same way. The wiring is supposed to be done to NEC requirements but it's not. Who would you contact to complain to??? I don't think there is any gov't dept. in the US to report to on RV electrical work. It's an accident waiting to happen in some cases.
It was all put together with plastic twist on "Wire Nuts" used in houses. This is not unusual for trailers but should NEVER be allowed to my mind.
I just did something similar. I'm an EE and am disgusted by how bad our wiring was. One of these days I'll post an in-depth "story" about what I found and did. Our 2 mini-breakers were a badly corroded mess. Several of the wire nuts were upside down and filled with water causing corrosion of the wires. Worst thing was the main positive #8 wire from the battery - the crimp type ring terminal at the breaker was barely crimped and the wire simply fell out of the terminal when I touched it. Very serious consequences if it fell out while towing at 60+ mph on a downhill stretch and you lose trailer brakes as a result.
Our manufacturer (KZ) did not wire the elect. stab jacks in accordance with Lippert's specs. They used #14 wire when it should have been #10 and did not install fuses (in addition to the breakers).
I mounted 2 mini-breakers, 2 fuses (for jacks) along with all splices in a watertight box and used 3/4" compression type PVC connectors. In my case, I soldered all splices and used a standard wire nut over them. I also added a watertight 12 VDC receptacle for our 12V compressor. A tight fit, but still all got in there okay. It is possible that water may collect inside the box due to condensation so I drilled a couple of small holes on the underside of the box. I installed a 2nd redundant ground connection from the battery to the frame for added reliability and safety. The 2nd pic is the main ground lug - badly corroded (in under 2 years), only 9 of 19 strands on one wire made it into the lug and I could not budge the screw at all.
The wiring to each of the brakes has light gauge wiring and the connections are of course suspect. Some day I'll take down the coroplast and upgrade it all but that's no Sunday afternoon project.
ps: Bellingham has the coolest hardware store ever, Hardware Sales. Very old school like out of the 1950s. I got the ring terminals and other bits there as they have a great selection.
