Trailer Wire Fried

[Dano218]

First timer here, do the right thing


Bought a 98 Crestliner fishhawk 1750 on monday, my first boat. Trailer lights worked fine on the way to the test ride and back and back to my house 100 mile away. They also worked fine yesterday on the way to the lake. I unplugged them before unloading and plugged them back in after the boat was on the trailer. Still working fine. They all shut off about a mile from home. Parked the boat and found this.

I have a 6 plug with a 4 plug adapter. One of the six plugs on the truck side was melted along with the 4 plug harness all the way to where the wires went under the winch arm. I'll post some more pics tomorrow but in the mean time, any thoughts?

I'm stumped and not sure what do do at this point, but leaning towards just rewiring the trailer.

 

[Grandad]

Re: Trailer Wire Fried

Is the harness damaged any further back than the winch arm? If not, the problem must be a damaged harness at the arm. I'm a little surprised that a fuse didn't protect the wire a little better. Do you know if a fuse did blow or did the wires just burn off somewhere?
- Grandad

 

[Dano218]

Re: Trailer Wire Fried

Haven't checked if a fuse popped. I'll check that tomorrow.
I've spent the last three days chasing wires to get my nav/anchor lights working, which I finally did! I'm pretty green when it comes to electrical workings. The one thing I have been thinking is since I live in Mn, maybe my SUV's wiring is corroded from salt and it caused a short. I had an old S-10 that had a bad female harness and was popping a fuse that shut off my trucks tail lights.

I'll have to get under my 4runner tomorrow and have a look.

 

[batman99]

Re: Trailer Wire Fried

On a '98 trailer and assume factory wiring, I'd simply re-wire the trailer. I'd use 10 gauge wire for electric brakes and ground. And, use 12 gauge wire for its other wire runs. And, I'd install wiring within PEX Tubing and/or Plastic loom. re:

http://forums.iboats.com/trailers-towing/wiring-better-than-default-factory-613342.html

Hope this helps.

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: Trailer Wire Fried

First of all do you see that green stuff? That's called corrosion, this is pretty easy to identify, your wire is copper, when copper is exposed to the elements it turns green(think Statue of Liberty) this takes time but what happens is the green corrosion is telling you that the elements are attacking the copper wire and in short order your wire will lose its ability to carry its rated current load and so it will get hot, hot enough to burn the plastic jacket of the wire, judging by the amount of green corrosion in your pic those wires were exposed for awhile and if your state uses salt on the roads that will not help!

Rewiring the trailer is not a bad idea, gives you the opportunity to completely replace any other bad areas within the system, but the good news is that your issue is pretty clear, and easily identifiable which ever way you choose to go.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Trailer Wire Fried

On a '98 trailer and assume factory wiring, I'd simply re-wire the trailer. I'd use 10 gauge wire for electric brakes and ground. And, use 12 gauge wire for its other wire runs. And, I'd install wiring within PEX Tubing and/or Plastic loom. re:

http://forums.iboats.com/trailers-towing/wiring-better-than-default-factory-613342.html

Hope this helps.

Hardly necessary. 16 ga is totally fine. 14 if you feel really anal.

10 gauge wire for electric brakes is equally if not more ridiculous(doubt the OP even has brakes). On the trailer in your link you are using 10 ga wire for brakes that are going to draw at most 5A? Why? Each magnet will draw only between 2.5 or 3.0A depending on the size of the brakes. The wires on the vehicle itself going to/from the controller are at the most 14ga.

 

[batman99]

Re: Trailer Wire Fried

WOW! Lots of emotions within your post. Not too sure why…

Before recommending wire size on trailer, do look at lower table on page 11 within http://www.dexteraxle.com/i/u/61496..._3-13/600-8K_Complete_Service_Manual_3-13.pdf Within this table, Dexter recommends "minimum" 12 gauge for brake wiring. For me, I don't use minimum code. Don't like minimum code in building houses either. Thus, I always use thicker 10 gauge wire for trailer brakes. Besides thicker wire for steady / more consistent current flow, the thicker gauge wire uses thicker sheathing on its outside. Thus, more protection against the weather elements and water dippings. Use thinner 14 Ga for under trailer wiring area if you want. But if you do, do realize that 14ga is below minimum code. What is the cost of going with thicker 12 (minimum factory) or even 10 gauge (+1 size better than factory) size wire? Very little cost difference. IMO, going +1 thicker gauge than minimum code is always better in the long run….

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Trailer Wire Fried

Amperage of Brake Magnets and Size of Wire Used To Connect 7-Way Trailer Plug To Electric Brakes | etrailer.com

Recommended lighting wire 16 ga and brake wire 12 ga.

http://www.etrailer.com/Wiring/Draw-Tite/18252.html
This kit is 18 ga.

 

[Dano218]

Re: Trailer Wire Fried

No brakes on the trailer. Turns out the only wire that fried was the ground which was bolted to the trailer.

I went and bought a led kit and am going to crack a beer and redo the entire set up. Thanks for the info guys.

 

[Grandad]

Re: Trailer Wire Fried

I assume that you've got a single axle trailer for this boat, so a brake current draw of about 6 amps is likely. Such a low draw can be handled by a #16 AWG wire. There are a couple of things to consider here when choosing your wire size. A small gauge wire is more easily damaged by rough treatment, but a large gauge wire doesn't handle vibration as well as a small gauge. In my opinion, a #10 wire drop to a continuously jumping/vibrating axle can bring about early failure of the circuit. I'd be inclined to use a #14 AWG wire for both the lights and the brakes. More than adequate for current flow (and voltage drop), physically stronger than #16 and flexible enough for longevity. - Grandad

 

[limitout]

Re: Trailer Wire Fried

I have rewired many trailers over the years and come to find the best way is to stop using trailer wires.

go buy a 50ft extension cord at the hardware store an cut the ends off and cut it in half, now use the green wire to the light mounting bolt for a solid sure ground and then the color code is white for light and black for blinker. you only need the plug connector on the front to make your connections. the whites get connected together to your plugs brown wire and the greens get connected together to your white ground wire from the plug. then you hook your yellow and green to the correct sides and your done.

this gives you a much heavier wire and it completely eliminates the trailer from needing to be your ground, it will also outlast any trailer wire you ever buy. you will never have another trailer wiring issue if you do this.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Trailer Wire Fried

go buy a 50ft extension cord at the hardware store an cut the ends off and cut it in half, now use the green wire to the light mounting bolt for a solid sure ground and then the color code is white for light and black for blinker.

Not a bad idea. How do you break into the cable for the clearance lights forward of the trailer wheels?

 

[limitout]

Re: Trailer Wire Fried

Not a bad idea. How do you break into the cable for the clearance lights forward of the trailer wheels?

you can break into the cable if you like and the color codes guides you (white for light, black for blinker, green is ground) or what I do for those is I run separate wires by buying the lamp cord with the stripe on one wire at the hardware store and make the connection at the main plug so each system is separate and your using heavy guage extra insulated wires so its much more durable and it resists chaffing. this also benefits if you do have an issue with a wire its only that light that will go out. I also go a little extra by covering the main connection where its all tied together and put those plastic wire loom protector sleeves over it and wrap with electrical tape. when im done you can go off roading and never chaff wires again.