1995 Cobalt 252 consolidated revitalization and fix-up thread

[thunder550]

Time for some trailer love. Rewiring the lights, running dedicated power and ground for each of the 9 lights (not a fan of grounding lights through the trailer frame), adding a junction box and converting to a 7 pin plug in preparation for a future electric over hydraulic brake conversion.

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[Big Block Power]

What the Heck you need something to do while it's cold in your off season.

[thunder550]

450 ft of wire on order. Might have overestimated

[Bobo87]

Speaking for one who is in the wire business. Yippee! Remember you can cut it twice but it will still be too short.

[AsLan7]

Now that’s the way you do it, T550. Nice!

[thunder550]

Speaking for one who is in the wire business. Yippee! Remember you can cut it twice but it will still be too short.

Can you tell me what the difference is between marine rated wire and standard wire? Is it the sheathing, or something with the wire strands themselves?

[Bfun220]

Marine wire is electro tin plated as tinned copper will keep corrosion from destroying your copper.
I think it's more important if your in salt water.

[AsLan7]

Marine wire is electro tin plated as tinned copper will keep corrosion from destroying your copper.
I think it's more important if your in salt water.

Was always curious about marine grade equipment and whether it was a marketing gimmick or something built more durable to handle the harshness of certain marine environments.
Thx bfun220.

[thunder550]

Interesting, thanks. The green, yellow, and brown spools I ordered are marked as marine grade. The white (ground) is not.

I shouldn't have any splices the way I'm planning on running the wiring, but if I do they will be soldered and covered with heat shrink to keep from exposing the wire strands to the elements.

However, I was planning to terminate the light end of the wiring with bullet style connectors to allow for changing lights without having to cut and splice wiring. Maybe I should just solder and heat shrink instead to keep from exposing the terminated ends of the wire to the elements. I suppose this way, if I need to change out lights I could cut away the heat shrink and de-solder/re-solder in the new lights without shortening the wiring that's installed on the trailer. All of the trailer lighting is LED, so hopefully longer life than standard bulbs. Thoughts?

[Bobo87]

Although I am not an electrical engineer I do stay a lot Holiday Inn Express.

Hope this helps for you technical geeks.

While most conductors are tinned coated oxygen free copper the other factor is the insulation. A marine rated cable under UL (Universal Labratories) standards meet the 1309 requirement as well as the IEEE (Institute of Electical and Electronics Engineers) 1580 standard. The other part is the fire rating for marine so for flame retardant it would be IEEE 1202 Standard. The most common insulation for marine rated conductors is a XLPO (cross-linked polyolefin) compound. This protects the conductor from moisture causing a short.
In other words you want to keep the water and flammable gases out and the electricity in.

[AsLan7]

Great stuff. Thank u, Bobo87!

[thunder550]

Yep that's a good explanation, thanks for the info

Since I'm starting in on wiring this weekend, I decided to get started on the EOH conversion too. Not doing it all at once, but also ordered a Tekonsha P3 brake controller and a breakaway kit for the future EOH actuator. I have wiring diagrams all drawn up and know how I'll be routing all of the wires. Going with a "harness" idea...there will be a total of 6 harnesses that join at the junction box. One each for the left hand lights, right hand lights, vehicle connector, breakaway battery, breakaway switch, and finally the brake actuator. It'll all be modular too the way I have it planned out, so I'll do everything but the actuator this weekend. When that time comes, I'll bundle the wires, run them to the box, add some ring terminals, and attach them to the junction box studs. Should make any future troubleshooting easier as all of the splices/connections will be in one place.

Once this is done, brake actuator, second set of hubs/discs/calipers, and some extra brake line and fittings is all that will be left to complete the conversion.

[AsLan7]

You will be our resident expert on this subject, T550!
Looking forward to your work.

[thunder550]

Here ya go. This should be all anyone needs to get er done.

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I think this is the diagram equivalent of BBPs autocorrect posting

[Ytmsn]

Hmm. That's interesting. I was going to do the same project this weekend but mine doesn't look as tidy as yours..

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