SOME  WIRING  IDEAS
FOR  YOUR  VINTAGE  CAMPER


Your Vintage camper may just have the trailer light wiring or it may also have a 12 vdc circuit and/or a 120 vac circuit inside. The trailer light wiring must be on all campers to be road legal. LIGHTING  TEC   INFO -- ETRAILER-WIRING . So, let's look at the trailer light wiring first.

TRAILER LIGHT WIRING:

The trailer light wiring on your camper consist of a wiring plug that will connect into the wiring plug on your tow vehicle.  This will provide the 12vdc circuits from your tow vehicle to your camper trailer lights and possibly the brakes.(if applicable). If you have the trailer brakes, then you will need the 6 or 7 pin connector BELOW.  Here are two pics of the 4 FLAT, the one has a handy cover for it.
4 flat connector 4 flat with cover
NOTE:  On newer vehicles that have separate turn signal circuits you will need an adapter plug, which will have (5) wires on the tow vehicle plug and still have the same (4) wires on the trailer plug.  On the tow vehicle plug the wires are still the same color: you connect the(white)  ground to body ground; the(yellow) to the left turn circuit wire; the (green) to the right turn circuit wire and the last one  to the brake circuit wire.

This is a 7 pin round to a 4 flat connector adapter.  If your camper has the round connector, you can get an ADAPTER
adapter plug

SPECIAL TIPS
Avoid routing wires over sharp edges or pinching them. All splices should be sealed with flexible-waterproof caulking for extra protection.

FOUR WIRE FLAT CONNECTOR:
              • WHITE WIRE:   Runs to the trailer skin for ground circuit.
              • BROWN WIRE:  Runs to side/top markers and back lights for running lights.
              • GREEN WIRE:    Runs to rear right turn/brake circuit.
              • YELLOW WIRE: Runs to rear left turn/brake circuit.
4 flat wiring
6 - 7 WIRE ROUND CONNECTORS:

6-7 wiring

COLOR            APPLICATION              GAUGE
WHITE
 GROUND
 10
BLUE
 TRAILER  BRAKES
 12
GREEN
 RUNNING LIGHTS
 14
BLACK
 TRAILER BAT CHARGE
 10
RED
 LEFT TURN/STOP
 14
BROWN
 RIGHT TURN/STOP
 14
YELLOW
 AUXILIARY
 14


BRAKE CONTROLLERS - ELECTRIC: 

Trailer Brakes require manual or automatic brake controller. Both would have a control unit in the vehicle where you could apply the brakes at any time. If you had an automatic  brake unit the controller on the hitch would automatically apply the brakes as well. To use these manual/auto controllers you would need a Round 6-7 wire connector. Below picture of an electric brake controller.
electric brake control
These controllers would also have a 'break away switch'.  This switch has a wire connected to a pin that is hooked onto the vehicle hitch.   If the trailer 'breaks away' from the tow vehicle the pin will be pulled out and cause the trailer brakes to come on and help stop the trailer.  These are normally used on larger trailers.


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Web page created by Larry Bush:  Sept.17.2007 --- Edited:  5.28.2009
Serro Scotty ~ Vintage Campers ©
All Rights Reserved
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