Trailer Electric Brake Tech

[YJJPWrangler]

Redoing all wiring on my trailer after discovering bad/poor grounds and driver side brakes weren't even hooked up. 7 way plug, all new wiring, all new lights etc. From my understanding, the brakes do not care which wires are hooked to the trailer brake wire(blue wire) and the ground as they aren't polarized. However, this is my current wiring on both sets of axles.

One red/1 black coming out of axle tube. Two greens coming out of the drum(the HORROR). Red/Green and black/Green are tied together. I would assume that I just need to pick 1 set of wires and wire them to the trailer brake wire from the harness(blue wire) and tie the other one into the ground for the trailer. Then repeat that at all 4 corners.

Just wanted to confirm that this is correct before I start getting into it.

 

[braxton357]

Like you said, polarity doesn't matter. Tie one to a real ground and one to trailer brake wire and dont use scotch locks.

 

[cranbiz]

^^^^^^ What he said ^^^^^^
I'll echo this. Don't use scotch locks!

 

[Ron]

Scotchlocks are not that bad if you strip the insulation back on the wire, crush them closed with linemens plieers and then zip tie the middle and pull it tight with those same linemens pliers.


But at that point, you could have made a proper connection easier.

 

[Croatan_Kid]

Yep. Your electrical connections can never be TOO good/clean/sealed up.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Don't use scotch locks.

 

[lbyota85]

Don’t know if it’s been mentioned yet but don’t use scotch locks.

 

[YotaOnRocks]

Do a disc brake conversion, don't even bother hooking up those drum brakes.

 

[YJJPWrangler]

Scotchlocks were there from factory. Any recommendations on wire connections? I've been using heatshrink/soldered butt connectors. I guess I can step up to the next size to get a additional wires in there.

 

[Croatan_Kid]

These are pretty sweet.

Amazon product ASIN B08F46WKCZ

 

[R Q]

Under the trailer on those, I used regular crimp connectors but put heat shrink tubing over them... Who am I kidding? I use waterproof wire nuts that I scavenge from my irrigation repair box for the win! They have been tested and have a ridiculous conductivity of over 99% so I'll use them in a second!

 

[ghost]

Scotch locks. Never knew what they were called. Going to add those heat shrink solder to my amazon cart. Now to find the time motivation to rewire my trailer....

 

[Croatan_Kid]

Once you get a "round tuit" things go much easier. So, find one of those first!

 

[Caver Dave]

I used crimp/seal (Chineseum with some "goo" inside) connectors 5 years ago during the rewire... most of those being sealed *inside* PVC (single/double gang) boxes.

ZERO issues or regrets (on that magnitude of overkill)

 

[orange150]

I replaced my scotch locks with disc brakes

 

[Ron]

mechanical connection (twistem) and then silicone filled b-connectors over the twist

 

[BigBody79]

I bought a curt echo(blue tooth brake controller )for our grand Cherokee. The 7 way currently doesn’t have 12v power. Should I pull power from and constant source or from a key source?

 

[cranbiz]

That depends on what you are going to use the power wire for. On my Class C, I wired the power wire to the battery. This way, the breakaway box is charging whenever the trailer is connected. I also have an aux battery and lights on the trailer. Now my Class C is always on a battery tender when plugged into shore power.

If you may need power when the key is off, connect to the battery, if not, then a key source makes sure that you can't kill the battery of the tow pig.

My Grand doesn't have the power wire connected either. I might do that at some point.

 

[WARRIORWELDING]

I bought a curt echo(blue tooth brake controller )for our grand Cherokee. The 7 way currently doesn’t have 12v power. Should I pull power from and constant source or from a key source?

I would do a switched key source. No real need for it to be hot while your not running. I mean who is going to trickle charge or use 12 volt for an extended period. I have saw campers hook up and charge or run stuff for a period only to need a jump to start. It is safer and should still be fused.

Edit. The alt can manage to load and this is much better then excessive draw down and battery voltage swings over the long term. Typical vehicle batteries are not meant to be used like a deep cycle unit.

 

[BigBody79]

The power for this would only be used for trailer brakes. I separated the batteries on trailer so house and trailer are different

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Trailer brakes get power through a different pin than the constant power pin. The constant power is to charge the breakaway and/or trailer batteries.

Iirc the constant power pin is switched on my truck.

 

[CLRracer]

Trailer brakes get power through a different pin than the constant power pin. The constant power is to charge the breakaway and/or trailer batteries.

Iirc the constant power pin is switched on my truck.

He said he bought an Echo controller, and some of those just plug in to the 7way and need 12v to work.

Echo: A Wireless Brake Controller for Your Smartphone

Echo is a first-of-its-kind Bluetooth® brake controller that wirelessly syncs with your smartphone. Its compact, portable design allows for easy, app-enabled access and easy transfer from one vehicle to another. This wireless trailer brake controller is also convenient to store when not in use.

www.curtmfg.com

Duane

 

[OnlyOneDR]

Just a suggestion; just rip out and replace the wiring "in the tube" on the axles. After bouncing around and rubbing inside for many years (and miles) mine started intermittently grounding from chaffed wire insulation. My 2014 Chevy went bonkers one trip and my trailer brakes worked only intermittently. I chased issues all around that trailer until I figured out that those wires had issues.