12 pin plug installed but have a question

[wbowner]

Hi
Previously I had the standard 7 pin plug with a tekonsha p3 brake controller
I also have one of those led modules from linear electronics installed

The other day I had a 7 pin plug installed.
After the install the brake controller did not work

The guy had a look and reckoned the brown lead was not connected properly
He cut the wire and did something and all seemed to work ok
We tested on a van and still ok

When I had a look today I noticed the brown wire is not connected to anything see pic, is this right. I know nothing about this stuff if you haven't gathered

Richard

[BMKal]

Sorry - can't help you on what the brown wire is for or whether it should be connected.

But looking at the installation of the red bullet connector on the blue wire - if anyone did a wiring installation like that on my car, I'd shoot the *****. :censored:

Seriously - it's really not that hard to do the job properly. ;)

[LRD414]

Richard,

Hard to say for 100% certainty from your photo but the brown wire does look like the wire in the trailer loom that is supposed to be cut and terminated as part of the standard brake controller install.
This wiring diagram shows it but the image resolution is poor.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/
From this thread:
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/l319-discovery-3-4/97935-d4-electric-trailer-brakes-56.html

The brown wire should be insulated once cut so as not to short on anything.

My guess is the blue wire is your brake signal feed for the trailer, in which case it would be connected to the brown wire heading towards the plug.

So the poorly terminated brown wire would be heading back towards the front of the vehicle.

Hope that makes sense.

Scott

[wbowner]

I am lost

It seems from the diagram that the brown wire does terminate and the blue should connect to the other side of the brown
If that done I would have a spare blue

I know bugger all about this stuff

What I forgot to add is that a new 12 pin plug was added i.e. The 7 pin rounds are still there, I am unsure but may be he has run a new wire up there
What he has done is connected to my fog lights (blue) instead of the the tail light (brown). Is this a problem

If it sounds like I have an idea now ya wrong as I also contacted Sniegy as have paniced a bit as I am about to pick up a new van
Agree it looks rough. I had not checked as have been sick.

Richard


Richard

[wbowner]

I am confused further

In my pic there is a loose brown wire and two blue wires connected
I have been chasing the threads and it sounds like the blue should be connected to the brown.

If you did that there would be a loose blue wire

As mentioned above the guy installed completely new 12 pin plug and left the original 7 pin plugs there

So what has he done. I think he may have cut the brown from a blue and perhaps run another blue wire from the new 12 pin plug? ?

I don't know.



Richard

[wbowner]

May be showing my ignorance on again but is this right

I think my blue wire has been connected to the fog lights from what the diagram shows and Sniegy info.

So does this mean it all will not work

It comes down to why the blue wire from the break controller is normally connected to the tail light. Is it Theseus the break controller determines the breaks are being applied and to what intensity or is it just a power source.

If just a power source then does it matter where it is connected to and what I have is ok if not very well done.

Sorry all the posts but am concerned

I guess I will find out when I take the van out.

Richard

[wbowner]

Sorry about all these posts. I am trying to sort it out a bit before confronting them.

OK still thinking about this bloody thing.

It does appear that it has been wired to the fog lights but that is based on the wire colours of the round D4 12N plug.

As it seemed to work I suspect what I said earlier is true. The guy has run a blue wire to PIN5 on the new plug. The old 12N is brown.

I also suspect he has disabled my old plug PIN5

BUT still can not work out the wires.

BEFORE he did anything the brake controller would have been set up for the 7 pin 12N plug.
This would be as shown in the diagram

Blue from the brake controller connected to brown wire and then to pin 5 on the 12N.
Another blue wire connected to the pin 2 - Fog lights

AFTER
He has cut the connected blue and brown wires and left the brown one free
He has joined that blue wires, I do note they are different shades of blue so who knows which is which

I think
The light blue is the old fog light wire
The dark blue is the wire to the brake controller
He has connected these together as Sniegy said

This means he must have cut those wires AND on close examination of my pic in the bottom left hand corner there looks like there is a cut blue wire which has not been terminated. Not sure of the colour but will check it out in the morning. My son is a sparky, not auto, but he looked at it and said why not solder as that is a **** job.

I am now scared of what else he has done installing the new plug. He was also supposed to do some more work for me which I think I may pass on.

BLOODY HELL!!!



Richard

[LRD414]

Richard, I think your instinct to understand exactly what you have got now is right.
Once you have any doubts the only way to be comfortable is to trace it all through and understand it fully for yourself.
With the wiring diagram and discussions you've had so far, I'm sure you have enough knowledge to work it through, all the way to the plugs.
The plugs are easily removable so as to be 100% certain about what wire goes to what pin.

I have been through something similar with someone else's D4 (troubleshooting shoddy work) so understand your frustration but you will be better for it in the end because knowledge is power.

Also, there is a pdf version of the wiring diagram at that other thread linked above. It is a better resolution & the only difference is the diode location.

Regards,
Scott

[wbowner]

Richard, I think your instinct to understand exactly what you have got now is right.
Once you have any doubts the only way to be comfortable is to trace it all through and understand it fully for yourself.
With the wiring diagram and discussions you've had so far, I'm sure you have enough knowledge to work it through, all the way to the plugs.
The plugs are easily removable so as to be 100% certain about what wire goes to what pin.

I have been through something similar with someone else's D4 (troubleshooting shoddy work) so understand your frustration but you will be better for it in the end because knowledge is power.

Also, there is a pdf version of the wiring diagram at that other thread linked above. It is a better resolution & the only difference is the diode location.

Regards,
Scott
Scott
It good to have a place to rant.
I am a bit lost but will look tomorrow with my son.

The guy was in a rush but no excuse and I will be following it up.
My son can fix the fittings and help trace the wires with me but may leave it to show them. I have to go back next week to pick up my van
With the info gained I will be a bit better prepared

Richard

[Milton477]

They could have used a decent crimp tool to do shoddy job. They are not expensive.

[wbowner]

Still hunting

I suspect I will have to talk to the guy to find out what he did. What he did may be correct,

In saying that keep in mind I have had a new 12pin brake socket installed. He may have just disconnected the round wires and ran them to the new plug - which is OK as my round plug is very difficult to get at.

If he did that then I can't understand why he had to alter anything in the left panel (as shown in my original pic).

Another question what is the function of the blue wire from the brake controller.

Richard

[RHS58]

Hi Richard
This wasn't done by the new auto electrician where you're getting the van?
I'd be disappointed if it was.

[Tombie]

Why do they do this..
For reliable fitment just make a 12n & 12s to 12 pin adapter... saves tampering with the vehicle AND means pretty much any trailer can then be easily connected.

[wbowner]

Why do they do this..
For reliable fitment just make a 12n & 12s to 12 pin adapter... saves tampering with the vehicle AND means pretty much any trailer can then be easily connected.

To late.

Richard

[wbowner]

Richard,

Hard to say for 100% certainty from your photo but the brown wire does look like the wire in the trailer loom that is supposed to be cut and terminated as part of the standard brake controller install.
This wiring diagram shows it but the image resolution is poor.
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachments/l319-discovery-3-4/114370d1474768026-d4-electric-trailer-brakes-10my-onwards-disco4-electric-brake-wiring-connections-modified.jpg
From this thread:
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/l319-discovery-3-4/97935-d4-electric-trailer-brakes-56.html

The brown wire should be insulated once cut so as not to short on anything.

My guess is the blue wire is your brake signal feed for the trailer, in which case it would be connected to the brown wire heading towards the plug.

So the poorly terminated brown wire would be heading back towards the front of the vehicle.

Hope that makes sense.

Scott
Trying to sort out my confusion still

In the diagram above the pin5 indicates it is RH tail
But isn't that the electric brakes which makes more sense which is what Scott said. ��

Richard

[LRD414]

In the diagram above the pin5 indicates it is RH tail
But isn't that the electric brakes which makes more sense which is what Scott said.
Pin 5 is the RH tail light in Europe. They have left & right as separate wires.
In Australia pin 5 is the trailer brakes.
This is why you see the brown wire to pin 5 is cut and the blue wire from the brake controller is spliced to it.

Note that the diagram shown here is a modified version of the factory wiring diagram with the brake controller and its wires added, so this is how it all should look when finished. Except yours has been further changed due to the 12 pin plug.

Regards,
Scott

[wbowner]

Pin 5 is the RH tail light in Europe. They have left & right as separate wires.
In Australia pin 5 is the trailer brakes.
This is why you see the brown wire to pin 5 is cut and the blue wire from the brake controller is spliced to it.

Note that the diagram shown here is a modified version of the factory wiring diagram with the brake controller and its wires added, so this is how it all should look when finished. Except yours has been further changed due to the 12 pin plug.

Regards,
Scott

Scott,
Thanks for all the info. My son gave me a hand to do some testing today and have an idea what has happened. It is not a pretty picture.

First
I believe the new 12 pin plug works as using the P3 i can send power to pin 5. I just remembered I have one more test to do.
Also the old round plug plug mostly works as well with a few bad exceptions.



It appears he has tapped into the the wires for the new plug just near between the old round plug and left hand side

The problems.

1. The loose brown wire in my picture is not connected to anything (it used to go to pin 5 as per the wiring diagram)
2. He has cut the light blue fog light cable and connected it to the dark blue from the brake controller. This has left a few very interesting issues

When I put power via the brake controller it now goes to pin 5 on the new 12 pin plug and pin2 on the old 7 pin round

Nothing goes to PIN 5 of the old 5 pin round

When he cut the old light blue fog cable he left one end exposed as you can see in the bottom left hand corner of my pic. Well if I turn on my rear fog light the wire is live
3. The wiring around where he taped in is just tapped. I would have liked some of that plastic conduit as that area cops a lot water, stones etc.

My son has stuck tape over the dodgy areas to highlight the problem

One more question: is there a problem have both the 7 pin and 12 pin plugs active.??

Richard

A bit of a clarification. I said the loose brown wire is not connected to anything, not entirely true as it is connected to pin 5 on the 7 pin round but has not power source as mentioned above.

RIchard