trailer wiring

[flatlander]

I need to add a brake controller and receptacle on TDT for pulling the travel trailer. It does not have the factory camper package so there's no wiring whatsoever.

Anyone want to give me a little advice?

 

[Russ]

relays relays relays link to color codes

 

[argve]

Jordan brake controller - I've had three styles of brake controllers.

Ramp/time delay - sucked big time
Inertia - works better but it's not the cat's meow
Jordan - works the trailer brakes just like the truck brakes and you don't have to tap into the brake hydrulic system to make it work as such.

I concur on the relays.

 

[hheynow]

trailer wiring

 

[f-two-fiddy]

Get the Hoppy wiring addaptor. No need to cut ANYTHING. Those ad a taps(or whatever they call um) are JUNK!


Trailer wiring addaptor

 

[sassyrel]

ftwofiddy--he still needs one more wire for the trailer brakes--which could be solved by cutting off the 4 wire plug--wiring the 4 wires into a 5 wire plug--and bringing the brake trailer wire into that plug---if not going to the newer style 7 wire--

 

[Headhunter_5.9]

or there is also the possibility of the 6 wire plugs> LT, RT, SL, TB, AUX, TM, those are the ones we run on all of our trailers. seem to work well,

brakes should be fairly easy to wire in, once you figure out what unit to use.

 

[tuckerd1]

I still want to try the Brakesmart controller.

 

[f-two-fiddy]

ftwofiddy--he still needs one more wire for the trailer brakes--which could be solved by cutting off the 4 wire plug--wiring the 4 wires into a 5 wire plug--and bringing the brake trailer wire into that plug---if not going to the newer style 7 wire--

That can be accomplished with any combonation of addaptors.

I've got 1 Master plug, with three others mounted. I can pull up, and hook up to darn near anything.

 

[Agnem]

I need to do this to the Moose Truck too. The flatbed I'll be borrowing to haul the Bronco to Chatty has electric brakes and uses a bigger ball than what I have. Since the camper uses a 7 conductor plug, and that is what the big rigs use, I think I'll be converting all my trucks and trailers to 7 plug. We have a Prodigy II controller on the Lady Moose, and that seems to work real good. I'd be curious to hear from Travis as to why he thinks the Jordan is better. Of course, I don't want this straying from this forum, so let's keep it IDI specific. As for the wiring that is missing from the early trucks for towing, it would appear that there should be a relay to run the tail lights on the trailer. Brake light bulbs can of course be tapped using that fancy adapter that F Two Fiddy posted, and the relay for the trailer running lights could be triggered by the brown wire in that harness. Run a healthy 12 gauge wire back there from the battery (fused near the battery) to power the relay. The Brake controller wire is also pretty heavy I believe. 10 or 12 gauge recommended.

 

[f-two-fiddy]

I concure with Mel, Use the relay mod and a heavy guage wire with a self resetting circuit breaker for the brake control.

 

[flatlander]

Where should I mount the relays? I'm assuming that trucks wiring for the running lights etc. . . are insufficient to power the trailer? If I run a 20A circuit for the trailer brakes, can I use this circuit through my relays to run the trailer lights, or should I run an extra circuit for that?

 

[f-two-fiddy]

I think what I'd do would be to get a relay with dual outs (fog light relay). Run one output to the stock lights, and then run a 12 ga wire back to the trailer running lights, with the other output.

 

[argve]

I only have one relay on mine and it's for the charge line for the house battery - the reason for that relay is so that if we "Wally World" camp for a night and we are running the furnance and some other odds and ends we won't be pulling juice from the truck battery. Basically the charge line to the house battery is only active when the key is in the ON position in the truck. I don't want to wake up in the middle of nowhere USA with a dead battery thinking that I'm gonna jump in the drivers seat and take off...

The lights on the trailer are wired directly into the truck light wiring via a "tee" connector mentioned before.

as for the reason of the brake controller choice... I'll pm ya mel...

 

[argve]

better yet... I'll start a new thread...