Old Goat's corner. Wiring

[phoenix2013]

Had another conversation with a Jackalopee self-installer. He wired one few months back, we worked through challenges like a missing relay in the lighting portion of the truck motherboard, but in the end he did a very nice job. He's persistent.

During our latest phone call he sent me a picture.

Aha, the Running Lights wire. He wanted a new board, I sent it to him but with an admonishment, "don't swap the boards until you find the REAL PROBLEM".

OK, so what are the running lights in your trailer? Those are the two lights in the back that stay on permanently when you turn the lights switch ON in your truck. Depending how much money you spent on your trailer it could have just these two, or in addition, it could have a row of lights at the top of the sidewalls, middle of the sidewalls, top of the front cap, rear cap, etc., etc. In the Jackalopee it's a very simple circuit. It comes in from the truck's brown wire, runs on top of the board for an inch or so, goes through two massive feedthroughs to the bottom of the board,

and continues to the trailer side of the board and a tab marked, RUNNING LIGHTS, GREEN wire. This copper trace is capable of delivering Amps of 12VDC power or whatever truck puts out on that wire. Why Amps? That's the legacy of the pre-LED era when trailers could have a bunch of incandescent lights each requiring up to a half an Amp of power each. A total overkill today where LEDs require only 20-30 milliamps each.

OK, what's the relevance here? The Old Goat    has seen a fair amount of Recreational Vehicle (??) electrical circuitry and even attempted to work with it. Let me show you, and you be the judge whether it can be classifies as "Recreation". This one was at the top of the pinnacle.

It all went into the trash to be replaced with a harness to a custom instrument cluster and other things.

There was one contribution to the trash that I found truly unique. They needed to connect two things that were approximately six feet apart, their solution can be classified as a work of art, worthy of an exhibit in the museum of technology. Thee different colors, two different wire gauges.

Second example is the International MDT conversion I owned and this was their attempt of wiring a truck into a puller conversion.

Again, their "attempt" under the dash went into the trash to be replaced with one in the back compartment.

You might say, "so what, bad luck couple of times". To which I'd say, "ah, my young padawan, the dark side is strong and the Emperor lives in Elkhart, Indiana". "This is what the droids in Elkhart produce every day".

 

These examples didn't come from "entry level" bargains, these came from rigs that make your relatives worry whether you will leave enough money behind to bury your ass. How I got those pictures? I stuck my head (and the camera) where the salesman doesn't want you to stick your head and the camera. I made an enlargement of the third picture.

I asked the salesman, "what the hell is that for"? "Oh, it's an option, the guy wanted an electric awning, so we had to run a power and ground to it".

Which brings us back to the melted wire in the first picture. Power and ground, power and ground, power and ground! In the plywood trailers there is very little metal ground, pretty much everything that requires electrical power will have that pair running to it. What happens when edge of the plywood chafes through the black and white insulation and let the two inner copper wires come together. Welding time and fire if it comes from the batteries, melted wires if the source is "less capable".

I pity the customer with the melted running lights wire. If all his running lights were run in parallel from a central point (less likely) he might be able to disable the one that's shorted. If they were daisy chained in series (more likely) he's really screwed.

 

Edited November 25, 2023 by phoenix2013

[aknavy]

I have a higher end production fifth wheel, and the wiring is a mess.  A total mess.  There are even wires ran between the frame and the floor.  I dread the day that I have to deal with that failure - I don't see any easy way to rectify the situation without major surgery.

The previous owners of my HDT must have owned stock in Scotchlocks.....which eventually caused me to lose bed/trailer lights.  Was a mess.  As you did - all went into the trash.

[jenandjon]

Having to do wiring is my nightmare. Being partially colorblind. I can do repairs but it takes me a long time to make sure I have it right. 

[jenandjon]

On 11/25/2023 at 6:36 PM, aknavy said:

I have a higher end production fifth wheel, and the wiring is a mess.  A total mess.  There are even wires ran between the frame and the floor.  I dread the day that I have to deal with that failure - I don't see any easy way to rectify the situation without major surgery.

The previous owners of my HDT must have owned stock in Scotchlocks.....which eventually caused me to lose bed/trailer lights.  Was a mess.  As you did - all went into the trash.

Scotchlocks were invented by the devil. I thought they were awesome when I first discovered them. But after a few years not so much. 

[Payroll Person]

Invented to get plenty of come back work.