Hope you'll bear with me as I just had an electrical fire in my engine while my trailer was hooked up . . .
I'm looking at a used truck that has a 7 way connector. My trailer has a 6 way. What would be the pros/cons/costs of having my trailer changed to match vs using an adapter? Don't know for sure that the trailer wiring/wiring harness was the culprit but I'm fairly nervous now to not have the potential for a repeat.
Posted 2007-08-13 10:53 PM (#65788 - in reply to #65784) Subject: RE: matching trailer wiring connector to truck?
Veteran
Posts: 238 Location: West Coast
Sorry for your truck troubles. I feel your pain. We had an electrical fire in my husband's Triumph Spitfire many years ago and it did a lot of damage. Thank goodness his dad was an electrical engineer and was able to re-wire the whole car.
Either will work, the advantage of the adapter is that you have more flexibility if you haul your trailer with another truck that has the 6 way connector. The disadvantage is that the adapter can fall off. It happened to us one time when we were using an adapter. We had to find an all night auto parts store and my hubby had to change the plug on the truck in a parking lot at around midnight, not a big deal, but definitely no fun.
Posted 2007-08-14 10:39 AM (#65811 - in reply to #65784) Subject: RE: matching trailer wiring connector to truck?
Regular
Posts: 85
I used an adapter for years and never lost the adaptr, in fact the opposite, it was hard to get it off! I did have to replace the adapter one time because I left it on continuously for years and one year I had to get it replaced.
Posted 2007-08-14 8:48 PM (#65847 - in reply to #65784) Subject: RE: matching trailer wiring connector to truck?
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 402 Location: Lockport, Illinois
Whe I hooked up my truck ( 7 way) with a new Sooner trailer(6 way) I had a regular adapter, it didn't work. I had to make a custom adapter.
The typical wiring for a 6-way round is Blue...brakes Black...Ground Brown...taillights Green...right turn Yellow.. left turn Red... accessory
A 7-pole RV connector is different. White...ground Blue...brakes Green...taillights Black...battery Red...left turn Brown...Right turn Yellow... Auxilary
Now you have to find out if the manufacture of your trailer is following the RV wiring, or the common wiring. I would take the time to get it hard wired.
Posted 2007-08-14 9:16 PM (#65849 - in reply to #65784) Subject: RE: matching trailer wiring connector to truck?
Expert
Posts: 2614
Wouldn't your fuses in your truck blow first? Looks to me like when you plug it up,it would heat up quick if it wasn't right,and the fuses would blow on the truck.That's the whole idea to prevent a fire from being that easy to happen.
Posted 2007-08-14 9:29 PM (#65854 - in reply to #65784) Subject: RE: matching trailer wiring connector to truck?
Member
Posts: 8
Location: San Luis Obispo, CA
Sorry for the earlier blank response. In flying, we refer to that as a short circuit between the earphones!
But I digress, on to your problem. Your new truck will probably be "smart" enough to keep your trailer from burning it down. At least I hope so.
My suggestion is to just put a 7 pin plug on your existing 6 pin harness. You'll only be missing backup lights from my experience. Someone else has already provided the color code and e-trailer.com has similar help.
My '96 trailer came to me with a 6 pin and I put a 7 pin plug on it from WallyMart. About $8 as I recall.
Good luck! And, as we say in enginnering, "What can possibly go wrong?".
matching trailer wiring connector to truck?
