Trailer wiring redo FYI
 

So my Donzi is stored inside at a high and dry... havent used my trailer in a few years. Needs the basics, new lights, wires, brakes, tires, a couple bunks replaced and carpet. Easy, right?

Mother of God no.

I get a new lights and wiring kit, install. No lights. I test this thing 8 ways to sunday and give up temporarily (like 8 months... kids, lol) I get back to it... brand new wires I installed are corroded from the inside out for the ENTIRE LENGTH of the wire. This was a marine waterproof LED trailer light kit.

a friend suggested GenuineDealz.com for real wire. This stuff is what we used to get back in the day. A grade stuff.

If I did end up swapping to the round 7 pin and if I did it again I'd have followed that color scheme. Why in the hell the 5 pin uses totally different wire color scheme is beyond me. That was another thing I learned. I also ran a ground wire down both sides of the trailer from the truck which I did not have before. There is zero voltage drop now.

Hope this helps someone in the future. Skip literally everything from Amazon and get the good stuff

Unfortunately, there are two "common" wiring patterns for the 7-way round plugs too. For this reason, I like using a junction box as it makes it easier to test the pinouts and move the wires around.

when i wired my trailer i ran a loop...from the tongue down one side across the back and back end and up to the tongue again....i figured if i had a break anywhere in the line then the other side would still be able to keep the rest of the lights going one way or another... :)

I have had the chinese wire on trailers do the exact same thing...total crap we are getting from that ****hole !!! must be some cheap tin crap tinted to look like copper !

Go with Ancor Marine wire, it is tinned copper and extremely good quality. I redid one of my trailers (our cabin cruiser that we trailer all over the country, so I needed complete reliability) and have home runs on every circuit so the only possible points of failure are at the connection at the light or at my fuse box. The only lights in the circuit that are piggy backed, are the side marker lights, as there are too many to have home runs on each one. Every light has it's own fuse, to eliminate total failures. I went way above and beyond on this, but that's what I do on everything I do. Every splice uses marine heat shrink butt splice connectors, along with adhesive heat shrink over that, ensuring no moisture gets in.Here is the drawing I made on MS Visio, along with a couple pictures and a before/ after. I am trying to get Myco to adopt my design, or at least get them to start using Ancor Marine wiring. For people who don't want to go as detailed as I have, but still want a quality marine grade wire, Ancor does make a 4 wire (brown, yellow, white, green) trailer wire for running lights/ brake lights/ left & right turn:

https://www.ancorproducts.com/en/154010

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FWIW, PremierPower is spot on with his trailer re-wire detail and quality. I spent 35+ years in the weapons industry building custom test equipment. The marine grade shrink wrap, butt splices (with adhesive) are absolutely necessary for water tight connections. Although, a lot of manufacturers do not use this process, it will make for less headaches and frustration down the road. I would add these two comments: check your work/test before shrinking the connections and add at least one service loop for repairs if needed. We always made enough for 3 repairs. A little more costly to use the marine grade terminals, but worth the expense.
By the way, EXCELLENT JOB !!!

Thanks, and very good points. I have a DC supply bench tester that I would test each one on, especially each piggy backed clearance light (the trailer has 10 marker lights on the stbd side circuit and 13 on the port side circuit, including the 3 rear center). I also have a service loop at the tongue end prior to entering the electrical box.

My whole reason for doing this was because of the crappy wire, that even Myco uses, which deteriorated at one of the marker lights. This caused a short and killed 100% of my running lights. Being an oversize load, I just cant take the chance. Now, if something light that happens, it will only take out the lights in the circuit via the fuse. In my case, I would have only lost my port side marker lights and nothing else, which is manageable.

Also, FWIW, I keep a spare portable light set in my trailer tool box just in case. If for some reason I lost all 4 tail lights (could happen having the loop for the swing guard compromised), I would plug this into the 5th wheel 7 pin in my bed and leave the trailer 7 pin plugged in as normal on the traditional receiver to retain trailer brakes.

Another cool thing I have done, is purchased a trailer light test box. This is wired to the group 31 AGM battery on my trailer. I jumpered the running lights, left turn signal, and right turn signal circuit, to allow the running lights (and strobes) to stay on, along with the hazard lights. This way, if I happen to have something catastrophic happen and need to leave the boat on the side of the road, it will still be very visible. I do have 2 spares tires and 4 spare complete hubs, but you never know ha.

This was a fun winter project for me. During this time, I added the strobe lights, amber arrow side turn signals, mud flaps, and red arrow signals on the mud flaps. The only bad thing is I have 4 other Myco trailers that I now want to do this to lol.

Here is a video of the lighting, along with a few more pictures


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nice boat and truck!

Perfect timing as I'm about to rewire my trailer.

What about lights so you can see the tires in the dark while underway? I've had tires blow-out and the only way I knew something was wrong, there was smoke I could see when other headlights were behind me.