Help me locate flat 7 wire?

[Ksimdjembe]

I'm trying to find some ribbon style (flat) 10 gauge 7wire to use in place of reg 7wire (thick, round).
I'd like it in place of thick wire that won't fit out the hatch of my tow vehicle.
I don't have much interest in relocating the wire harness to an under car mount, I like being able to roll it up in the hatch out of the weather.

Dan anyone help?

[MRClaus]

try your loco brake supply co or truck builder

[Ksimdjembe]

I'm in Canada near-ish toToronto. I've had no luck at princess auto, Canadian tire, the local private trailer place, and one of the RV dealers.

I know it exists. I've seen it. The guy that redid our bearings had it on his boler.

[rainjer]

When I was looking at wireing my Outback for 7 pin I discovered the 4 flat wire comes from the inside and the othe wiare are ran under the car to the battery and brake controller.

What kind of car are you wiring?

Jeremy

[Ksimdjembe]

The trailer is a 13' trillium with brakes.
The tow vehicle is a Subaru Forester.

The TV already has the 7wire for brakes and charge line, as does the trailer, essentially, I'm trying to make a 4-6 foot extension I guess.

[Bob Miller]

Unlike flat 4 ribbon that only carries lighting, the 7 conductor cable usually has a heavier wire for the battery charging line and, sometimes, for the brakes and ground, due to the larger loads they have to carry. I don't think that an appropriate flat-7 cable exists, at least not in the RV world.

[Steve L.]

Why not strip the insulation off of a foot or so (enough to close the trunk on) of regular 7 strand wire and twist it counter to the twist you find to straighten/flatten it out. Or make a patch cord of your own out of multiple 2 stand flat (you'd have an extra strand).

If you could clamp the wires in a flat configuration on both ends of the untwisted length you might get heat shrink tubing to shrink around it in a flat configuration. If you could find heat shrink that large in diameter. I'd look for adhesive lined tubing that would hold the strands in position rather than it creeping back to the twisted formation like an uncoated heat shrink might allow. Although the heat shrink is probably optional. Might want to try this near one end to allow experimenting.

My last ditch go-to source for hard to find electronic supplies is mouser.com and it doesn't have 10 or 12 gauge strips so this might be a tough search. The largest flat cable I could find fairly quickly was 4 strand underwater (submersible) cable. Even then I wasn't clear I was dealing with someone who would sell retail.

I'm not really with you on this since I think they make plenty of weather resistant connectors but you've already made up your mind and I thought this was an interesting search challenge.

[Joe Romas]

On the trailer side 7 conductor cable there are usually 3 different sizes of wire.
Four 14 gauge for lights.
Two 10 gauge for POS and NEG
One 12 gauge for Brakes.

What you could do and I did it long ago is Super Glue the 7 wires together side by side making them flat.

Joe

[John Linck]

Originally Posted by Joe Romas

What you could do and I did it long ago is Super Glue the 7 wires together side by side making them flat.

Joe

I've had success with hot glue in similar situations. Not sure about melting in the hot sun so I think I would use silicon rubber for its flexibility and heat resistance. Then I would encase it in shrink wrap tubing for durability.

John

[War Eagle]

If you are okay with function over appearance, I'm thinking along the lines of some previous posts. Just get 7 individual wires of the size and length you want (match the wire colors, if you can swing that without costing an arm and a leg, to avoid mistakes when connecting), attach the appropriate connectors on each end of each wire, and you've got the necessary electrical connections done. What you do with the wires after that is just aesthetics. You can let them lay flat where needed, wrap some electrical tape around them (or glue them together) in a bundle where that helps manage them, etc. I got in a bind one time needing to pull 7-pin (round) trailer with a 4-pin (flat) tow vehicle. Once I verified the appropriate wires to connect for ground, running lights, turn signals and brake lights (I didn't worry about the trailer brakes themselves, just the brake lights), it didn't take much to rig up a patch cable like described above that worked just fine in a pinch. Dale

[Bob Miller]

Hmmmmm..... In reading back I see that you want to close your rear hatch on this 7 flat cable. Can't say that will be very kind on the heavier wires (your charging line) or the hatch seals.


Just because "the guy" did it might not make it a good idea and, considering how many of us aren't doing that, this idea might need to be reconsidered.

[Wayne Collins]

Originally Posted by Ksimdjembe

I'm trying to find some ribbon style (flat) 10 gauge 7wire to use in place of reg 7wire (thick, round).
I'd like it in place of thick wire that won't fit out the hatch of my tow vehicle.
I don't have much interest in relocating the wire harness to an under car mount, I like being able to roll it up in the hatch out of the weather.

Dan anyone help?

Not a good idea to drape wires under the door. It makes the door seal have gaps that can pull in exhaust gasses and road dust. The wires would be stressed eventually fatiguing.
It is important to add the shrink wrap, or at least electrical tape to protect the individual wires. WalMart has a nice 7 pin (actually blades) connector set that can be mounted to the bumper, or receiver hitch. be sure that the connecting cable from the trailer has enough slack to flex through the tightest turns without binding or stretching.

[War Eagle]

Kenny, I'm still curious as to why you are intent on not having an industry standard 7-pin electrical plug mounted on your hitch or bumper like 99.999% of the rest of us. The good ones are weather sealed and not all that unattractive. Being able to roll the wiring harness up and store it in the back of your tow vehicle just seems like one more thing laying around in the back that you'll have to hassle with whenever hauling groceries, etc., whereas a standard outside installation will be neatly out of your way for all that other more routine stuff. It's obviously your choice, but I'm still curious why you favor your idea over the universally accepted industry standard mounting. Something about Canadian weather that I'm not understanding/appreciating? Again, just curious.

Best of luck in your continued search. My first thought now regarding searches for odd electrical items like this is, "I bet Radio Shack carried that."... Dale

[AandB]

Give this place a try.....the're out in Milton

Trailer Axles and Parts Canadian Online Store

[Ksimdjembe]

To clarify, I'm not opposed to one on the underside of my car, but I have it wired up currently inside with a hidden compartment near the spare. The wiring currently allows me to switch between 4wire and 7wire, already linked, one running into the other.
The move to mount exterior would mean more fiddling, and likely a bit of a headache, as the trailer has it's own trick to work with: the tow wire is secured static about 2 feet behind the hitch on the frame. (i didn't do that, but I also don't really have any interest in having to add a whole new set up of wires and also link them to the old trailer wire.

Our winters are of course just winters. Here there is considerable salt used on roads.
I was talking with the local trailer company and one thing they did say was they see a good deal of corroded electrical tow related issues.

Given what I have to work with, making a short extension seemed the simplest.

[War Eagle]

Kenny, Did your tow vehicle come from the factory with the 4-wire plug located on the inside, or did you add it there by taping into the taillight wiring? If so, then I guess it makes sense to leave it there and also have the conversion to 7-wire with it there on the inside with it. For the sake of comparison, I've added some photos below (I hope) of the setup we like. Our Highlander came with the 4-wire plug mounted on the hitch. Then we had a Hopkins dual 4-wire/7-wire plug installed. The Hopkins has a 4-wire pigtail that plugs into the original 4-wire plug, then two additional wires were run from the front of the car to add trailer braking and battery charging for the trailer (the 7th wire for a trailer "accessory" is not currently being used).
The first photo shows the Hopkins combo plug with the 4-pin on the left side (vertical orientation) and the 7-pin on the right - both with their dust cover closed. The second one shows both dust covers open. The third photo shows how well the back side of the unit is sealed to the weather (if you can see it; bad lighting). Both the 4-wire plug and the 7-wire plug work great with no more need to carry along any additional adaptors. Dale

[Thinh]

Originally Posted by Ksimdjembe

I'm trying to find some ribbon style (at) 10 gauge 7wire to use in place of reg 7wire (thick, round).
I'd like it in place of thick wire that won't fit out the hatch of my tow vehicle.
I don't have much interest in relocating the wire harness to an under car mount, I like being able to roll it up in the hatch out of the weather.
Dan anyone help?

You're worry too much ab your TV's hatch which would "grind" the trailer harness when hatch closed. I had my Toyota towing harness installed underneath, so it would be affected by water, snow, mud ...My 2nd TV has harness like yours w/o issues and I have been using it for countless times. Remember, rubber seal of vehicle's rear hatch bearing a lot of tolerance. Both of my TVs having towing harness installed by myself. The latter is a modification for weather-proof. I could supply you with photos of both... My 2nd TV is a minivan. Both harnesses include combined 4/7pin connectors.

[Joe MacDonald]

look up festoon cable, not sure if 7 is a viable number or not, you might have to get 8 conductor, it is commonly used on cranes, comes with an overall jacket in yellow, orange or black, then if you stripped enough at the end, you could slip a piece of heat shrink on, make the plug connections, then slide the eatshrink down and turn it into round cable again

[Ksimdjembe]

Thanks for the ideas. I'll look into crane cable. Sounds like it could work.