Trailer Plug

[GAM]

I have a small sheep trailer with a 13pin plug on it, I bought a 13 pin to 7 pin adapter for my landy, yet I am often flashed because one on the indicators on the the trailer doesn't always flash, yet fiddling with the plug they all work, there seems to be to much leverage on the plug and socket!
So I have bought a 7 pin plug, and rewired it, yet I only have brake lights, do I need to bridge any wires?

 

[upnortheast]

Maybe socket on the landy getting worn ?

 

[Rich_ard]

I have a small sheep trailer with a 13pin plug on it, I bought a 13 pin to 7 pin adapter for my landy, yet I am often flashed because one on the indicators on the the trailer doesn't always flash, yet fiddling with the plug they all work, there seems to be to much leverage on the plug and socket!
So I have bought a 7 pin plug, and rewired it, yet I only have brake lights, do I need to bridge any wires?

Have you checked the earth in the lenses. Causes problems if they aren't right.
Try it on a tractor or something else that you know works first.

 

[Paddington]

Need to check the bulb resistances to ground on the plug, should be a few ohms. Look on a trailer website to get a pin ID layout.

 

[DieselRob]

Maybe socket on the landy getting worn ?

I’ve found on some connections they need gently splaying with a knife/thin screwdriver in the male connectors to get a good contact again. It doesn’t take much

 

[GAM]

Ha, I have one of those double ended trailer plug and car socket testers with an LED which tells you which ones are working...
Well as the trailer has LED back lights, the tester only showed the side lights to be working... so I rechecked all the wiring and still couldn't get a reading for the indicators or brake lights, so I coupled the trailer plug back together, plugged it in the Landy, and they were all working perfectly

 

[davidroberts30]

Not enough resistance for the checker to work

 

[GAM]

Not enough resistance for the checker to work

I wish I had thought about that.. I spent a couple of hours trying to get the tester lights to light up, there wasn't much else I could do as it was pouring down with rain here yesterday..

 

[David Bliss]

I used to get people with trailer light issues, I used to blame poor quality of the light units, but most are all the same with dry joint issues, get same problems on lorry rear lights. The odd head scratcher was when a wire connection got swopped and a indicator feed to one bulb got accidentally fitted onto the earth strap for all on a light unit and only noted it at night as just noticed dash lights changed brightness with the indicator flashing speed and temp and fuel gauges moved in time as well. That took some finding, now if the light unit had been well earthed to the trailer that would have caused a fuse to blow, best test was another known good board. LEDs give more problems with poor earths back feeding other lights.

 

[335d]

I have a small sheep trailer with a 13pin plug on it, I bought a 13 pin to 7 pin adapter for my landy, yet I am often flashed because one on the indicators on the the trailer doesn't always flash, yet fiddling with the plug they all work, there seems to be to much leverage on the plug and socket!
So I have bought a 7 pin plug, and rewired it, yet I only have brake lights, do I need to bridge any wires?

You would have been better fitting a 13 pin socket to the Landy, and fitting 13 pin plugs to your other trailers. The 13 pin system is a far superior system, that gives no issues. Used to always be messing about with 7 pin plugs and sockets, spreading pins etc. No such issues with 13 pin, been running them for over 10 years.

 

[tepapa]

You would have been better fitting a 13 pin socket to the Landy, and fitting 13 pin plugs to your other trailers. The 13 pin system is a far superior system, that gives no issues. Used to always be messing about with 7 pin plugs and sockets, spreading pins etc. No such issues with 13 pin, been running them for over 10 years.

That's the opposite to my experience with 13pin plugs. They're never working right if the trailers left standingany length of time. I change anything back to 7pin and then I can spread pins if I need to improve contact

 

[335d]

3 trailers here, but they wouldn’t sit for any longer than a month. What sort of issues are you getting? Corrosion? One thing to watch is that some of the plugs only come with one cable grommet for a 13 pin cable. Trailers only use an 8 pin cable, so the grommet is too big and you have to tape the cable to try and fill the grommet, which is not a good job.
Check the grommet size on the plug, or else buy the “13 pin plug” but the one with only 8 pins fitted. It will have the correct sized grommet to ensure no water gets into the plug.

 

[sheep boy 3000]

Problems with trailer lights are an ongoing issue, just like brakes.
Replacing the socket and junction box will fix most issues. The junction box is easier to replace and rewire than to fix a fault, everything is also getting checked as you go.
There will always be something not working, one side light and front marker flickering is common.

 

[B R C]

I’ve found on some connections they need gently splaying with a knife/thin screwdriver in the male connectors to get a good contact again. It doesn’t take much

Exactly this, also we have had problems with adaptors had to bin 2 they were causing issues with the towing vehicles electrics.