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Alright, after a few weeks of holidays I'm trying to work on this camper. And it sucks already. Was hoping you guys could help me understand wtf is going on.
So I'm looking at this diagram:
Are these colors pretty universally used in trailer plugs, or can they vary?
Okay and this is more of a wtf is going on question.
So you can kinda see in this pic the blue and black wires are spliced together?? Based on the upper pic that would be... Trailer brakes (blue) and backup lights (? Black? There is no black on above diagram). That makes no sense though.
Kinda thinking that might mean the colors on my plug don't match the diagram, especially with the black that isn't present in the diagram.
FWIW I bought a 4wire ribbon, the busted taillight is a 4wire, so my plan was just to splice in at the back of the plug and run the ribbon to the taillight so I don't have to fuck with the existing wiring and finding shorts and whatnot.
So I'm looking at this diagram:
Are these colors pretty universally used in trailer plugs, or can they vary?
Okay and this is more of a wtf is going on question.
So you can kinda see in this pic the blue and black wires are spliced together?? Based on the upper pic that would be... Trailer brakes (blue) and backup lights (? Black? There is no black on above diagram). That makes no sense though.
Kinda thinking that might mean the colors on my plug don't match the diagram, especially with the black that isn't present in the diagram.
FWIW I bought a 4wire ribbon, the busted taillight is a 4wire, so my plan was just to splice in at the back of the plug and run the ribbon to the taillight so I don't have to fuck with the existing wiring and finding shorts and whatnot.
The diagram is pretty universal, there used to be 2 variations but that went away quite a few years ago...
Not sure what's going on with the black wire.... other than maybe they are routing power to lights they want to turn on while in reverse. That might explain why there is 2 black wires scotch locked together and the 1 black scotch locked to the blue????
Okay that is a positive at least. I'm guessing you mean the other 7 contact trailer thing but it's round instead of blades?
Yeah lol IDK what the black is supposed to be! Do you think it's the center contact? But yeah it makes no damn sense. I just don't get it... It would activate trailer brakes in reverse. And activate reverse lights when I hit the brakes?
Thinking more about it... I guess there is no reason to assume the black wire goes to my taillights as well... So maybe I should just ignore this weirdness entirely with the black wire, and splice into the blue for my reverse lights and send it
No the 7 pin round is typically wired the same but you see it more on the commercial side of the industry.
7 pin flat used to have 2 different wiring methods, I can't remember off the top of my head as to the reason why some were wired differently, but if I am remembering correctly the only difference was where the brake wire and the battery+ wires were pinned, they were reversed. But again that was a long time ago... and it may not have been an "industry standard", but more of a regional thing..
Okay I see. So if I had that other style, the battery in the camper wouldn't charge or the brakes would be wonky... The driver side works just fine lol. So hopefully that means I have the popular kind on camper side
Blue is supposed to be power to the magnets in the brakes not lights... but like you said you're not sure if your plug is wired like the diagram...Since this is a slide in camper it doesn't have brakes. The blue wire shouldn't be used unless it's wired for some other mysterious purpose...
Its too bad you live like 14 hours away. It'd be pretty easy to sort out if I could see it in person.
A small 12 volt.battery and some jumper wires make for pretty quick
wire routing testing.
Yeah... I think I'm confusing myself wondering what they did with the trailer brake wire. I shouldn't need it so no point in understanding their truck camper manufacturer fuckery.
This is super helpful. I gave up last night when I saw them spliced together I just couldn't understand it
hopefully I can make more moves today.I am using a multimeter to check continuity... What would the battery helpful for?
If everything worked correctly when plugged i to a modern truck it's definitely not wired the old "odd method" of wiring. You should be able to pull that plug apart and see which terminals each wire goes to...
Yeah... I think I'm confusing myself wondering what they did with the trailer brake wire. I shouldn't need it so no point in understanding their truck camper manufacturer fuckery.
This is super helpful. I gave up last night when I saw them spliced together I just couldn't understand it
I am using a multimeter to check continuity... What would the battery helpful for?
The battery could be used to supply apply 12 volts to the lighting circuits to test each pin works as it should.
I can't find a way to take it apart. That's why I was asking if the colors were universal... Was thinking they must be if it's unserviceable lol. I've taken every screw out of the plug and it doesn't wanna come apart that I can see.
I see ok. Yeah that would probably be a bit more definitive than just seeing continue between the two
There should be a set screw on one side of the plug that holds the inner part into the shell.
Unless it is a molded plug there should be two screws, one is the strain relief and the other is a small set screw that holds the plug in the body.
I forgot about the strain relief, although it didn't look like his plug had ine???
With all the stuff you will be fixing in your life get yourself a power probe. Between that and your multimeter you'll have the tools to figure it out.
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