Brake Wire Routing

[wingbone]

I might be rewiring the brakes on my trailer and have a question about routing the wires. I've been under the trailer and can see how they are wired from the factory, but instead of trying to drag the new wires through the axles or routing them through conduit to cross over, wouldn't it be just about as easy to run a set of wires down both sides of the trailer? I measured and it's going to take about twenty feet to reach the rear axle but it would take about fourteen feet to cross the trailer twice, so only about six feet difference. Plus, I figure it would be a little simpler just tying the front and rear axle wires together instead of having splices for front/rear/crossover wires. Is this an acceptable way to do the wiring?

 

[kennyd]

There is nothing wrong with doing it that way, the less splices the better.

 

[Skyco]

I vote for wires down each side. It has always bugged me a little when they crossover from one side for brakes. The additional resistance in the longer leads to one side imbalances the brakes just a little.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I like running my wires in plastic conduit. I use plastic glue in junction boxes where wires are needed to come out. Makes for a clean robust installation.

Chris

 

[wingbone]

Diamond,
Wouldn't that add up to be a lot of junction boxes or do you just lengthen the wires to have more of the splices in fewer boxes?

 

[Diamondpilot]

No, just 5 boxes. I put 1 on the tongue next to the brake-away switch and battery. 2 under the fender area on each side for the side marker lights and electric brakes then 2 on the back corners for the tail lights. Its pretty cheap. The boxes are about $2 each and the conduit is $2 for a 10' length of 1/2" then there is all the connectors and such, so maybe a $20 job.

Chris

 

[shakin]

from an electrician here go for the conduit, it will virtually elimanate all chafing. use the old wire to pull the new wire through the conduit. i personally do not see the issue with the crossover if the cable is of proper gauge to eliminate voltage drop the extra 5-8 feet should be so minimal that you will never have problems with braking.

 

[BeezFun]

No, just 5 boxes. The boxes are about $2 each and the conduit is $2 for a 10' length of 1/2" then there is all the connectors and such, so maybe a $20 job.
Chris

Do you mean that grey colored plastic conduit you can use for outdoor wiring? Do you put any kind of cover over each junction box, or just leave it open and stuff the splices inside it?

 

[Diamondpilot]

Do you mean that grey colored plastic conduit you can use for outdoor wiring? Do you put any kind of cover over each junction box, or just leave it open and stuff the splices inside it?

Yes, the plastic stuff you glue together. For the junctions I use a knock out to route the wire out with a fitting made to allow the wires to come out. As for the boxes I get the ones with screw on covers. I have tried to silicon them water tight but that caused more problems. They need to breath a little. The silicon just trapped moisture and caused corrosion on the wiring.

Chris

 

[Soundguy]

heck.. go 26' and run down ech side AND crossover using 2 tap splices to the wires going to the magnets... that earns you an emergency backup if one set opens.

soundguy