Trailer wiring

[Tim M]

Found the problem with my trailer lights. Backstory - I leave my trailer at Rich's house and one night he came home and found my trailer lights were all on. Also found my battery to be very low. I began looking at wiring going to my battery (which I didn't do). I found it's wired so that the battery is back feeding to the plug that goes to the truck...this is wrong. So I took apart the plug and found this:


That Red Wire had 12v on it from the trailer battery which was causing shorting to the lights on the trailer after the terminal broke.

I'll be doing some research this afternoon to figure out the proper way to wire the battery so that it can run the trailer winch and the trailer jack, but also be recharged by the truck when plugged in. Looking at the pin out of the 7 pin plug on an F150, there isn't a charge pin, so this may require a separate lead for charging. (?)

Anyway, the case of the 'ghost' lights has been solved

 

[TBULL]

Nice trouble shooting. Good luck. I'm sure you'll get it fixed before the trip.

 

[33ratride]

Tim one of the pins on your trucks 7 pin plug should have 12v going to the trailer, it would charge an rv trailer battery going down the road.

 

[Tim M]

Well, yes and no Rick. Ford has this 'Smart' connector that I'm trying to figure out. Paul has sent me info, need to review tonight before wiring up the new plug. I'm still confused why it's so mangled.

 

[Ian]

Wire 'em up, Fire 'em up.....and they're good to go....! Just an FYI, I think I have been successful in recruiting WOLFGANG from Franjo Speed to the GCC. Think he would be a good asset to club, very nice guy in my opinion....we'll see if he makes the next meeting @ Bar Louie...wealth of knowledge he brings...the key thought here is, "I THINK....." we'll see....

 

[Tim M]

So, I charged the battery for about 4 hours or more last night, but, then noticed that it was on 2Amp mode. When I came home for lunch today, I switched it to 6Amp mode, and by the time I got home tonight, the battery was charged back up to 12.3 V. Gonna let it go a little longer, switch to 2Amp before bed and test it tomorrow. In the meantime, I bought a battery...but, may not need it. Apparently, an AGM battery takes 6 to 12 hours to charge.

The rest of the wiring has been corrected, just need to dress everything up. One of the things that bothered me is the previous owner used a junction point and mounted on the trailer under the box. Ok for the grounds, but not for the positives, they were corroded. So, Hope this wraps up my issues. I really believe the problem started in Harrison last year. When we loaded Kent's car, the battery died pulling the car up on the trailer. I believe the battery didn't get fully charged on the drive down due to the messed up pin wiring. We'll see when we get to Deadwood.