Hybrid Foamie in Southern Alberta

[Wolffarmer]

My 2000 Suzuki Vitara had a plug in the wiring harness that an the 5 to 4 converter plugged right into. Once I found it in the Suzuki.

[Wolffarmer]

What I can see is you need something like this

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JT-T-2509F-Trai ... 03&vxp=mtr

I would think you should get something like this local. I have seen them here.

The plug that Uhaul put on is pretty useless other than to bring the wires out to the back. But I am not at the vehicle with my volt/ohm tester to really know what is going on.

Just last week I put this same thing on my 94 Suzuki Sidekick. Had to go in the left tail light to use side splice connectors. Maybe called T connectors to connect each of the five wires to the vehicle. Not hard other than finding the wire for the right turn signal.

Randy

[Wolffarmer]

Here is one that the 4 wire connector is not right on the converter box so the electrical can be inside or someplace other that right at the hitch. Something I wished I had noticed before I got the one I installed last week.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/IIT-16690-5-Pol ... f9&vxp=mtr

Also cheaper I think. I enjoy shopping specially when it is other people's money.

But not like the day I spent $80,000 for a guy I have never met.

Randy

[Shar]

Thanks Randy! I will let you know how the saga unfolds.

[Wolffarmer]

I got more. LOL. I am having fun

I found the wiring diagram for a 2002 Impreza and it does have a trailer connector.

http://www.allbookez.com/pdf/k8vap/

Down in page 152. In that chart it says it is "R79"

Page 153 has drawing of the rear wiring of that car but it shows it on the right side. The photo you posted indicates it is more to the left. Even if this is the wrong care. I bet they would all have the trailer connector. Now if can only find the plug in one. But it probably is kind of expensive when you already have part of it.

But again. I am not there with my meter to test and find out for sure what your plug is presenting.

Randy

[Shar]

I like your enthusiasm! Just to clarify, in case I didn't explain it right, the Subaru has a connector that we've used various times when we rented a U-haul. This connector has 2 rows of 4 holes each. The connector that came with the trailer has the 5 wires, and is unable to plug into the one in the Subaru. Therefore I cut it off, and bought one that will plug into the Subaru, only it has 4 wires, not 5. And the doofus at the auto parts store assured me that there are no connectors with 5 wires. He also gave me a colour coded wiring diagram of a trailer light system, but he printed it in black and white. LOL.
Here's the pic of the connector on our Subaru, for reference.

[Wolffarmer]

I have no idea why Uhaul is using 8 connectors. And I have never seen a trailer with a 5 wire connector. Do you have electric brakes on it?

Uhaul must have some crazy stuff to keep people coming back to them. But you should have a plug in your car that you can plug into if you find the unit made for it. The Uhaul connector probably has all the needed wires going to it. Just need to find out which ones are which. If there is no converter between the connector and your care there will be one wire that is the ground, one that is stop light, one that is tail/side markers, one that is right turn signal and one that is left turn signal. For a total of 5 that is in all Asian and European vehicles I have worked on.

I just had a thought that one might be back up lights and maybe your trailers up there need back up lights. That would be another explanation for a 5 wire connector.

USA cars are the 4 wire system since forever and still do for some stupid reason as it seems to me that it is a very hard system to design, build and trouble shoot. ( I hate them ). They have 4 wires, One ground, one for tail and side markers, One for the left turn/stop light and one for right turn/stop lights. Notice how the turn and stop lights are now one bulb? That means that when a Turn signal is on and the brakes applied the current to that side has to be interrupted and only that side.

Randy

[Shar]

No, our trailer has no brakes. I am having trouble understanding what you said about the Subaru's connector. Do you mean that there is already a connector in it, and that Uhaul must have added an extension of their own? Here's that pic of the connector on the trailer side again.

[Wolffarmer]

There is a connector in the right rear part of the trunk. ( If I have the right car ) It is not a standard trailer connector but all the lights are there and just need the proper adapter and it would plug right in and viola it works. It did on my Suzuki Vitara. I have no idea how Uhaul has their thing wired in. They may have spent several hours finding wires and splicing into them, running up the bill and adding points of failure. Or not. I think I would follow their wires to where they are hooked into your car and see what is going on. If you have no brakes and if Canada does not require back up lights I have no idea why there are 8 plugs in their thing.

[Shar]

Hmm, very interesting. In the daylight tomorrow we will have a look.

[Shar]

Another go at fixing the electrical issues today. I called the manufacturer of the new connector we bought, and they said it was 100% safe (for the tv) to connect the 4 wired connector to the 5 wires from the trailer. They said to connect the 2 brown wires to the 1 brown wire with a marette. This is what we had done the last 2 times, we just weren't sure it was right.

So, just like last time, the left brake lights worked, but not the right ones, or the amber running lights on the side. We decided to open up the amber lights and examine them. It turned out that the light bulb is connected to a piece of metal with a hole in the end. When you install the light, you are supposed to slide that piece of metal out of the light casing, so that the mounting screw can go through it, thus pressing it against the trailer frame and allowing the light to ground. This was not in the instructions, but once we did it the 2 running lights worked, and we were ecstatic! First good news in a week!

We still have no idea why the right brake light isn't working. We tested the bulb, and the light itself, and they both worked. We've checked all the connecting points along the route. Could there be something wrong with the wire itself? I plan to buy some sort of meter to check if power is running through the wires or not. I now understand why some people buy these trailers and throw the stock lights away!

Here is my cranky baby, tucked under a tarp at the back fence. It's raining again, and time to go to work.

[Wolffarmer]

Could be wires, connections, who knows. Most of this stuff is really cheap. And not in a good way.

[Shar]

No work today, so I was able to spend some time on the trailer. First I went shopping. Someone over in the electrical section had suggested buying a "light tester" to check the trailer wires/lights for continuity, and I also wanted to pick up some vinyl spackling, which KC had recommended for finishing purposes. I went to three different hardware stores and no-one had heard of vinyl spackling. I wonder, is vinyl spackling the same thing as "lightweight spackling"? I also was not able to find a tester like the one described. In all, it was madly frustrating.

Back home again, I spent a few hours prepping the foam of the side walls, and applying more canvas. I did some parts with sandpaper. I also used a rasp, and a wire brush for roughening the suede soles of ballroom dance shoes. Both worked well. Lastly, I measured and marked some of the 2x2s for the front wall. I can't do much more on this build without the 1/8 ply, which I can't get till I fix those blasted trailer lights.

After work tomorrow I will have another go at fixing them. One thing, my canvasing is looking better all the time.

[KCStudly]

That's the stuff. Usually goes by "Light Weight" and/or "Ceiling" spackle. I'm not sure where the "vinyl" got interjected. May or may not be. Might have been GPW who started that.

As to the electrical problem, every problem has a solution (or more than one). The trick is to think your way thru it and figure out what the problem is by eliminating what the problem isn't.

Be patient so your mind can concentrate on the solution, not the problem.

Have you checked the TV to see that it is not the problem? A good multi-meter is far more useful than a test light. A test light can be made from a couple of leads and a light bulb. You could get really fancy and add alligator clips, too.

[Shar]

Thanks KC! The TV is one of the only things we haven't checked yet; Mark is going to pick up a multimeter today so we can check that next. The reason I am getting so worked up about this problem is that I really need to get the 1/8 ply, so I can continue prefab-ing the walls ( have a deadline). Maybe I should ask a favour of someone with a truck instead. I hate to impose on my truck-owning friends, since they get so many requests as it is. Like the bumper sticker says, "Yes, this is my truck. No, I will not help you move".