Most Common Wiring Connector These Days?

[GaryBDavis]

All of my gooseneck trailers have the 6-pole round connectors on them and that's what I have in the bed of my truck and on the bumper. In fact, all of my trailers have this connector.

In shopping around for a new cattle trailer, I noticed that all the new gooseneck trailers come with one of those black plastic round connector with the blades. I know that's what all the trucks come with now days.

Is the blade style taking over as the most common connector for trailers with brakes?

 

[KeithInSpace]

Dunno much since I've only been messing with "heavy" stuff since getting our bigger house, but my 2005 Expedition has the big round plastic thing with "blade" connectors. And the 10,000# trailer being delivered in a few days has the same.

My guess is the round 'pin' connectors are more prone to losing contact than the spade/blade connectors...at least that is my general experience. "Bullet" connectors like the ones in a standard 4-pin light duty trailer connection seem to work well, but those darn pin connectors...they always seem to eventually have some type of connectivity issue after repeated use. And, of course, with that type of issue, you lose your brakes. Probably a safety thing.

 

[kennyd]

The seven-way blade style "RV Connector" is pretty much the norm these days on most trailers except small units without brakes that use the 4 pin flat connector.

 

[Soundguy]

Yep.. allt he trucks that are pre-wired now have the 7 blade connector.. some have a 4-wire flat as well.. or give you the adapter. All my agg equipment uses the 6 pole plugs.. thus I have to use adapters depending what truck I'm using... My only gripe about the 7 pole plug is that there is 2 wire diagrams for it.. one works with electric brakes out ofthe box.. one don't. Every time I buy a 7to6 adapter i have to check it to make sur ehte brake and power line are correct or need to be swapped. If it was a 'real' standard.. there would only be one diagram for it... just like there is for 4, 5, and 6... go figure..

soundguy

 

[patrick_g]

My 2008 F-250 came with two "count 'em" two trailer connector sockets, side by side. One is the "six blades around with one in the middle" which worked without mod with both my trailers and the other is a flat type with the round pins (which I don't use for trailers but may use to get power for a camera.)

Pat

 

[RobertN]

My guess is the round 'pin' connectors are more prone to losing contact than the spade/blade connectors...at least that is my general experience.

Most vehicles prepped for towing come with the 7-wire RV connector.

The 6-wire connector does not have all the connections going to it. The 7-wire can do tail lights, brake/turn, backup light, brake controller, and charge line.

I have 7-wire on both of our trucks, and have adapters for 4 wire flat, 6 wire round ect. And, I have a 7-wire plug with just wires coming out, to adapt to the "odd" setup...

 

[KeithInSpace]

Hmmm...I wonder if it was the charge wire to the breakaway battery that prompted the broad shift from 6 to 7 pins....and since there was a 'standard' 7 pin out there, it became the "new 6 pin".

 

[Skyco]

My only gripe about the 7 pole plug is that there is 2 wire diagrams for it.. one works with electric brakes out ofthe box.. one don't. soundguy

I think you have that backwards It is the 6 pin that has two "standards".

 

[GaryBDavis]

The 6 pin round that has been in use for many years has all the functions a 7-blade RV style has with excpetion of the back up lights.

In a 6 pin round, the center pin is +12VDC and is used to charge the brake-a-way battery. The other connections are ground, left, right, tail and electric brakes (labled as stop). I've been wiring these connectors for years and all the wiring diagrams I've found are the same. But, I've seen at least two different wiring versions for the 7-blade RV style. Where's ANSI when you need them?

I don't know why the truck manufacturers went to the 7-blade RV style. One thing that bugs me about them is you can't get them in a metal housing like you can the 6 pin round. They are all plastic.

 

[jwstewar]

The 6 pin round that has been in use for many years has all the functions a 7-blade RV style has with excpetion of the back up lights.

In a 6 pin round, the center pin is +12VDC and is used to charge the brake-a-way battery. The other connections are ground, left, right, tail and electric brakes (labled as stop). I've been wiring these connectors for years and all the wiring diagrams I've found are the same. But, I've seen at least two different wiring versions for the 7-blade RV style. Where's ANSI when you need them?

I don't know why the truck manufacturers went to the 7-blade RV style. One thing that bugs me about them is you can't get them in a metal housing like you can the 6 pin round. They are all plastic.

I've seen at least 2 versions of the 6 way connectors. One of the adapters available to go from 7 blade RV to 6 round even has a switch so that you can switch the output of the brakes.

There used to be metal versions of the 7 pin connectors available. Our '78 Chevy had one on it. Our camper also had the metal connector on it. I much prefer the plastic ones. They hold up much better. Seemed like the metal ones were always rusted and didn't work quite right. Never have had a problem with my plastic ones. After 2 or 3 years the metal ones always had to be replaced.