I will never understand....shaking my head in a haze!

[MTboatguy]

So I go out to put lights on the trailer I bought the other day and start disecting what others have done to this mess! And it is a mess, two pieces of solid house wiring spliced in with electrical tape, three wires in the same spot right behind the truck hook up and I still have no quite figured out what they did at the end of the trailer with the wires that hook to the lights..!

So I just start pulling everything out, so I can do it correctly, I have this picture in my mind of a early Saturday morning, heading for the lake after someone had a couple of beers, going, hold on, I can fix that!





Do it right the first time! Geeze!

 

[poconojoe]

Yep, just buy one of those complete kits. They come with everything from the vehicle connector to the rear lights. I bought one a few years back. It was all LED too. No more constantly replacing burnt bulbs and no more corroded sockets.

 

[poconojoe]

Oh, if any of your wiring runs through the frame, don't yank it out just yet. Try to use the old wire to pull in the new wire.

 

[Scott Danforth]

I buy trailer wiring in 100' spools. Best to replace all

 

[GA_Boater]

two pieces of solid house wiring spliced in with electrical tape

So that's why the front porch light stopped working! :facepalm:

 

[dingbat]

Don’t like the wire they supply with the kits.

Tinned duplex wire with jacket is the way to go if your going to start over

 

[MTboatguy]

Don’t like the wire they supply with the kits.

Tinned duplex wire with jacket is the way to go if your going to start over

I will just pick up a spool of the correct wire and tin it when I put it all together, normally I use heat shrink butt connectors with dielectric grease in them and then apply shrink wrap tubing on the outside. Helping my buddy who builds RV has given me plenty of exposure to the right way and the wrong way to wire a trailer.

But I did find something I have never seen before on a trailer, solid copper house wiring!!!!!!!

 

[Grub54891]

But I did find something I have never seen before on a trailer, solid copper house wiring!!!!!!!​

Not seen that, bit seen speaker wire running through trailers and Inside boats, no it was not running speakers.....

 

[BWR1953]

I found house wire on the ignition of my 50HP Mercury outboard.

 

[dingbat]

I will just pick up a spool of the correct wire and tin it when I put it all together:

tinning the ends doesn’t address the problem of wicking once the cheap outter insulation is breached. It’s not will it happen, it’s when.

Multple layers of duct tape (heat shrink), slop with grease and more duct tape is more of a problem than a solution. A good friend who makes mil spec cables for the military would be appalled by such a solution

Properly dressing the ends of the cable and using a quality, marine grade, adhesive filled butt connector is a quick and easy method to permanently seal connections. https://www.iboats.com/shop/ancor-1...ned-heat-shrink-butt-connectors-blue-100.html

Done properly, the harness will out last the trailer

A connection box on the tongue is the best and easiest method of interfacing the trailer to the vehiclehttps://www.amazon.com/dp/B005HYVRH...31852&th=1&psc=1#immersive-view_1527769762059

 

[MTboatguy]

Well, The harness on my flatbed has now held up for 14 years and I did it in 2004, my 14 ft fishing boat harness is still going strong after 8 years when I re-did the wiring.. So my harness jobs hold up quite well in this environment, so I will redo it and not worry.

 

[bruceb58]

Don’t like the wire they supply with the kits.

Tinned duplex wire with jacket is the way to go if your going to start over

Yep...I use the exact thing. No "black wire syndrome" that way.

It doesn't help to just tin the ends of the wires, the whole length of the wire needs to be already tinned.

 

[MTboatguy]

The wire I use is jacketed in black covering with jacket individual wires inside that jacket, it is the same wire used in the travel trailer industry from the factories, I don't use Auto Zone 4 conductor flat wire, like I said, I have been using it for years with no problems at all. I won't use that cheap flatwire on anything, the covering gets brittle after a couple of years and shorts out.

 

[Bob_VT]

Here is an amusing Army story............ once while in the field in Germany (at Graf) I pulled over to help these two attractive female medics who were broke down in an ambulance................ now every woman gains attractiveness when you have been in the field over 60 days on a support mission

Well the wiring was screwed up and someone in their motor pool repaired the wires using........... BAND AIDS!!!! The whole wiring harness was repaired with them!!!

I feel your pain and yes it is easier starting new

 

[Redfred1]

Haven't got the LED lights yet; but need too. Still unplug the harness when I unhook the winch. HF had the harness for a buck each; got two spares.

 

[GA_Boater]

Band aids are natural for ambulance repair, aren't they? Probably better than the wire nuts used on my trailer - Band Aids have curative properties.

 

[aspeck]

Band aids are natural for ambulance repair, aren't they? Probably better than the wire nuts used on my trailer - Band Aids have curative properties.

Only if they have pictures of Wreck'em Ralph on them ...

 

[FlaCowboy]

But I did find something I have never seen before on a trailer, solid copper house wiring!!!!!!!

Were the lights working