Wire Colour Coding

[davinho]

Am fault finding on my 2010 Sport and need to know what the wiring convention is for the wires running into the trailer?

I have:

Green
Red
Yellow
Brown
Gray or Light Blue?
White
Black

which are live, earth, brakes, etc....

When I apply brakes in my truck it blows a fuse, any help appreciated.

Dave

[Lumatic]

What problem are you having? What are you using for a tow vehicle?

My Airstreams are old so this may not be current, and there are several combinations, but,:
Green or Brown / right turn or running lights
Black or Blue / charge
Red or Yellow / Left turn
Yellow can also be brakes
Blue can also be brakes
White /ground

Sounds like you need a service manual.

[HowieE]

This should help. It has been the standard as long as the 7 pin system has been used.
Electrical Tips

[Jammer]

My 2010 Classic doesn't follow the standard colour code. I suspect that is true of most recent production.

The best approach may be to figure it out by testing.

[Bruce B]

I have a suggestion for you. Call the factory and ask them to e-mail a schematic for the section you are working on. They have reluctantly done this for me when I was wiring the battery monitor so that I determine exactly what was wired and how. Much easier than guessing!
Bruce

[HowieE]

Originally Posted by Jammer

My 2010 Classic doesn't follow the standard colour code. I suspect that is true of most recent production.

The best approach may be to figure it out by testing.

Jammer are you referring to the internal wiring with the trailer for the 12 volts system or the umbilical cord wiring? I can't believe Airstream would deviate from an industry standard in the cord and run the risk of a major failure if someone connected to another TV.

[ROBERT CROSS]

[QUOTE=davestewart2;1129470]Am fault finding on my 2010 Sport and need to know what the wiring convention is for the wires running into the trailer?

I have:

Green
Red
Yellow
Brown
Gray or Light Blue?
White
Black

which are live, earth, brakes, etc....

When I apply brakes in my truck it blows a fuse, any help appreciated.

Dave

From the Airstream Life files.

Matches our Classic.

Bob

[davinho]

SO if the fuse in my truck blows when I apply the brakes, what does that point to on the trailer? A short circuit somewhere?

Was thinking of check the electric brake units on the wheels themselves....worth a try.

Had no problems last year, first trip this year was short lived as the fuse blew...

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by HowieE

Jammer are you referring to the internal wiring with the trailer for the 12 volts system or the umbilical cord wiring? I can't believe Airstream would deviate from an industry standard in the cord and run the risk of a major failure if someone connected to another TV.

The umbilical cord wire colors are wrong. Airstream wires them to the functionally correct terminals on the 7-way. I don't think it's entirely Airstream's fault as I have seen some trailer cable sold with the 7 way already attached and they seem to choose colors based on the lay of the cable so there is no overlapping at the connector. Perhaps Airstream gets the cables from a supplier already made up this way.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by davestewart2

SO if the fuse in my truck blows when I apply the brakes, what does that point to on the trailer? A short circuit somewhere?

Was thinking of check the electric brake units on the wheels themselves....worth a try.

Had no problems last year, first trip this year was short lived as the fuse blew...

It's not unusual for the brake wiring to be shorted due to damage. It's rare for the brake magnets themselves to fail that way.

[davinho]

Jammer....

....so I'm guessing I need to start at the front and work my way through to the brakes themselves?

[Jammer]

Sorry, yes. No shortcuts really.

[ROBERT CROSS]

"Was thinking of check the electric brake units on the wheels themselves....worth a try".

Probably the easiest to check first, inspect magnet wiring at each wheel, isolate each side and see if the fuse still blows.

edit...did it ever work, new TV?

Bob

[overlander64]

Greetings Dave!

Welcome to the Forums!

I noticed that in your profile you are located in the UK and tow with a Nissan. The following are observations based upon my reading of a number of threads pertaining to Airstreams converted for the European market - - whether these might apply in your situation, I am not certain.

1. If your coach was independently imported, you may need to contact the company that did the conversion of the electrics for use in Europe to obtain the necessary diagrams and specifications for troubleshooting. I would hope that Airstream would provide an owners' manual with umbilical diagrams if your coach was produced for the European market . . . on the Airstream corporate site for 2010, they list an owners' manual with the information regarding umbilical wiring on page A5 -- (it took close to 15 min. for the file to download and open on my DSL connection so it is a very large file) -- see 2010 Airstream Sport Owners' Manual.
2. A problem that has been noted as causing some erratic problems with tow vehicle fuse blowing on some vehicles (generally Mercedes or Volkswagen) where the tow vehicle's electric system has compatability issues with the LED exterior lights on the Airstream. This issue has often been resolved with an adapter sourced from the manufacturer of the tow vehicle or one of the major trailering accessory manufacturers in the US. This doesn't sound like it is likely your issue, but such a device that is experiencing connection difficulties or possibly corrossion that may have developed during off-season might prove to be a potential issue.
3. If your coach doesn't have amber directional signals, you tow vehicle may have a "converter" to allow it to connect to the Airstream, and these converters have been known to pose unusual problems with fues blowing particularly if the device isn't well protected from moisture that might cause corrossion in the contacts.
4. I don't know about the prevalence of moisture and road chemicals that might contact the umbilical connector on your tow vehicle, but this was an annual problem on my Suburban when I drove it regularly during the winters in Wisconsin where the exposed connections were exposed to plentiful moisture and road salt all winter with the resultant build-up of corrossion on the contacts in the connector - - I generally replaced the blade style connector at the beginning of each season as a result of these corroded contacts . . . that problem ended when I switched to heavy-duty round-pin connectors about five or six years ago.

I hope that the linked page helps to shed some light on the wiring of your coach's umbilical connector. Noticing how many contacts some of the European connectors have in the illustrations, I suspect that internal corrossion within the connectors could be a potential problem.

Good luck with your investigation!

Kevin