Does anyone follow wiring standards anymore?

[belfert]

Yes, I have a converter from 4 light to 3 light.  As Bryce mentioned, my bus is all 12 volt lighting so I am set there.  I bought a standard Drawtite "heavy duty" converter, but I should really build my own with some relays.  I already had one Drawtite converter malfunction just out of warranty.

[rv_safetyman]

Brian, I have never had good luck with the commercial 4 to 3 converters.  That is why I made my own with relays.  Wrote a how to do article with vendor information for  BCM a while back.  Easy to do and it uses very reliable mini ISO relays.  Sean. Craig and Jack Conrad contributed to the article.

Jim

[belfert]

The irony of it all is the 7 way plug with cord I bought at Northern Tool doesn't follow any sort of standard color scheme.  I had to use my multimeter in continuity mode to figure out what went where.  I bought a trailer junction box to join everything together.  Laying on my back under a trailer crimping on terminals is not my idea of fun.)

(The original junction box was a 2 gang metal box with a flat metal cover.  Waterproof it was not!)

[gus]

So, if I'm working on my bus wiring and discover 2" of badly corroded brown wire with purple, green and white stripes, I should drive 15 miles round trip to town to look for it! 

Or I could look it up on the net and wait four or five days for it to arrive!

Or, I could just add a short piece or red wire and pretend it is brown! Heck, I could even wrap it with brown plastic tape.

[belfert]

I don't care what color wire anyone uses in their bus.  There is no standard for that wiring generally.

There is no reason a well respected trailer manufacturer should not have at least followed the wiring standards for the tail lights, brake/turn signals, and ground.  The colors for a 4 way trailer plug have been the same for years.  I wouldn't have had enough wire of any color to finish the job so I drove five minutes and picked up a 25 foot chunk of trailer wire.

I will admit there are sections of wire that aren't the right color as I wasn't going to a buy rolls of each color just to go a few feet.  In the end I should have just bought a 100 foot roll of some color and did the whole trailer that color.

[artvonne]

  I think the days of wiring things right went away when crimp connectors took the place of solder. You mention solder to people these days and most everyone just rolls their eyes. Sad how sloppy weve become with everything, we used to take a lot of pride in what we made.

[gus]

I've seen so many corroded soldered connectors in my 4104 that I won't even think of using solder anymore.

I used to think it was the best, but no more.

[robertglines1]

I share your opinion...the 98 entertainer coach I am rebuilding. had 2 wire brown lamp cord(16 ga) for some 120 volt  runs..this was suppose to be a professional converted coach! maybe I was expecting something more professional..It's all out now and will be put back correctly.made me suspect of their conversion process..Bob

[belfert]

Most people I know won't use solder in trailers or other vehicles as soldered joints can crack from the movement and vibration.  A few diehards I know will still use solder, but they only do it because it is how they always have done it.

Personally, I use heat shrink crimp connectors (or Packard connectors) for all my low voltage DC stuff in vehicles.  The multiwire connectors that connect one wire to two wires are not cheap, but they are less expensive than corrosion issues down the road.  They do make heat shrink crimp connectors with solder in them if you still insist on using solder.

[Ericbsc]

Im with Van!!! SNIP, SNIP,SNIP, SNIP. Then you spend the next 5-6 years to redo!! LOL