Help Trailer wiring 7-pin

[JmsCaverly]

So I'm working on the trailer wiring and I have looked at a few schamtics and I can't really tell how the lights themselves are grounded I wanted some input from you guys on how you've done it ie. Independent grounds or a group ground for all the light I'll attach a diagram of how I plan on doing mine.

[H.A.]

,,...

[tony.latham]

I'll put a self taping screw where the 7-pin cable ends. I crimp an ring-eye to the ground wire and put it on the screw. The screw is cranked into the chassis tubing. I crimp another ring eye on another piece of ground wire and run it to the first marker light. Another ring eye goes on the end of the wire. And another self taping screw goes into the chassis. The ground coming off of the light gets attached to the screw with a crimped on ring eye. I attach another ring eye to a piece of ground wire and run it back to the next marker light. It too gets attached to the frame... and so on.

The wires are dipped in dielectric grease before the ring eye is crimped on. I use a good crimping tool.

The self taping screw is dipped in dielectric grease before it is finally screwed into the metal. After all the wires are attached to the screw, I coat the screw and eye crimps with a glob of GE Silicone II (the other stuff is corrosive).

T

[JmsCaverly]

I like the idea of having everything on their independent grounds but also looped together will make for good trouble shooting of nesseccary but I'm not sure I can use self taping screw in 1/8 steel??? Or is that possible I plan to have all the grounds figured out before painting the frame so I don't have any issues with bad grounds

[H.A.]

I like the idea of having everything on their independent grounds but also looped together will make for good trouble shooting of nesseccary but I'm not sure I can use self taping screw in 1/8 steel??? Or is that possible I plan to have all the grounds figured out before painting the frame so I don't have any issues with bad grounds

1/8" in mild steel should be easy with any self tapper provided its hole is drilled to be correct dia.
Be sure its a real self tapping screw. Some screws are not really self tapping, but thread clearing screws. Intended for threaded holes what maybe clogged by process debris such as paint or restore slight thread damage, but wont cut good threads in otherwise non threaded hole.

Fwiw, thread clearing screws are quite uncommon unless they were removed from some product, saved & reused.

[Dale M.]

Two things here.... If you have a solid steel (all welded) frame its ok to use it as the ground conductor. Just sand/grind clean the area you wish to attach ground wire to and add a ring terminal to ground wire and also a little dielectric grease (anti corrosion) and screw and washer (either self tapping or screw and nut) ground connector to frame... IF lamp internally grounds through bolting to frame, just be sure these is clean connection through mounting bolt...

IF you have one of the popular bolt together frames, its makes more sense to use a ground conductor to connect ground to all the lamps.... Bolt together frames have paint at every joint, and ever joint is a problem unless you grind the paint off and go through all the steps to make a clean bare metal to metal connection to use frame for grounds as one would with a welded frame......



Also...

http://www.etrailer.com/faq-wiring.aspx


Dale

[JmsCaverly]

First off thanks for all the help guys in taking the time to explain the different ways of getting a good ground. What are your thoughts of welding small bolts near light positions to get direct grounds instead of taping screws in to help prevent from putting to many holes in the steel frame?

[jss06]

I prefer to run a ground wire back to the tongue box for each device. It takes longer but helps with trouble shooting.

[Dale M.]

First off thanks for all the help guys in taking the time to explain the different ways of getting a good ground. What are your thoughts of welding small bolts near light positions to get direct grounds instead of taping screws in to help prevent from putting to many holes in the steel frame?

To much work and when they get rusty how do you "service" them... Nope.... Screws into chassis is simplest..

Dale

[JmsCaverly]

To much work and when they get rusty how do you "service" them... Nope.... Screws into chassis is simplest..

Dale[/quote]


Makes sense once I start thinking about it, I think what might end up happening is I'll use a ground block and a good size ground to the chassis just to keep everything in in place to the frame for easier fault isolation.

[JmsCaverly]

What size gauge wire are you guys using for you charging systems. I planing on using a 10ga wire straight from the battery to the connector. Or is that too much?

[H.A.]

What size gauge wire are you guys using for you charging systems. I planing on using a 10ga wire straight from the battery to the connector. Or is that too much?

Without a lesson in electricity basics...
10 awg would work. But...
Bigger is better when it comes to battery charging circuit.
When charging 12v batteries, every fraction of volt lost within resistance of the charging circuit will greatly affect time required of fully recharging.
Perhaps go as large as your connector plug will accept.

Dont forget your ground conductor,
At minimum same size as your battery charging wire, but bigger is better as ground carries also negative current of battery charging and lighting, brakes, etc.

[JmsCaverly]

Without a lesson in electricity basics...
10 awg would work. But...
Bigger is better when it comes to battery charging circuit.
When charging 12v batteries, every fraction of volt lost within resistance of the charging circuit will greatly affect time required of fully recharging.
Perhaps go as large as your connector plug will accept.

Dont forget your ground conductor,
At minimum same size as your battery charging wire, but bigger is better as ground carries also negative current of battery charging and lighting, brakes, etc.

OK cool thanks for explaining that to me, I have picked up both of the 7 pins today but it looks as though even the biggest connector can only handle a 10ga and this might be pushing it.

I'm thinking maybe I can have a completely separate connector for the battery cable from my vehicle to my trailer and I could use really any size cable I want at that point. at least this part will still be a work in progress Noseoil suggested the PD4045 so I'm going to look into that and see how thats charging the battery and go from there.

Luckly I have plenty of time to work in the charging system.

[Dale M.]

Wire size is important... But also consider what size fuse will be supplying your 12 volt going to rear of TV for trailer power (charging).. My Chevy PU came with 40 amp fuse.... So there is some sort of current limiter and sort of a hint what wire size may be ok....

Also you are dealing with current inrush... The first 10-15% (or there abouts) of charge time current load will be heavy but once battery in TD starts to equalize with battery in TV current load will diminish over time to a point where TD battery is equal to TV battery and current flow will be minimal.... Your 10 gauge wire probably will handle the "load" just fine

Adding second connector for charging lead is next level of complexity that you don't really need... And will become just another thing to deal with at hook up/un-hook time...

Dale

[JmsCaverly]

Wire size is important... But also consider what size fuse will be supplying your 12 volt going to rear of TV for trailer power (charging).. My Chevy PU came with 40 amp fuse.... So there is some sort of current limiter and sort of a hint what wire size may be ok....

Also you are dealing with current inrush... The first 10-15% (or there abouts) of charge time current load will be heavy but once battery in TD starts to equalize with battery in TV current load will diminish over time to a point where TD battery is equal to TV battery and current flow will be minimal.... Your 10 gauge wire probably will handle the "load" just fine

Adding second connector for charging lead is next level of complexity that you don't really need... And will become just another thing to deal with at hook up/un-hook time...

Dale

Cool thanks for the info I think there just might be a little too much headache with charging with a TV so lucky I have a buddy who's done this before and has some tips to help me.