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Old 07-17-2015, 08:34 PM   #1
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rv trailer brake wiring colors

Hi all; I seek the color code used by Crossroads in Cruiser models......especially related to trailer electric brakes. My 7 way power cable accidentally got ripped right out of it's attachment in the electric box in the pin box area. I do know the wire colors of all 7 conductors in this cable. But what color wires do they connect to in the pin box. There are a lot of white conductors in that pin box some all white and some with a red tracer. The former are ground wires that originate from the batteries in the trailer and may or may not be connected to the trailer metal chassis as well. It's the white conductors with the red tracers that cause me grief. The one that is 14 AWG runs to the LEFT turn signal and stop light bulb. The heavy 10 AWG one shows strong continuity with the metal chassis i.e.; it is grounded. Not sure where this is supposed to be connected. There are 2 other white 12 AWG conductors sporting red tracers, both showing conductivity to ground- possibly occurring through the light bulb. Not sure where these are intended to be connected either.

A white wire with green tracer 14 g runs the tail and clearance lights fine. A white wire with brown tracer 14 g runs the right turn and stop light fine. The blue 12g wire is attached to the same in the wiring harness.

Presently the tow vehicle wiring seems to function fine. Except that my trailer brakes do not work and the truck reports "no trailer brakes connected". Anyone knowing the whereabouts of my trailer brakes please respond.........especially if you have knowledge of 10 and 12 guage white conductors with red tracers lurking inside the bowels of Crossroads rvs. Please help.
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Old 07-19-2015, 06:11 AM   #2
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It seems like the 2 12g white wires with red tracers should energize the electric trailer brakes when the 2 blue brake wires are connected to them. I will check that out if the rain lets up here.
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Old 07-19-2015, 10:02 AM   #3
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There is a plug wire diagram in the Document section of this forum. And possibly a brake diagram in the Lippert manual in the Document section also.
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Old 07-19-2015, 04:44 PM   #4
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Still having trouble getting the trailer brakes working on my 2013 Cruiser. All trailer lights work properly. Controller and break-away switch (when plug on cable is pulled out) send voltage along the 2 blue wires as they should. But I cannot find the correct trailer wire to splice these 2 blue wires to. i.e. the 2 wires running back to the brake magnets. Presumably the second wire is one of the white ground wires that are spliced together. Without that connection, my SuperDuty Ford reports "No trailer connected" as it should.

These connections are in a standard electric junction box located at the rear lower part of my Lippert pin box. If someone would be kind enough to remove the cover plate and look inside to see what color wire those 2 blue brake wires are spliced to, I would be forever grateful. No need to do anything but look and put the cover back on. Thanks.
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Old 07-19-2015, 05:02 PM   #5
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According to the plug diagram that brake wire is blue.
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Old 07-19-2015, 06:18 PM   #6
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Color of wire can mean nothing. If the spool runs out, they just grab another of the same size. That's why there are no diagrams. The only constant seems to be at the battery, where black is positive and white is ground.
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Old 07-19-2015, 06:22 PM   #7
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There are diagrams in the Lippert Manual. Check it out. Frame and brake is assembled by Lippert and arrives at Crossroads pre wired. Also, the 7 pin plug has definitive color coding. As well as the TV.
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Old 07-26-2015, 05:59 AM   #8
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Thanks Mark and Susan but my Lippert manual says nothing about wire colors. The only reference to brake wire is to use 16 awg wire for brakes on one axle. Not very helpful to me. Thanks anyway as I do appreciate your interest.
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Old 07-26-2015, 08:00 AM   #9
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Did you download the master lippert manual from our Document section. Down load the large sized one, I did see the color code for the brakes there.
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Old 07-26-2015, 04:37 PM   #10
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Without the manual, I did some looking around the wiring of my trailer. In particular looking for a blue and white wire pair of 12 to 16 gauge. In the process, I found a grey sheathed wire pair with the writing on it "Jackson brake cable, etc, etc". This wire sheath and contents traversed my battery compartment to disappear near the top of the front wall on the left side........heading towards the pin box electrical connection box. Upon checking the wiring sheath entering this box at the top left, I discovered (among other wires) a 10 guage red and white wire pair.....but no grey sheath of wires. Not until I started checking the route of this red and white pair. But wait, what is this? Just beyond reach where the red and white 10 gauge wires were disappearing under the gelcoat of the bedroom floor, there was a pair of connections...........and I could see that the contents of the grey sheath was thereby connected to the 10 gauge red and white wires. And that grey sheath contained a BLUE 12 or 14 guage wire and a matching white wire. Ah the missing blue wire is found. What a hell of a place to hide a pair of wire splices. And to not match the wire colours nor the wire guages. ........pretty sloppy wiring at the factory I would say.
Anyway much to my surprise, this newly found blue wire shows continuity to ground and reads 12+ volts between it and the battery wire. Now I have to find a reason for this- perhaps a short somewhere? The mating white wire also has continuity to ground....but that is to be expected.
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Old 07-26-2015, 05:26 PM   #11
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The red wire will have continuity to ground thru the brake magnet unless you disconnect the brake magnets.
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Old 07-26-2015, 07:42 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jakesz28 View Post
The red wire will have continuity to ground thru the brake magnet unless you disconnect the brake magnets.
Agreed. Most cheap home volt/ohmeters have a low ohm scale of 1K (one thousand ohms) Meaning that "continuity" is not zero ohms, as in a true metal-to-metal connection. It might be, say 10-20 ohms, as in the coil of a brake magnet or a light bulb filament. You can't "see" that low resistance on such a meter.
As a reminder to those not too familiar with electrical circuits, using a multimeter in the ohms position to check continuity to ground on a LIVE circuit will either destroy the meter, or at the least blow an internal fuse.
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Old 07-27-2015, 06:08 AM   #13
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I have one last unaccounted for red 12 to 18 gauge red trailer wire in my pin box area electric junction box. When I tested this wire with 12 vdc, it caused one yellow clearance light on each side to illuminate. These bulbs appear to have only one filament each. None of the other many clearance lights were energized during this test. I am wondering if this red wire should be spliced to the 3 blue brake wires.......to be energized in a break away scenario?
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Old 07-27-2015, 09:03 AM   #14
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No, I would just tie them in with the other running lights.
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Old 07-28-2015, 04:20 AM   #15
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Now that I have positively identified the wires running back to the trailer brakes and spliced them to the other brake related blue wires, things are looking up. The "trailer connected" message is now displayed and the trailer brakes are indeed working........just in time to hit the road today for Nova Scotia.
Thanks much to all who have participated in this thread.
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Old 08-16-2015, 06:37 PM   #16
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Just got my brakes fixed again.Replace backing plates and pigtail connector. No change, Ran new ground from Junction box to brake magnets. No Change. Finely I woke up and cut out those factory wire connectors and now I have brakes and and getting better after each stop. Had the Ford factory brake controller set to the max (10)at the beginning of the trip and after 100 miles have aready change it to 8 from a scale 1-10 it's much better then new.
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