FINALLY! New Trailer Blowing fuses

[SteveRay]

Re: New Trailer Blowing fuses

Re: New Trailer Blowing fuses

Here is what you have. You need a test light to verify that each of 7 pins is functioning as intended. You then plug in the adapter without the trailer connected and test the five pins to make sure each of those five pins has the function indicated in the chart. If the truck is right and five pins are not, you need to change the trailer to match or the truck to match. Your choice. If the five pins on the adapter are correct, THEN the problem is at the trailer.

So should the power go throught the Auxillary (orange) or the "2" pin electric brakes (blue) which should be for actual electric brakes not a solenoid correect?.
Right now my adpater is taken apart and the adapter matches your "truck connector diagram" with the exception of the (blue) pin.

 

[SteveRay]

Re: New Trailer Blowing fuses

Re: New Trailer Blowing fuses

Alright......borrowed a meter from an electrician at work and he came out to my truck at lunch.
He says everything from my truck and adapter is good.

He mentioned on how to trouble shoot the solenoid.....Said there should be two wires coming from it and I only see one. Now that I have narrowed that down, can you guys help elaborate on my next steps???? Should I take the toungue apart to get to the solenoid?>

 

[Silvertip]

Re: New Trailer Blowing fuses

Re: New Trailer Blowing fuses

I hate to keep after you on this but we still have no confirmation that what you are seeing at the five pins on the adapter are identical to the chart. You said only that your buddy said its good. What's good? The truck may be, and you may be seeing signals at the five pins but are they as shown in the table. If yes -- then get out your battery charger. Connect the negative lead to the trailer coupler. Touch the positive lead to each of the other four pins on the trailer connector. Verify that the function in the chart is correct by looking at the lights. When you get to the blue pin, you should hear the solenoid click. If you hear the solenoid click on any other pin, you have isolated the problem. The problem with the adapters is that the truck manufacturers wire the truck receptacle for the circuits shown. Note that there is in brake solenoid/back-up light circuit. You are correct that the back-up light circuit should be on the center pin. The electric brake pin is not for a brake solenoid -- it is used in conjunction with an electric brake controller in cab and electric brakes on the trailer. The solenoid activation current must come from the center pin on the truck, be fed through the adapter to the blue terminal on the five pin. If that's correct, then the problem is the trailer. As for one or two wires on the solenoid, if there are two, one is hot, the other is ground. If there is only one, it is hot and connects to the blue pin on the trailer flat-five connector. Ground is achieved by bolting the solenoid to the trailer frame. This is not really complicated if you trace each signal from the truck, through the adapter to the trailer. If you don't do that and provide confirmation that what you see is correct, we can't be of more help. As a last resort, disconnect the solenoid wire (cut it if you have to) and see what happens. If the problem goes away -- I stand by my original statement that the adapter incompatibility is the problem and that you need to change something on the truck end or the trailer end.

 

[SteveRay]

Re: New Trailer Blowing fuses

Re: New Trailer Blowing fuses

Silvertip...sorry for not clarifying. We took the schematic and verified the pin and their functions on the truck. The center pin is reading 12 volts when the truck is in reverse. All the other pins are accurate too. I don't have a battery charger handy....I will borrow my dad's today then and go to town testing.
So to clarify you are saying hook up the negative from the batt charger to the trailer tongue, then use the positive from the charger to check the others on the flat 5 from the trailer.

 

[SteveRay]

Re: New Trailer Blowing fuses

Re: New Trailer Blowing fuses

Can't get the battery charger test to work......I did use the multimeter on the trailer harness and noticed that the blue wire was reading something like 0.02omh.
Electrician said this was a true rms meter(not sure what that means)

 

[wire2]

Re: New Trailer Blowing fuses

Re: New Trailer Blowing fuses

....
So to clarify you are saying hook up the negative from the batt charger to the trailer tongue, then use the positive from the charger to check the others on the flat 5 from the trailer.

Yes, just like I suggested in the 2nd post of this thread.

Can't get the battery charger test to work......I did use the multimeter on the trailer harness and noticed that the blue wire was reading something like 0.02omh.
Electrician said this was a true rms meter(not sure what that means)

Root Means Square has to do with measuring AC voltages, it doesn't matter for DC.

0.02Ω is waaaaay too low for a solenoid coil, that will blow a fuse.
You did zero it first by putting leads together?
And you're on R x 1 scale?
A solenoid should be ~ 10Ω or more.

Open up the box with the solenoid in it, I think you'll find the solenoid hot wire pinched under something and shorted.

 

[SteveRay]

Re: New Trailer Blowing fuses

Re: New Trailer Blowing fuses

K....Now I guess I will have to take the tongue apart to get to the solenoid...errgggggg. If that solves my problem the I am HAPPY!

The battery charger test doesn't work with my dad's charger, since it is a multi function charger....it doesn't just charge, it checks voltage, alternator, etc so it wont start putting out juice until it's connected to a battery

 

[SteveRay]

Re: FINALLY! New Trailer Blowing fuses

WHOOOOOO HOOOOOOO think I fixed it. A 2" portion of the blue wire coming from the solenoid was flattened, and I mean flattened. I cut out the bad portion and reconnected and woila! No more blowing fuses.

I do have two more questions though,
1. I did test the lights, etc hooked up to my truck and I did not hear a click from the solenoid.....Should I be concerned?

2. For the heck of it and to learn something I checked the ohms on the entire pin set from the boat.
All the lights read somewhere around 1.4 to 1.3 and now that I fixed the solenoid that pin is reading 18.2!!!! Should I be concerned about that??

Again....I can't say how much I really appreciate everyone's patience and guidance to help me resolve this problem......Truely a great group of guys!
THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Silvertip]

Re: FINALLY! New Trailer Blowing fuses

The 1.3 and 1.4 readings are the resistance values for the filaments in the bulbs in the various lighting circuits. The 18.2 ohm reading on the solenoid circuit is the resistance of the solenoid coil which is very different from a bulb filament. You apparently are good to go.

 

[wire2]

Re: FINALLY! New Trailer Blowing fuses

WHOOOOOO HOOOOOOO think I fixed it. A 2" portion of the blue wire coming from the solenoid was flattened, and I mean flattened. I cut out the bad portion and reconnected and woila! No more blowing fuses.

I do have two more questions though,
1. I did test the lights, etc hooked up to my truck and I did not hear a click from the solenoid.....Should I be concerned?

No, some are very quiet. You'll know if it works the 1st time you back the trailer up a slight incline.

2. For the heck of it and to learn something I checked the ohms on the entire pin set from the boat.
All the lights read somewhere around 1.4 to 1.3 and now that I fixed the solenoid that pin is reading 18.2!!!! Should I be concerned about that??

Filament resistance goes up when the tungsten turns white hot when lit. Different sized solenoids draw more/less, 18.2 is fine.

Again....I can't say how much I really appreciate everyone's patience and guidance to help me resolve this problem......Truly a great group of guys!
THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You're welcome. Enjoy!

 

[Navy Jr.]

Re: FINALLY! New Trailer Blowing fuses

I've been following this thread knowing there was little I could contribute, but lots I could learn. As a newbie boater and member of this forum, there can be no denying how IMPRESSED I am with the support given to SteveRay.

Hats off to all who contributed, including Wire2, TashasDaddy, JMRuth72, and especially SilverTip. Nice job, or as Dad would say, "Bravo Zulu!"