Help figuring out connector wiring & electric brakes for a 1995 Palomino Filly Pop-Up

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canton

New member
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Mar 3, 2021
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Location
Santa Fe, NM
We bought a used 1995 Palomino Filly pop-up, and I'm having a tricky time trying to figure out how to attach a 7-blade connector to it. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so here's what I've got going on, along with my questions.

Thanks for any help! Also, if anyone has any knowledge of how these trailers were meant to benefit from their own 12V RV battery, please let me know. It was sold without a battery, and I have no idea how it should be installed (and how it will recharge.)

trailer-wiring.jpg
 
Apparently your tow vehicle has a 7 pin round receptical. If that’s the case, go to a auto parts store and buy a adapter which goes from 7 pin round to 5 pin flat. I have one which came with my truck.

as far as the battery hook up, the white and yellow wire are probably the ones for the battery. If you follow the yellow wire back a few inches it changes color and it may be black. Probably the previous owner had to add on a piece of wire and only had yellow hanging around.
Black/yellow should be positive and white should be negative or ground.
Oh, and welcome to the forum
 
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If your palomino is like the one I had the "extra" two wires are the DC supply to the house. Mine had a small battery tray welded to the A frame but I cut that off and used a sealed 12V U1 battery under the dinette seat next to the AC converter/charger, so I cut the DC leads to the front loose. From there a standard flat four connector covers you for lights. I kept it a flat four on the trailer since that's what my pickup had, and I used a 7 pin trailer adapter on the SUV when we used that to tow.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM
 
Apparently your tow vehicle has a 7 pin round receptical. If that’s the case, go to a auto parts store and buy a adapter which goes from 7 pin round to 5 pin flat. I have one which came with my truck.

as far as the battery hook up, the white and yellow wire are probably the ones for the battery. If you follow the yellow wire back a few inches it changes color and it may be black. Probably the previous owner had to add on a piece of wire and only had yellow hanging around.
Black/yellow should be positive and white should be negative or ground.
Oh, and welcome to the forum
Rene, thanks for the welcome and the reply!

Yes, my tow vehicle has a 7 blade receiver.

I'm not sure about your advice to use 5 to 7 adapter because as you can see in my picture, nobody ever hooked up the blue and black wires, so I might as well just cut off the flat connector, and connect all six wires to the 7 blade connector you see in the picture. Does that seem right?

My main concern is about those two unconnected black wires in my photo. They both look black to me. One of them is a little thicker than the other. I *believe* these are "blue" (electric brake) and "black" (12V accessory?). How do I determine which is which?

And yes, it totally makes sense what you said about the white/yellow being for the battery. Those wires are adjacent to an empty square mounting plate on the hitch which is obviously intended for a battery. I'll connect those up once I get a battery. I wonder if the battery will recharge itself via the 12V service provided via the 7 blade hook-up?
 
If your palomino is like the one I had the "extra" two wires are the DC supply to the house. Mine had a small battery tray welded to the A frame but I cut that off and used a sealed 12V U1 battery under the dinette seat next to the AC converter/charger, so I cut the DC leads to the front loose. From there a standard flat four connector covers you for lights. I kept it a flat four on the trailer since that's what my pickup had, and I used a 7 pin trailer adapter on the SUV when we used that to tow.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM
Thanks for the reply. And you're exactly right, there's a battery tray welded on the A frame right next to those wires. Did your battery automatically recharge from the 12v aux service provided by pickup/SUV?

And any general recommendations you would have for a new owner of an old Palomino? :)
 
The "converter" in mine was little more than a transformer and a couple of diodes. I'm guessing it might have had that capability by intention but when I rewired everything the only purpose it had was to serve as a house supply when connected to shore power, and to keep from having to fill a void under the dinette bench. That kind of charger is brutal on batteries so I installed a separate multistage battery charger alongside the battery and I had a DC spigot on the side for a portable solar panel. I recall there was a switch somewhere to select between the AC/converter and the battery. Given that the power needs in my popup were pretty minimal I didn't go overboard with battery capacity so I usually didn't care if there was shore power around or not. I was tempted to wire DC through the 7 pin connector but decided against it since I didn't always tow with the SUV. It worked out that it was easier to run a 120V inverter off whatever tow vehicle and plugging the trailer into that as needed.

You mentioned brake operation but can't offer much on that, mine did not have trailer brakes.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM
 
Does your trailer even have electric brakes? If so, you should see normal looking drum brake assemblies behind the wheels with the brake drum filling the area behind the rim. If you don't have brakes this area should be empty.

If you have brakes, a compass can tell you when they're energized. Put 12 volts on one of the unknown wires and see if tne compass deflects strongly when passed in front of the wheel. If it does you've found the brake wire.

You should also have a breakaway switch going between the brake wire and the positive pole of the trailer battery to apply the trailer brakes if the trailer ever comes unhitched from the tow vehicle.
 
Rene, that is a 4 pin flat, not 5 pin.

to the original poster (OP), the 4 wires on the flat are ground, running lights, left turn signal, and right turn signal.

with only a 4 pin, not likely to have service brakes but, it could have breakaway brakes. Do you know the GVWR of the trailer? Some states require brakes on trailers that weigh more than some amount.

since it came with a 4 pin, there isn’t likely a way for the TV (tow vehicle) to charge the battery unless they tapped the running light circuit.

using an ohm meter you can determine which battery lead goes to ground (the frame) or, you may be able to follow it to where it connects to the frame.

good luck and Welcome
 
Rene, that is a 4 pin flat, not 5 pin.
I miss counted. Thanks.
The OP could also just crawl under the camper and see if there is a wire sticking out from the flange of the axle. The axle may have brake assemblies but they may have never run wires to them.
 
The only way to be sure about what is what is to trace each wire out. What can be useful is a double alligator clip lead.

Using yellow for example which "should be" left turn/brakes on the trailer you clip the alligator to the connector at the light assembly and the other you ground to the trailer frame. Then at the front using an ohm meter you flash from the yellow to the frame. If you get continuity you have confirmed yellow is LT/Brake. You do this one at a time for all wires.

The other approach and one I would likely take is, "What circuits do I "need" from the TV to the trailer." Obviously left/brakes right/brakes, running lights, ground. Then if I have electric brakes I need that. Then if there is some DC supply from the TV for trailer battery charging I'd do that.

Other wires I would not worry about on the trailer side and I would dress them out unless I knew what they were for.

I would then map what I have/want to the standard pin outs on the male 7-pin connector. I would "definitely" not repurpose any pin outs. The risk that someday someone else tows that trailer and plugs in a nonstandard 7-pin could, conceivably, blow something out on the tow vehicle side.

If there is anything needed on the trailer side that is not covered by standard 7 pin mapping I would do a completely different (second) connector.

The reason I am so cautious is that in my 45 years of wrenching I have seen all manner of bodged up dumb-foolery done with DC circuits by "do-it your-selfers" and even professional mechs who should know better.
 
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