Locating ground area on Scamp frame

[Lockman]

I have a 2017 Scamp 13 with bath. I lost my electric brakes, and I am trying to find the general area where Scamp connected the ground (white) wire to the frame. I have concluded that the Brake Controller (Prodigy P2) is working properly and there is power at the T.V. 7 pin connector for the brakes.

Checking the brakes on the Scamp I found that Scamp used a splice tap connector on the left side to power the brakes and this connection was not making contact within the tap. I removed the connector and soldered the connection directly at that same point. I also replaced the ground lug for the brakes on this side.

On the right side the wire to the ground lug had broken off so I replaced the ground lug on this side as well.

I have been able to verify that from the (white) ground wire on the 7-pin cable on the Scamp I can get continuity to the battery negative wire and also
to the ground connection on the marker lights. But I cannot get any connection from the 7-Pin ground wire connector to the frame. And since the frame is not grounded the brake solenoids are not functional. I had hoped that finding those two problems would solve the issue.

So where is the general area that Scamp uses to attach the ground system to the frame.

[John DL]

There is a known issue with many 2017 Scamp break wires. I had this issue the first day I brought my 2017 13 footer home. Called Scamp and was told “ A new guy was working and he installed the break wires too short so they sometimes break. “ I was told I could bring it in to any shop and scamp would pay for the repair under warranty. Of course warranty is long gone if this is your issue. Anyway, there is a short wire leading from each break assembly to a ground bracket on the frame nearby. On mine both of those wires broke. Might be your issue. I guess Scamp taught the new guy the proper procedure after paying lots of warranty repairs so builds later in the year did not have this problem. My scamp is a February 2017 build.

[Lockman]

John,
Thanks for taking the time to reply.

Two items: first I should correct: first the year is 2018 not 2017. Second I did replace the ground lugs on both brake wheels.


I am interested in finding where the general area is that Scamp used to attach the White ground wire within the 7 pin cable to the frame.



I am thinking of doing a temp repair by drilling a hole near the battery area and attaching a ground wire from the neg. terminal wire to the frame. just to see if that solves my problem.

[Darrell in Al]

Not sure if this will help but on mine 16ft the ground is right behind the left side tire on the frame. (for the brakes)

[AC0GV]

Originally Posted by Darrell in Al

Not sure if this will help but on mine 16ft the ground is right behind the left side tire on the frame. (for the brakes)

This picture was taken at the Scamp open house Saturday with this thread in mind.

[Lockman]

Yes, I have found the location quite by accident while looking at another problem. I will post pictures as soon as I can get a chance.

I take it the picture shows the wiring for the brakes. A lot more difficult to find with the water heater in that area. It's a mess of wiring. at that point

[CHIB]

HI all, am remembering a photo showing a metal lug attached to the frame of the drop flooring metal (13 ft) with the white wire running up the wheel housing to the rest of the under sink wiring.

Originally,
Mine (13ft) also had the wire going to the floor drop support metal under the front settee, perhaps 10 inchs in from where the harness entered the trailer.
Fwiw that would have been the only need for same, if it had electric brakes on the old '79. It was a terrible ground, the wire split and a screw run through the split area. Yes its gone now. Yes I saved several of the pieces of the factory wiring.

Good luck Carl Chib

[Vinny D]

The E-brake ground wires connect to the frame nearby using copper lugs. But one of them (left side?) is also attached to a bare copper wire going straight up to the 12v/120v converter, through the wheel well. This is how the ground signal find its way back to the trailing vehicle ground and the trailer battery ground.

[Casita Greg]

My suggestion would be to get rid of all those Scotch-Lock crimp wire connectors. They've always been nothing but problems. Bare the wires, twist them together and solder them, (and don't forget to slide a piece of wire heat shrink sleeve on the wires before you twist them together.) Don't trust Scotch-Lock connectors. Just my two cents.

[Darrell in Al]

I'm with Casita Greg on them @#@#$ scotch locks. I rewired a friend's utility trailer a couple weeks back. Every wire was full of corrosion and needed replacing. Unfortunately I needed to get it to his house to pickup and drop-off a mower for repair. So instead of replacing from vehicle connector to every light on it, I had to do a hack job of replace enough to make lights work. A tip to anyone needing to replace wiring on trailers is double check what wire you are getting. A lot of the wire now is copper clad (if that) aluminum and any unsealed connections will start to corrode quickly. The last person who replaced the wiring used that junk.