Wiring question

[JREADLOCK]

Hello everyone. I'm hoping this will be an easy answer. I am towing my 2006 behind my RV and I have a brake light indicator on my rig's dash. It's just a simple 2 wire circuit. The red comes through the Jeep's firewall and is wired to ground. The black comes through but it's come loose from wherever it was connected. The wire itself is a solid core (vs. stranded?) and is thicker than the existing wires going into the brake switch/plug. I didn't do it's install, I'm not very electrically/mechanically educated, but even after giving it the ol' college try to figure it out myself, I still can't get a clear answer on where to reattach it. Can anyone help a brother out?

 

[B1Toad]

Other than the fact that whoever installed that should have used black for the ground, if that's a 2 wire supply to the RV dash LED one side goes to ground and the other side goes to the white wire with the tan stripe. It looks like it came out of that plastic tap at the top of your picture.

It will still work fine with the red used as ground and the black as hot it's just un-professional and janky. Is this for a NSA Ready Brake?

BTW the red and black wires are likely stranded, not solid, and tinned on the ends making them look solid. When using the plastic tap splice devices you should use the stranded part, they won't bite into the tinned end very well.

 

[flyinfish]

I second what B1Toad stated and add the solid core wire should be replaced with stranded.

 

[JREADLOCK]

Other than the fact that whoever installed that should have used black for the ground, if that's a 2 wire supply to the RV dash LED one side goes to ground and the other side goes to the white wire with the tan stripe. It looks like it came out of that plastic tap at the top of your picture. It will still work fine with the red used as ground and the black as hot it's just un-professional and janky. Is this for a NSA Ready Brake?

BTW the red and black wires are likely stranded, not solid, and tinned on the ends making them look solid. When using the plastic tap splice devices you should use the stranded part, they won't bite into the tinned end very well.

yeah, I know enough to know that the black usually goes to ground, but who knows, maybe the "pro" that did the install was color blind?
Anyway, I will check the plug and see if I can't get it back in place.
And yes, it is a NSA Ready Brute Elite II. How did you know??

 

[B1Toad]

yeah, I know enough to know that the black usually goes to ground, but who knows, maybe the "pro" that did the install was color blind?
Anyway, I will check the plug and see if I can't get it back in place.
And yes, it is a NSA Ready Brute Elite II. How did you know??

I recognised the wire they supply with the kit.

 

[B1Toad]

You'll have to pry that tap open and you'll see a steel plate inside that is supposed to bite into the wire when you squeeze it shut. Probably best to just go buy some new taps at the auto parts store. Once squeezed shut till they latch, a wrap of quality electrical tape or a tightly fitted zip tie helps to keep them latched. Stay away from the cheap tape unless you like a gooey mess if you ever have to take it apart.

 

[macleanflood]

And those taps often have a habit of severing the wire you're tapping. So if you have any electrical issues start here.

A properly crimped butt splice and heat shrink insulation is the proper way to go.

-Mac

 

[JREADLOCK]

Hey guys. So it definitely looks like the black goes to the "coupler" on the white/tan and so I'm going to replace it tonight and see what happens. I also bought a test lamp and wired it up to a 2-pole flat wiring extension plug to connect to the one coming out of the front end. Assuming everything else is good, that should emulate the light on the rv dash, shouldn't it?

And thanks again to everyone who has responded. I really appreciate it.

 

[B1Toad]

Hey guys. So it definitely looks like the black goes to the "coupler" on the white/tan and so I'm going to replace it tonight and see what happens. I also bought a test lamp and wired it up to a 2-pole flat wiring extension plug to connect to the one coming out of the front end. Assuming everything else is good, that should emulate the light on the rv dash, shouldn't it?

And thanks again to everyone who has responded. I really appreciate it.

That should work. Instead of using an SAE connector and running that 2 conductor wire all the way to the MH dash I just used my brake controller blue wire since I don't have a brake controller. Then I grounded the LED in the MH. So when I plug in my 7-way to 6-way my LED is connected.

 

[JREADLOCK]

Hey guys. So it's been a journey and an education. I have everything working again but only after realizing that both my existing LED and the test LED I was using to troubleshoot were both blown. That said, I'd like to take the next step and get this wired up through my 7 pinner which terminates to a 4 pinner. Since there isn't a "spare" pin on the 4, is there any way to make this work?

 

[B1Toad]

Hey guys. So it's been a journey and an education. I have everything working again but only after realizing that both my existing LED and the test LED I was using to troubleshoot were both blown. That said, I'd like to take the next step and get this wired up through my 7 pinner which terminates to a 4 pinner. Since there isn't a "spare" pin on the 4, is there any way to make this work?

Not without running another wire. I assume the 4 pin is on the Jeep. I changed mine to a 6 way and like I said I used the blue wire from the MH 7 way to send the signal to the dash LED since I don't use a brake controller with the Ready Brute. I also used the red power wire from the MH 7 way to activate a NC relay in the Jeep that stops the Jeep's brake lights from activating from the Jeep's pedal switch at the same time as the MH is sending it's brake signal which screws up the turn signals, so I'm using all 6 pins. Did not have to add any wiring to the MH except a short jumper from the brake controller plug blue wire to my LED.
You can buy a 7 to 6 pin umbilical cord on Amazon as well as a 6 pin socket with a mounting bracket.