Trailer Wiring

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de69cuda

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I'm not sure if this is the correct forum or nor, but here it goes. With my 98 Dodge Ram Van 1500, I'm having trouble with my trailer wiring. I seem to have a short somewhere because the fuse in my engine compartment keeps blowing when I'm towing a trailer. It's done it on three different trailers, so i know it's not the trailer. I think the trouble is at the rear of the van where I did the splicing to add in two plugs when I got the van seven or eight years ago because I've moved the wiring around and I've stopped blowing fuses. I'm wondering if anyone knows of a wiring harness that makes it easy to have multiple plugs that would have it's own fuses or possibly resettable circuit breakers? I haven't found anything yet, and was wondering if I just wasn't looking in the right spot. any help would be great.

Thanks!
 
Not sure about the in line reset. Maybe the easiest solution would be to mount a seven pin plug and use the corresponding male plug on each trailer. I have three tow vehicles and three trailers and have them all set up alike. It's just plug in and go. Also make sure you have a good ground on each one.

Like these:
 

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I have a 94 Ram Van and I wired a 4 plug flat connector to the existing wires at the rear of the vehicle. The guys at any U-haul can tell you which one is correct for a standard hookup. I used left stop, right stop, running lights and ground. I hard-wired it in using solder and shrink tubing and it's been good for over 10 years. If you want to take a drive up to Grass Valley I can troubleshoot it for you but it sounds like something is bouncing around and shorting to ground.
 
Bad Sport said:
Not sure about the in line reset. Maybe the easiest solution would be to mount a seven pin plug and use the corresponding male plug on each trailer. I have three tow vehicles and three trailers and have them all set up alike. It's just plug in and go. Also make sure you have a good ground on each one.

Like these:
Click to expand...
This is what I did, the one trailer does not have brakes so I just did not use those terminals.....I also wired a ground thru the plug, relying on the ball is asking for grounding issues.....
 
For my truck I got the adapter harness that plug inline to both tail lights and it had a 4 prong flat plug in the middle. Then I got the 7 way RV style plug/harness that plugs into the flat plug and one wire goes directly to the trailer brakes and think the other was ground or directly to the battery of the vehicle. Then you can get almost any 7 way RV plug adapter to fit your needs,like a 7 way RV to 4 flat plug adapter or 7 way RV to 6 round adapter. If you catch my drift.
 
j-miller said:
For my truck I got the adapter harness that plug inline to both tail lights and it had a 4 prong flat plug in the middle. Then I got the 7 way RV style plug/harness that plugs into the flat plug and one wire goes directly to the trailer brakes and think the other was ground or directly to the battery of the vehicle. Then you can get almost any 7 way RV plug adapter to fit your needs,like a 7 way RV to 4 flat plug adapter or 7 way RV to 6 round adapter. If you catch my drift.
Click to expand...
Huh?
 
Ok I've owned a trailer repair facility for over 10 years so I'm an expert when it comes to stuff like this. Ok first off did the van have any OE wiring for the trailer? I'm 99 percent sure it didn't but it varied on some dealer models. First off find what they call a T-1 connector from either curt or drawtite. That will give you a harness that T's into the factory tail lights. That will give you a clean unspliced flat 4 in the back. Now there are adapters to go from 4 to 7 but the electric brakes and 12v will be inactive. I'm not sure what you are towing but no dodge vans that year came factory with a tow package giving you all 7 wires In the back with an OE 7 way like 2000 and newer trucks. If you are lost shoot me a pic and ill let you know what you have.
 
adapters like this

314PZjUcnAL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

or this really eliminate the need to have more than one plug on the vehicle

7%20to%206%20adapter.jpg
 
That's the trailer end not the truck end you've got it backwards. Now if he put a 7 way on the van and the trailer had a flat 4, the adapter would work for that.
 
toplscuda said:
adapters like this

314PZjUcnAL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

or this really eliminate the need to have more than one plug on the vehicle

7%20to%206%20adapter.jpg
Click to expand...
Every one of those adapters I have ever purchased crapped out pretty damn quick, that is why I wired my little trailer with the same plug style that is on my truck....
 
Thanks for all the suggestions and thoughts! Yes, I do have a brake controller - I have a Drawtite Series two box that should handle 6 or 8 brakes. The last time I towed one of my trailers, I was told that my running lights were intermittent - probably the wirenut that was missing. The trailers that I'm having the most trouble with belong to the Band Boosters for my sons High School = Oakmont High School. However, no one else that pulls these trailers seems to be blowing fuses. I did get an adapter for the 7 plug to flat four to see if it was the flat four or maybe the RV 7 blade - it didn't seem to be a difference. I was wondering if something was loose in the RV 7 blade that when I used it one of the blades would move and short out with a different circuit of ground, but that didn't always happen. I think I have an intermittent short in the wiring - near but not with my splicing and was trying to find a way to isolate the trailer from my van because currrently when my fuse blows, I don't have brake lights anywhere!
Again, thanks for all your thoughts!
 
I'm in Vacaville and I'm always out In sac. I'd be happy to take a look at it for you when I'm out that way. Pm me if you want.
Rick
 
de69cuda said:
Thanks for all the suggestions and thoughts! Yes, I do have a brake controller - I have a Drawtite Series two box that should handle 6 or 8 brakes. The last time I towed one of my trailers, I was told that my running lights were intermittent - probably the wirenut that was missing. The trailers that I'm having the most trouble with belong to the Band Boosters for my sons High School = Oakmont High School. However, no one else that pulls these trailers seems to be blowing fuses. I did get an adapter for the 7 plug to flat four to see if it was the flat four or maybe the RV 7 blade - it didn't seem to be a difference. I was wondering if something was loose in the RV 7 blade that when I used it one of the blades would move and short out with a different circuit of ground, but that didn't always happen. I think I have an intermittent short in the wiring - near but not with my splicing and was trying to find a way to isolate the trailer from my van because currrently when my fuse blows, I don't have brake lights anywhere!
Again, thanks for all your thoughts!
Click to expand...

Check your ground real good. If you don't have a good ground your lights could be dim or you can cause it to run hot on the power side.

Like I said I use the 7 pin and on my older vehicle I had to run a wire for the brake controller. I included a solid ground in the plug and a solid ground in the plug on the trailer side.
 
If you think the ground to the trailer is causing the problem, check it by running a ground from the trailer frame to the van using a jumper with clips. I was having a ground problem on my car hauler (was using the ball as the ground) and ran a permanent ground from the tongue to the connector and from my truck to the connector. Now the only thing I have to worry about is my goat's eating the wiring!:tongue9:
 
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