Questionable Factory Trailer Wiring

[pman1088]

I wanted to share some pictures from the rewiring of my 2016 Jay Flight 12V trailer wiring. This is the 12v trailer wiring dealing with exterior towing lights, tongue jack and Tow Vehicle interface.





The above photos are of the 12v powered leads. One black wire from the 12v Tow Vehicle power, One black wire from the 12v lead running to the trailer batteries. The orange wire is going to the breakaway switch, and the black wire with the orange wire is going to the tongue jack. The green wire in each of the photos is a lead to a blade fuse connector with a 40amp fuse in it.

My concern with this wiring is if the fuse were to blow or be pulled, the breakaway switch would not function. I won't even get into how impressive the wire nutting in photo #2 is....

I replaced the metal electrical box with a plastic outdoor water proof box. All internal connections were rewired with crimped connectors and heat shrink tubing. Disturbing a little greater effort could not be put into this portion of the electrical considering the cost of a new coach.



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[troutslayer]

You may want to send those pics to Jayco. When I was in manufacturing, I used to love having pictures of stuff like that to take into production meetings when the supers would say, "that would never happen", then show the picture and watch the back-peddeling

[Murphie]

Good catch Pmann1088, my Jayco was built in the fall of 2010 and the break away switch was wired straight to the battery. Wonder if the new trailers are all like this?

[Levinehikeski]

Have you ever opened any j-box in your house? They won't look much if any different then that, except you I'll only have black and white leads.

[pman1088]

Originally Posted by Levinehikeski

Have you ever opened any j-box in your house? They won't look much if any different then that, except you I'll only have black and white leads.

I guess the difference for me is that my house is not cruising down the road at 65 mph in a rain storm. My house also won't need to come to a stop on its own if it ever disconnects from my tow vehicle.


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[klpoppe]

Based on the way you describe it, if the wire for the breakaway switch is attached directly to a lead from the battery and the other fused line is attached to the connection also that branches off, then the fused line whether blown or not will have no effect on the breakaway switch. The switch line is still hooked up to the line battery without a fuse.

If you want to test this, you can hook your trailer up to your tow vehicle, leave the power connection to the tow vehicle unhooked, pull the 40amp fuse and then pull the pin from the breakaway switch . Slowly try to drive off and see if the brakes on the trailer are engaged.

EDIT: I am assuming the orange wire in the upper picture that you are holding is the one you are referring to that is connected along with the black wire and the green wire. If that black wire is hooked up to the battery then you should be ok.

[Wireman]

pman1088, X2 on your quote. One of the first things I noticed when looking at Jayco trailers, probably others as well, was this J box exposed on the outside of the frame, open to the weather.


Why couldn't this be mounted inside the storage area? Just doesn't make sense to me.


I'll probably do a modification to my 23RLSW down the road.

[pop up pilot]

You probably already know that you can get heat shrink that is waterproof. You can actually get by cheaper, and easier, with a hot melt glue gun. Put some hot melt glue outboard of the connector. After the glue cools a little, slide the heatshrink into place. Apply heat. The glue will melt and seal the ends of the heat shrink tubing. Works great.

[Deal Breaker]

Modern structures after about 1960 will have 3 wire cable "Romex".. Hot, neutral, ground. But the home run, in an attic for example will look like a birds nest when you pop the cover.

[Cdash]

Originally Posted by pman1088

I wanted to share some pictures from the rewiring of my 2016 Jay Flight 12V trailer wiring. This is the 12v trailer wiring dealing with exterior towing lights, tongue jack and Tow Vehicle interface.


The above photos are of the 12v powered leads. One black wire from the 12v Tow Vehicle power, One black wire from the 12v lead running to the trailer batteries. The orange wire is going to the breakaway switch, and the black wire with the orange wire is going to the tongue jack. The green wire in each of the photos is a lead to a blade fuse connector with a 40amp fuse in it.

My concern with this wiring is if the fuse were to blow or be pulled, the breakaway switch would not function. I won't even get into how impressive the wire nutting in photo #2 is....

I replaced the metal electrical box with a plastic outdoor water proof box. All internal connections were rewired with crimped connectors and heat shrink tubing. Disturbing a little greater effort could not be put into this portion of the electrical considering the cost of a new coach.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I am pretty sure that every other wiring connection is that trailer is pretty much the same. Up in your attic, under the floor, in the walls and the spaces you can't see. You have only fixed just one area.

I fixed that area too (after I pulled away from the trailer without unhooking the cord....)

[johnsoax]

My 2016 Jayco didn't even have a junction box for the wire nut under the trailer. Just a random wirenut. Then inside under the dinette, a spaghetti mess of wires.

[M&A]

My wire-nut underneath had an additional bonus to guarantee longer battery life - they were not stripped back far enough to make contact. Took me an hour to find why the radio presets dropped when switching off shore power. And I love the color change! This and a couple other minor things got sent up the chain.

[johnsoax]

I found this mess because the inline fuse under the dinette was blown. Same symptoms as yours...


Dealer wouldn't clean it up, as "that is how it came from the factory, but here is a quote to clean it up for you".

[Wireman]

Originally Posted by johnsoax

My 2016 Jayco didn't even have a junction box for the wire nut under the trailer. Just a random wirenut. Then inside under the dinette, a spaghetti mess of wires.

Looks like a knot tying contest. Pulled my radio and it looks worse than that. Not much pride taken by those doing the wiring.

Maybe expecting to much for $27K.

[johnsoax]

I paid ~18k, and I still expect better.

Having worked on an assembly line doing this the correct way would save money over this mess. Not sure why they do it that way. A terminal strip would cost less than $10 to install and take less time to wire than that mess.

[DanNJanice]

Like many production sites they are probably under constant pressure to cut costs and not spend a penny without authorization. This leads to short term thinking, and well, you see the result.