Uhaul exterior wiring question - Fiberglass RV
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Old 06-03-2013, 07:31 PM   #1
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Name: Benjamin
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Uhaul exterior wiring question

My wiring off the tongue of the trailer is about 6 foot and a mess. I am wanting to clean it up and put on a six pin plug. I am confused though. What goes where. The tongue has two wires off each side and they are green and white sets on each side. Any helping breaking this down would greatly appreciated. Thanks
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Old 06-03-2013, 07:40 PM   #2
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Benjamin have you looked at the Document center - link is on the home page - for the downloadable manual for your trailer? It may have a wiring diagram in it.
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Old 06-03-2013, 08:51 PM   #3
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Thanks but nothing that helps
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Old 06-03-2013, 10:06 PM   #4
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First question, why a 6 pin plug. The way our Uhaul was wired originally is; two round wire cords on the tongue, they go through the tongue, come out on each side of it under the trailer. they run to each side underneath, up through the floor and back to the tail lights. In each of those cords there should be one wire for a ground, one wire for tail lights, one wire for turn and one wire for stop lights. I think that's what it was, would have to look at what remains on ours, maybe there were only 3 wires in each cord. I was never really sure as to what they did originally as there are two bulb sockets in each tail light, with two filaments in each bulb, which gives you one too many filaments. The marker lights were wired to two different wires, again I don't remember just how it was but something like this: left front, right rear, & center 3 on one wire; right front & left rear on another, this is typical of big commercial trailers to have the marker lights split onto two circuits. Confused yet??, I'll continue, what I found was that the exposed wire cords under the trailer were deteriorated and split open, bare wire visible, vulnerable to corrosion. I took it all out, got new 4 wire flat harness and rewired the whole trailer. Starting at the front I ran the new wire along but not inside the tongue, up through the floor just to the rear of the closet, back to the right tail light, made my connections to only the bottom bulb socket, white wire ground, brown wire tail, green wire turn/stop. At that brown wire connection I ran a wire to the marker light wire on that side that came down out of the wall and a white wire to the marker ground wire. Then I continued with my wires across the rear inside of the trailer and made my connections on the left lower bulb socket, white wire as ground, brown wire tail, yellow wire turn/stop. I then continued with a brown wire and a white wire and connected to the marker light wires that come down out of the wall under the sink area. I'm not using the amber part of the tail lights, but originally I did use it as part of the turn/stop circuit but someone here suggested that setup would be confusing to following motorists, so I disconnected it. Uhaul didn't use the standard color code, I think they used black as ground and white as the hot wire. I don't know why they had a two filament bulb in the amber part of the lens, and I don't remember if both those wires were hooked up. They also used those scotchlock connectors on the marker light wires. So basically it's not your common trailer wiring deal, so that's why I changed it. This is probably a confusing long winded explanation, if I can clarify any of it let me know.
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Old 06-03-2013, 10:13 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by Carol H View Post
Humm interesting as the repair manual does have some wiring diagrams and notes. In reading it I would guess the two wires you see - one is going to the convertor & the other to the small solar trickle charger if its still on the trailer.
Sorry Carol, I disagree, see my long winded explanation. The solar panel wires come in through the roof under the panel, down through the right side wall, and over to the battery box. Converter got 110 power from the shore power cord on left side, and as I recall it first went to the outlet/ breaker on the end of the overhead cabinet, then down to the converter which is in the right rear compartment. I replaced and rewired all that too. Later production Uhauls may be different, I believe ours is an early model.
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Old 06-03-2013, 10:16 PM   #6
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Bob I realized after the fact that the OP was talking about wires other than what may be connected to the battery. Glad you could help him.
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Old 06-04-2013, 05:18 AM   #7
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Carol I'm not sure if I helped or caused more confusion. I'm wondering how Uhaul hooked the trailer light wiring to the rental customers car. They had what was called a "tap light" which is an 1157 type bulb that had wires attached to it. You would put it in place of your cars tail light bulb, run the wires out under the lens, and connect them to the trailer wiring, thus the reason the trailer has two separate light cords on the tongue, one to go to left car tail light, other to the right. I have a set of those bulbs from years ago. Or maybe they tapped into the car wiring with the dreaded scotchlock connectors. Benjamin could just connect his tail/marker wires and ground wires in each cord together, figure out what wire in each is turn/stop, and wire it to a 4 pin plug. That is what I did when we first got our Uhaul, but when I discovered the deteriorated wiring I cut it all out and installed new. Benjamin, does any of this help or make sense??
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Old 06-04-2013, 06:34 AM   #8
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The original wires will have 3 wires inside. They are:

Black - brake / turn if they are the same wire
Green - turn if the turn light is different than the brake on the tow vehicle
White - is the parking / running lights

Tie Tap-a-lights gave a place to hook up the wiring to the tow vehicle. If it was a vehicle with an independent turn and brake then the black and green were both used. If it was a vehicle with the turn and brake light on the same element in the bulb then the green was not used and the black was used as the turn and brake. The ground was the frame and got its connection threw the tongue to the tow vehicle.
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Old 06-04-2013, 06:34 AM   #9
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Bob has given a good summary. The thing that threw me was having separate bulbs for the amber and red tail lights and the amber bulb having two filaments.

I solved this by combining the two filaments in the amber socket to give brighter turn signals and using an adapter that allows separate turn signal from brake lights off a 4 wire plug.

Amazon.com: Curt Manufacturing 56196 Converter: Automotive
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Old 06-04-2013, 06:37 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Thomas G. View Post
Bob has given a good summary. The thing that threw me was having separate bulbs for the amber and red tail lights and the amber bulb having two filaments.

I solved this by combining the two filaments in the amber socket to give brighter turn signals and using an adapter that allows separate turn signal from brake lights off a 4 wire plug.

Amazon.com: Curt Manufacturing 56196 Converter: Automotive
Originally the low side of the amber bulb would not have been used, but running them together is not any problem.
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Old 06-04-2013, 06:39 AM   #11
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Originally the low side of the amber bulb would not have been used, but running them together is not any problem.
Chris, any idea why UHaul used the two filament bulb in the amber socket? Maybe just to simplify the number of replacement bulbs?
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Old 06-04-2013, 07:01 AM   #12
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Originally Posted by Thomas G. View Post
Chris, any idea why UHaul used the two filament bulb in the amber socket? Maybe just to simplify the number of replacement bulbs?
Yes sir. The same reason we started to manufacture our own van trailers and truck body's. the more they are alike the less parts you have to stock to feel the fleet running.
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Old 06-04-2013, 08:43 AM   #13
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Yes sir. The same reason we started to manufacture our own van trailers and truck body's. the more they are alike the less parts you have to stock to keep the fleet running.
Makes sense.
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Old 06-04-2013, 10:16 AM   #14
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Thanks Everyone for your Knowledge. I have a grasp on it now. I had originally said six pin but I meant 7 since that is what is on my truck. I wanted to change it to have the extra options of charging a battery. At first glance I saw only a green and white wire on each side but when I cut the wires I did find that there are three on each side.
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Old 06-04-2013, 12:05 PM   #15
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If you still want to do a 7 pin , I have included pictures from the splitter box that Uhaul used on the VT which came with a 7 pin connector. You should have the same color wires for Stop,tail marker, Turn,etc.just in a smaller package. I probably have a crude wiring diagram somewhere based on my rewire of the beast to my liking. Never could figure out the Master cut off switch, When I rewired it to the way I thought it should be I blew fuses so reverted to their funky method, even today I have to shut it off when on shore power or I don't charge the batteries from the converter.On Solar it works just fine. If you need more info just PM me.The terminals are numbered 1-8 with the following coming in white 8,Blue 7,Yellow6,Brown 5,REd 4,Green3,White 2 Jumpered,Black 1. The outputs can be seen on the cover picture
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Old 06-04-2013, 12:20 PM   #16
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Chris; thanks for the clarification on the wiring and light sockets. Since I replaced all my wiring I couldn't remember what each was in the original harness.
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Old 06-04-2013, 11:28 PM   #17
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If you still want to do a 7 pin , I have included pictures from the splitter box that Uhaul used on the VT which came with a 7 pin connector...
If a termination box like this is missing, one is readily available (usually in black, with seven stud terminals in it) for a few dollars from anyone selling supplies for commercial trailers. They are suitable for outside mounting, and I use one on the tongue of my Boler to tie the cable from the tug to the trailer wiring. This is much more accessible than the rat's nest of wires under the dinette seat that Boler created.
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