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VeryImpressive Y2KW57!
Where did you source that black box with the connector lugs?
Where did you get the diode? And do you happen to remember a part number for the diode?
Thank you again Y2KW57 for the help you have given me in my recent posts!!
I have often thought of using the old time floor mounted dimmer switch for a project.
This would be a perfect time to use one to activate my new aux backup lights, outside the reverse circuit.
Last edited by marksman76; Oct 14, 2020 at 01:30 AM.
Reason: more info.
Where did you source that black box with the connector lugs?
The black box with the connector lugs can be sourced at a lot of places... it is a fairly common trailer part item.
The particular box seen above, with 12 posts, is rather old. I bought it, and others like it in the '80's, from a friend who owned a part store since the '60's, where I would just rummage around in the stock room, find what I needed, and put it on account. Neither Amazon nor eTrailer nor eBay existed back then, so I don't have any links to point you to. And I doubt anyone can get that exact box, because I have tried to find it decades later, and I haven't.
However, there are plenty of similar boxes which typically have seven (7) posts, or seven positions for self resetting circuit breakers. These boxes are rather common splice centers for managing trailer wiring on trailer tongues, where the trailer's wiring meets the blunt cut ends of the trailer wiring harness connector pigtail. On the other end of this pigtail is the 7 way round or 7 way RV blade towing connector that plugs into the tow vehicle / truck. Search using key words like "Trailer" "Wiring" "Box" "Connection" "Splice" etc to find something suitable.
As far as brands for such a box, when it comes to trailer wiring, I am partial to the Pollak brand, even though Pollak as a company has been bought and sold several times since Ford first offered an optional trailer wiring connectors package on the F-Series in the early '80's, which were 7 way round pin all metal Pollak connectors. Those days of quality die cast trailer connector plugs and sockets are long ago replaced by plastic on light trucks, but you still see all metal trailer connectors in 9 way round pins on semi trucks and trailers.
Pollak sells a 10 post box, which I bought last year to set up the 2019 F-550 in a similar fashion. The 10 post box is actually easier to wire than the 12 post box above, since the posts are all inline in a single row, instead of a double row as shown in my earlier post. Since any wire I add will not only be larger in wire gauge, but also generally thicker in insulation than the stock wiring, having enough room in the box to make the right angle turn into the post is an important consideration, especially if heat shrinking every wire to eyelet connection, which adds rigidity to the wire immediately after the eyelet. I think I ordered this Pollak branded 10 post box from eTrailer, but there are certainly other places online, as well as local RV or trailer service centers, where this type of box can be ordered.
I had to mount the box though. To counter act loosening from vibration, I used a ratcheting tap wrench to cut threads into and through the frame's final cross member, to act as the primary nut that cannot rotate (it's the frame), with a backing nut behind the frame cross member tightening against it, serving as a locking nut.
As you can see below, I've pulled the feed wires from the Ford OEM harness into the box. In the foreground on the lower right hand side of the photo below is a bad a** back up alarm, made in Japan, not China. It is water and dust proof, and is actually designed to be self cleaning of the road dust that typically coats the back of trucks from the vacuum their forward motion creates in their wake. The vibrations from the 107 db of sound literally vibrates the dust out. It is the only back up alarm that is advertised as "self cleaning". Pollak brand. Definitely not their cheapest model though.
The box fills up with wires rather quickly.... but notice the anti rotation wire guidance posts between each connection post. The plastic guidance posts serve as a limit stop to keep the eyelet terminals from overclocking and contacting the adjacent connection post inadvertently, especially when torquing down on the nut to retain the eyelets. Not all boxes have these anti rotation posts, so that is something useful that I would look for in situations where the box gets densely populated with wires. I wanted the back of the truck to have every possible trailer wiring receptacle wired up and ready to go... 7 Way Round pin commercial, 7 way flat blade RV, 6 way round pin, 5 way flat, 4 way flat, 4 way round.. I set this truck up to tow any wiring configuration, which added a lot of wires...
You may not need all 10 posts. I didn't. In fact, I needed more space on one post, to fit more ground return wires. So I bonded two adjacent posts together using a buss bar. Only Pollak doesn't make a buss bar for this box, and a standard buss bar won't fit due to the guidance posts. So that meant making a buss bar from scratch. I cut one out of a small scrap of aluminum tubing.
Now, with a pickup truck, the trailer towing harness is already terminated into the towing connector. To avoid cutting into the factory wiring harness and make for a clean plug and play and reversible installation without a trace, I recommend getting a Y harness for the OEM trailer wiring, which looks similar to what is pictured below, although the exact harness pictured below is for a GM truck, but similar Y harnesses exist for Ford trucks as well (to facilitate electrically connecting 5th wheel trailers for trucks not originally equipped with bed mounted trailer connectors):
The OEM trailer wiring harness connector gets unplugged, and the Y bone of the harness similar to that above (but the Ford version) gets plugged inbetween what you just unplugged. The then the tail of the Y gets cut off, and wired into a splice box.
A suitable junction box doesn't have to be a post type box such as what Ive done in the two examples posted above. It can also be a self resetting circuit breaker box in the same form factor.
It can also be a fuse box in a different form factor. Below, I selected a Blue Sea Systems 7 way fuse box to terminate the cut tail of the add on Y harness into, to provide fused access points to all of the factory trailer wiring circuits without cutting or splicing or tapping into a single factory wire. I try to avoid penetrating factory wire insulation, to prevent corrosion and the resulting resistance that can generally be expected to occur over the long term. By adding one's own junction box, of whatever type it may be, one can add or subtract various accessories. On this particular GM vehicle, it was for two reverse cameras (one high, one low), directional signalling, and of course, auxiliary reverse lights.
This box is hanging upside down from the floor of this GM truck, and is actually TWO boxes, one nested inside the other. The inner clear lidded fuse box is the Blue Sea fuse box, and the outer gray colored radius edge box is a Radio Shack cable service entrance box that I cut an oblong hole into, in order to accommodate the fuse box.
Base outside box (cable service entrance box from Radio Shack) to hold wires
Inner fuse box fitted to outer base...
Same wiring principles apply to the fused box as applied to the post boxes...
Originally Posted by marksman76
Where did you get the diode? And do you happen to remember a part number for the diode?
As for diode suppressed relays, these are not just "diodes", they are actual relays, with diodes built inside to suppress the transient high voltage spikes that occur when the relay coil collapses when de-energized.
It does not serve well to provide a specific part number, or brand, or location of purchase for a relay. Too many brands out there to chose from, where something that will work quite wonderfully may be available and in stock at the very same outlet that does not have the specific brand and model number which you would be otherwise looking for if locked into finding a specific part number. The better service to you is merely to call attention to the existence of diode suppressed relays, with a brief description of their principle of operation and purpose which speaks to your initial concern about voltage backflow.
The brand and model number of the relay on the left below is not shown here as a recommendation. Instead, it is shown as an illustration of the block diagram which can be found on the side of any decently made relay.
O.K, so I went to the largest NAPA in San Diego today.
Spent 90 minutes trying to look for 30 amp suppressed diode relay. I looked through relay book, Amazon, FTE, google. Could not find a good part number that would cross reference with a NAPA in stock item??
Went to O' Reilly Auto Parts for about 15 minutes. They only had relays with built in resistors ( from china by the way )
So, I would like to try and source a NON china 30 amp diode suppressed relay.
I guess i can order from Amazon, unless someone has a good part number that I could source locally?
Last edited by marksman76; Oct 21, 2020 at 01:32 AM.
Reason: spelling
Today I had my lights tack welded to my trailer hitch tubing.
I took off my OEM 7 way connector, because I do not tow right now, and because I am always damaging it when I back into sloping turf embankments.
So now I want to buy a 7 pin connector, with 7 cut wires at the other end.
I googled and looked at a few types, but I am not sure what I need. I removed the factory Ford harness from the 7 pin metal bracket, and put the bracket in a safe place for future. But I am not sure what to purchase next.
OK so continuing on....
Today I ran my 32' or so of 14 gauge 4 conductor outdoor rated black cable from rear bumper up to driver's battery.
I bought 3/8" black split loom. So first I threaded my cable into split loom.
Heads up it was tight. I should have bought 1/2" split loom. Would have made this part much easier!
Second I drove my truck onto my homemade ramps, which I had made last weekend out of a few 8' 2" x 12" boards I had laying around.
Third I tried to remove my spare tire. In 19 years and 216K I have never had a flat tire on this truck. So I had never removed spare tire.
Well, I still have never removed spare tire since it requires a special unlocking bolt that i could not locate. If you people have never removed your spare tire you might want to do a dry run so you will be prepared the day you really need to. Home made ramps. I made 2 out of old 2" x 12" boards. I think I will make two more, so that way I can get complete truck 41/2" higher when I need to. Also they will work with my F150.
So I used a creeper and routed the wire full length of the truck, and now I await my next step of custom making the wires, similar to Y2KW57's scenario.
What's the spare tire locking bolt you are mentioning? I had a factory spare tire lock on mine when I needed to use the spare a week after I bought mine. Went to dealer when I was back in town and they actually said just go try a locksmith! Which is what I ended up doing after getting no help from any dealerships. The lock has the key code stamped on it. Too busy to make a buck I guess.
The locksmith found a blank key that fit, filed the edge very thin and turned the key a few times to mark the blank and filed it down everywhere it marked the key until it would eventually open the lock. Then when the lock was off he crawled out with the lock and got a new blank and transferred the shape to a non filed thin blank and checked it in the lock a couple times and made me a copy.
I bought a new winch for the spare tire from a 2004 F250, I pried the “lock” out and bought a 24” 3/8” ratchet extension from HF, it fits perfectly in the recessed female opening of the winch. Fords idea of a lock sitting under the truck exposed to all the elements and being filled with sediment, is ridiculous...
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Slideshow: Called the Fortress, the 850-horsepower pickup combines Raptor underpinnings with military-inspired features, survival equipment, and a starting price of $285,000.
