Wiring short

[bobwa]

So I did something I wish I hadn't done today. I was adding an anti-sway bar to my FC 25FB today. I marked all of the places for the bolts, drilled pilot holes and looked for any wiring. Not seeing any, I drilled out the holes and connected the bolt plate to the right side of the trailer. Hooked it up to move it and the left tail light wasn't working. Only got the little flashing that happens when I've had a short on other LED's. I removed the plate and dang if there wasn't a blue wire that I could see that the bolt for the plate I'd just put on had been nicked.

I don't know if that's part of the wiring harness or what, but it's inside the rectangular part that makes up the front of the frame.

Question for anyone, how the heck to I figure out what it is? I haven't checked yet since by that time I needed a beer. Does the wiring that runs through that come out in one place under the body? And does the wiring harness that goes into the frame contain the turn signal wires? I have to think it does. What will I need to do to pull out those wires and check to see what I shorted?

Thanks,

[The Colonel]

I have a 2017 25FC FB too. Looking at the diagram in user manual I only see a blue wire from/to breakaway switch. It runs separate from the 7-pin harness. Lt. tail light issue gives cause that there may be other wires affected. I show a red wire to the left turn light. I can't offer more help, sorry, maybe others.

[bobwa]

Thanks. I think I must have hit more than one wire, but the blue on is what I could see. I think that's the charge wire. The red wire should be for the left turn signal and brake light. I just don't know how I'm going to access that. Guess I'll need to go below and see if I can find a way to pull it out at some point to see what the heck I did.

[Al and Missy]

If typical color codes were followed, Blue is the brake wire from the TV to the TT brakes.

You will probably have to find the junction box for the umbilical cable (mine is under the front sofa), disconnect the wires to the cable, tie on a messenger line, and pull it out from the 7-pin connector end. Repair any damage and pull it back in with the messenger line and reconnect everything.

Al

[bobwa]

Thanks Al. That was what I was thinking of next. I didn't know where the junction box was. Looks like I have a chore for my Sunday.

Appreciate the info.

[The Colonel]

Make sure you look at the diagram in the user manual, FWIW, and I'd take photos of each connection before disconnecting. Also unless it's an easy route back through frame, maybe tie a string or equivalent to longest of the wires to help get harness back through frame, just a thought. Good luck

[bobwa]

Okay, so here's what I see when I open the junction box. There's 5 wires coming in. Yellow, red, green, brown, blue.

Outside of the box I can see the black charge wire and white ground.

But there are some other wires coming up through the hole in the floor and the umbilical sheath does not come through so I don't know if any of them are part of the umbilical or not. How many wires are in the harness. 7 only? Thanks for any help

[The Colonel]

Yellow , backup....green, running...brown rt turn....red, lt turn......blue is brake and goes to wheels and to break away switch as well as the 7 plug. Remember the break away is a separate wire run outside of cable. I'm laid up right now with back issues so am useless to help further

[Al and Missy]

You are missing the ground (probably white) and 12V (probably black) wires, both of which come from the umbilical. They probably are wired directly to power and ground bussbars somewhere else. Can you have someone pull on the cable outside while you watch inside?

Al

[bobwa]

I can find all 7 wires, and yes the black and white are direct and not in the junction box. But there's 2 other wires that come out of the same hole. One looks gray, and there's another blue. I'm guessing this are going through the hole and running somewhere forward. I guess I just disconnect the 7 that I know are part of the harness, wrap them and see if it will start moving.

[Al and Missy]

Originally Posted by bobwa

I can find all 7 wires, and yes the black and white are direct and not in the junction box. But there's 2 other wires that come out of the same hole. One looks gray, and there's another blue. I'm guessing this are going through the hole and running somewhere forward. I guess I just disconnect the 7 that I know are part of the harness, wrap them and see if it will start moving.

That sounds right. You may be seeing the breakaway switch and/or jack wiring. Tie on a messenger string to facilitate pulling it all back in.

Edit - sorry missed that part about your finding the black and white on first read.

Al

[gator.bigfoot]

I made this diagram of the wiring on my trailer. Perhaps it will help you.

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f37/...ng-137679.html

[OTRA15]

As posted on the other more general Repair thread, before discovering this thread:

Originally Posted by OTRA15

You could order a new cord, to take the conservative route? If possible get one that is extra long and leave the extra length coiled up in a hidden spot. Our '85 25' had such an extra-long cord, so that when we nicked it, we had enough to cut the cord shorter and use it.

Good luck!

PS -- Your other "Electrical" thread has more specific information and recommendations, so I would suggest using that thread to continue this discussion:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f447...rt-163506.html

Does your owner's manual give you any help on this?

https://www.airstream.com/wp-content...ers-Manual.pdf

At the top of p. 8-18 [p. 86/116 in the PDF] is the 12-volt schematic, including the 7-way plug wiring.

Good luck!

Peter

[bobwa]

Thanks all. I probably won't get back to it until the weekend but have some good info to give things a try. I'll report back with success or more questions.

[bobwa]

Okay, it's been wet and windy here all week in Seattle so I just got out today to try and take care of this. I appreciate all of the advice from people and I got it done. A bit of work but not too bad. I took pictures of all of all of the connections inside I have a twin bed FB so everything was under the right bunk.

Then I disconnected all 7 wires, plus the breakaway switch wire since I wasn't sure if I'd hit it too. I taped all of them together except the breakaway and hooked them to a fish tape. I secured the breakaway wire as well.

Crawled underneath and had to remove the giant glob of black sealant that AS uses to seal the entry into the cabin until I was able to begin pulling the harness through the hole. There's a riveted clamp that holds the umbilical cord and the battery cables and a few other wires. I didn't want to take it off and have to put it back on, so I use some needle nose pliers to kind of pry it a bit to she harness would slide through. Not very much at a time, but I went back and forth between where it comes out on the A frame and underneath. I was able to pull it back about 2 feet so I had the damage clear of the frame. I had actually hit it in two places and I couldn't tell how badly I'd damaged it. Not good

I know the best thing to do at this point would be to just buy a new cord and run it through, but since I was already at that point I figured I'd see if I could fix it and replace later this spring. I cut out the section that was damaged and stripped down the wires on each end. I then used heavy duty butt splices and spliced each wire. After that I used heat shrink wrap on each connection, and then a heat shrink over the whole cable. It's pretty darn sturdy.

I started feeding the harness back through the A frame a few inches at a time, then feeding it through the clamp until I had it all the way back through the clamp. Then I pulled it up through the cabin floor took off all of the tape I'd used to hold it together and reconnected everything. Backed up the TV and plugged in the 7 pin connector and everything worked. Success.

I'm sure I'll end up changing out the umbilical cord with a new one this spring, but I now know a whole lot more about the 12volt wiring that feeds into the AS than I did before. Thanks for all the advice.

[TG Twinkie]

Do you have a motorized tongue jack?

[bobwa]

Yes I do. And two blue wires run off of it. One went into the box under the bunk, and the other went through the compartment and down the side. Probably goes to where the fuses are, but not sure.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by bobwa

Yes I do. And two blue wires run off of it. One went into the box under the bunk, and the other went through the compartment and down the side. Probably goes to where the fuses are, but not sure.

?. That runs straight to my battery through a fuse and is black, I think.. Blue is generally associated with brakes.

[bobwa]

Oops. You're right. The blue wires come off of the breakaway switch.

[mythbuster88]

"... Backed up the TV and plugged in the 7 pin connector and everything worked. Success."

Love the happy ending!

RC