trailer lights connector plug

[siwash]

Hey guys, I damaged my connector plug from the trailer. One of the male connectors broke off because I made an idiot mistake forgetting to reconnect the trailer lights when move from one end of the lake to the other yesterday.   I've never had to fix these - is this an easy fix? Just cut it off and replace the plug?  Any help for a guy that's not exactly handy?!!

Edited August 24, 2023 by siwash

[CrowMan]

CT will have everything you need:

4 pin flat trailer light connector 

butt connectors...automotive electrical

heat shrink tubing

Just match the colours of the new to the existing...a pair of pliers and a lighter are the only tools required.  Easy peasy.

[siwash]

Thanks man! I just watched video. ReAlly easy. 

[smitty55]

22 minutes ago, siwash said:

Thanks man! I just watched video. ReAlly easy. 

Yep, the best way to become handy is with practice and success. If you want to improve on that splice to ensure better waterproofing, before you use the shrink tubing use some goop on each end of the butt splice and then shrink it. In the aircraft industry we use milspec environmental splices that have a ring of sealant on each end that melts from the heat gun as the tube shrinks.

[misfish]

You can get at Princess Auto as well. They carry Reese line.

[siwash]

Sold out every where. Crappy tiirw too. 
 

Since Covid there are still so many backlogged items. Feels like we live in communist Russia sometimes! 

[CrowMan]

13 minutes ago, siwash said:

Sold out every where. Crappy tiirw too. 
 

Since Covid there are still so many backlogged items. Feels like we live in communist Russia sometimes! 

In stock at Amazon for $7.99... at your door next day

Edited August 24, 2023 by CrowMan

[siwash]

That's where I ordered it!

[siwash]

8 hours ago, smitty55 said:

Yep, the best way to become handy is with practice and success. If you want to improve on that splice to ensure better waterproofing, before you use the shrink tubing use some goop on each end of the butt splice and then shrink it. In the aircraft industry we use milspec environmental splices that have a ring of sealant on each end that melts from the heat gun as the tube shrinks.

excellent suggestion.. so are you talking about marine goop?  Should I shrunk tube most of the exposed wiring? I should take a pic to explain what I mean. 

[AKRISONER]

Connectors are up to the discretion of the person doing the wire. 
 

solder is always ideal if possible but over my time working on boats and trailers in hard to reach places, I find myself crimping more connectors than ever. A good solder to me has always been a challenge unless you can essentially sit over the two wires and put them together nicely in a vice.

insulated crimp terminals with heat shrink over the entire section so there’s no exposure has served me well.
 

I dip my exposed wire sections in dielectric grease prior to crimping, and then shrink wrap everything. 

[siwash]

So it seems that waterproofing to the extent that this is possible is the way to go?   I've never used insulated crimp terminals.. I'll look into this method. Thanks

[misfish]

2 hours ago, siwash said:

So it seems that waterproofing to the extent that this is possible is the way to go?   I've never used insulated crimp terminals.. I'll look into this method. Thanks

Are you still looking for the plug? 

[siwash]

It's coming today 

[SlipperyVic]

Don't cut off your old plug straight across. 

 

Stagger the wires so you don't end up with a big clump of splices all in once place.

Cut the green wire 2" from the plug, the yellow one 3".. brown one 4" and the white one longer than that.  

Do the opposite with your new plug and this way your trailer harness won't end up looking like a python that just ate a gazelle. 

[SlipperyVic]

Here's a wire soldering tip that's useful for every joint, but especially handy for hard to reach joints.

Use a technique called the Western Union splice.  Look it up on Google. 

Wire joint is mechanically locked together before soldering so as long as you can get the iron in there you can solder it.  You don't need to hold it as it won't come apart. 

With a bunch of practice and a couple of burns you can solder a joint with one hand, upside down in the underside of a dashboard as you lay in filth. 

Boy I miss being in the trade, lol. 

 

I will also add that the Western Splice also leaves a very smooth easy to shrink tube joint. Not a big ugly blob.

Edited August 25, 2023 by SlipperyVic

[smitty55]

2 hours ago, SlipperyVic said:

Here's a wire soldering tip that's useful for every joint, but especially handy for hard to reach joints.

Use a technique called the Western Union splice.  Look it up on Google. 

Wire joint is mechanically locked together before soldering so as long as you can get the iron in there you can solder it.  You don't need to hold it as it won't come apart. 

With a bunch of practice and a couple of burns you can solder a joint with one hand, upside down in the underside of a dashboard as you lay in filth. 

Boy I miss being in the trade, lol. 

 

I will also add that the Western Splice also leaves a very smooth easy to shrink tube joint. Not a big ugly blob.

Never knew that was the name but at times in aircraft instrumentation that was a splice we used. Just had to make sure you put the shrink sleeve over one wire before doing it. We also had to show the joint to an inspector before sleeving it.

 

 

Edited August 25, 2023 by smitty55

[smitty55]

8 hours ago, AKRISONER said:

Connectors are up to the discretion of the person doing the wire. 
 

solder is always ideal if possible but over my time working on boats and trailers in hard to reach places, I find myself crimping more connectors than ever. A good solder to me has always been a challenge unless you can essentially sit over the two wires and put them together nicely in a vice.

insulated crimp terminals with heat shrink over the entire section so there’s no exposure has served me well.
 

I dip my exposed wire sections in dielectric grease prior to crimping, and then shrink wrap everything. 

Actually, in a lot of aircraft harness connectors you have to use crimps on the pins or sockets before inserting them in the connector because with solder the wire is too stiff and from the constant vibration the wire can break off at the joint. So different methods for different applications

[AKRISONER]

17 minutes ago, smitty55 said:

Actually, in a lot of aircraft harness connectors you have to use crimps on the pins or sockets before inserting them in the connector because with solder the wire is too stiff and from the constant vibration the wire can break off at the joint. So different methods for different applications

Interesting, you clearly know far more than I ever would, but I have also heard rumblings somewhere before that solder connections in boats are actually not the best due to the vibration and beating a boat takes.

 

less so on the trailer side of things but more on the marine electronics side of stuff I’ve done a ton of research on how the “pro” installers are doing their work, and everyone these days has their own favourite crimp style connectors that they use. 
 

I personally dig into it for a while and settled on MC4 style connectors. Not great for a trailer, but ideal for in boat. Waterproof, , easily disconnected, but both crimped, and then ratcheted and then snapped together. They’ve been awesome in mine and other’s boats I have wired since finding them.

[smitty55]

7 hours ago, AKRISONER said:

Interesting, you clearly know far more than I ever would, but I have also heard rumblings somewhere before that solder connections in boats are actually not the best due to the vibration and beating a boat takes.

 

less so on the trailer side of things but more on the marine electronics side of stuff I’ve done a ton of research on how the “pro” installers are doing their work, and everyone these days has their own favourite crimp style connectors that they use. 
 

I personally dig into it for a while and settled on MC4 style connectors. Not great for a trailer, but ideal for in boat. Waterproof, , easily disconnected, but both crimped, and then ratcheted and then snapped together. They’ve been awesome in mine and other’s boats I have wired since finding them.

Yea I've heard of that with boat harnesses too. Some of those environmental splices had a metal butt splice type crimp in the center that you would just slide the stripped conductors in each end and crimp and then seal with that shrink sleeve that had the sealant ring on each end. The other kind had a solder ring in the middle and an adhesive on the inside of the shrink sleeve where you would slide the stripped wires in to sit side by side and then with high temp on the heat gun the solder would melt as the sleeve shrunk and create a good solder joint in the middle with the ends sealed. No chance of that solder joint breaking as the wire was held solid by the sleeve.
One more thing is that with the old pvc type insulated wired you can't really use a heat gun as the insulation will melt, even with a soldering iron you had to be quick. Most of the newer instruments had teflon insulation as did all our spools of wire.

https://www.mcmaster.com/products/splices/wire-connection-type~solder/solder-loaded-heat-shrink-crimp-on-butt-splices/

https://skygeek.com/military-standard-m81824-1-2-terminal-splice-crimp-butt-cu-20-16-wire-blue-insulator.html

Edited August 26, 2023 by smitty55

[siwash]

19 hours ago, SlipperyVic said:

Don't cut off your old plug straight across. 

 

Stagger the wires so you don't end up with a big clump of splices all in once place.

Cut the green wire 2" from the plug, the yellow one 3".. brown one 4" and the white one longer than that.  

Do the opposite with your new plug and this way your trailer harness won't end up looking like a python that just ate a gazelle. 

Shoot, I cut it before you posted this because I brought it with me to the store (before I ordered it on Amazon!)

 

I guess I can still stagger it...

[siwash]

I've read through this again, and I am a bit unsure as to how I should proceed. If I use the plastic connectors, I won't be soldering this, correct? It's a matter of getting the for connectors lined up (staggered or else it'll be too bunch up), but apply the shrink wrap overtop? Or am I getting this wrong?  The other option is to solder, then shrink wrap (which is what a friend of mine did for me in the past) but then it is not waterproofed, correct?  

Are these the connectors?  https://www.princessauto.com/en/25-pc-window-butt-connectors/product/PA1000000709

[AKRISONER]

1 hour ago, siwash said:

I've read through this again, and I am a bit unsure as to how I should proceed. If I use the plastic connectors, I won't be soldering this, correct? It's a matter of getting the for connectors lined up (staggered or else it'll be too bunch up), but apply the shrink wrap overtop? Or am I getting this wrong?  The other option is to solder, then shrink wrap (which is what a friend of mine did for me in the past) but then it is not waterproofed, correct?  

Are these the connectors?  https://www.princessauto.com/en/25-pc-window-butt-connectors/product/PA1000000709

I could be mistaken but Those do not look like they are heat shrinkable

 

you are looking for something more like this https://www.homehardware.ca/en/6-pack-blue-heat-shrink-connectors/p/3624126

 

the reason guys said stagger the cuts is because if you do them all straight and there’s 5 wires, the butt connectors will make a blob of connections that can be clunky. It’s not the end of the world though, you could still potentially throw a large enough wire loom over the section to keep everything tidy.

[SlipperyVic]

2 hours ago, siwash said:

I've read through this again, and I am a bit unsure as to how I should proceed. If I use the plastic connectors, I won't be soldering this, correct? It's a matter of getting the for connectors lined up (staggered or else it'll be too bunch up), but apply the shrink wrap overtop? Or am I getting this wrong?  The other option is to solder, then shrink wrap (which is what a friend of mine did for me in the past) but then it is not waterproofed, correct?  

Are these the connectors?  https://www.princessauto.com/en/25-pc-window-butt-connectors/product/PA1000000709

I'm on vacation currently on a cruise and have terrible internet. I can't get much of anything to load.

 

I'm back Sept 5th, and would be happy to give you a hand fixing up that plug if you still need it at that point.  I'm in Georgina so not far away as I think you said you're in Newmarket area.

You could just use the ole Keswick special until then. Wire nuts and some electrical tape, lol. 

 

[Dara]

Just twist the wires together and tape them. I always end up ripping them off again before a joint has time to wear out

[siwash]

I actually got a friend to help me... well, he did it! He's an electrician and insisted! He used the heat shrinkable connectors and staggered.. works great!