Wet socket
 

I went fishing today and when I tried to winch the boat on the trailer it gave me a fit.[verymad] Low voltage due to a degraded wire connection in the recepticle. I have a battery mounted on the trailer that is charged by the truck. Here is where I need advice. How do the masters of the towing keep water out of your seven pin RV connection. Mine is a blade connector called a Hoppy. It is mounted on the rear bumper right behind the Reese receiver hitch. I thought I had a handle on it by using generous amounts of dielectric grease on the mechanical connections and taping the back side of the recepticle with 3M electric tape. After three years the screw that held the lug in place disentergrated because of water intrusion. I even drilled the receptical to drain out any accumulation. And NO! I do not dunk the truck. In fact the rear bumper never breaks over the edge of the water.[laugh]

AM I the only person to have this as a problem?

That may be....[whistle]

I have had a BAD experience with factory wiring on my boat trailer. For speed & cheap, they used the quick splices....the ones that cut the insulation without providing a seal. The kiss of death on boat trailers. I cured this by rewiring the ENTIRE trailer and using soldered connections and adhesive lined heatshrink tubing. It's been 4 years and never a light issue! I also went to sealed LED units.

For the problem you describe, you need to seal the connector somehow. To stay in the RV family of connectors, you won't be able to find one that's sealed. So...seal each screw terminal with silicone (rtv) or seal the entire innards of the connector before closing it back up. Yeah, it's got huge mess potential, but it's likely to solve the corrosion problem.

HTH

Tony

What TonyB said 100%.

For added protection I also never leave a connection open to the air. I've got enough old ones left around that I just find the opposite mate,cut off the old wires flush, fill it with dielectric grease and stick it on. Since I started this practice nearly 5 yrs ago I haven't changed a connectore on my camper, truck or either trailer.

Now that's an idea I can live with. I relocated the socket and bracket to get it out of the direct impact of the rain and dirt. I also smothered everything with dieelectric grease and for a final bit of protection I cut a small hole in a baby bottle liner and slid it on the wires first before I made them up and then rolled it on the back side of the socket and taped it tight. After the rain last week it was all dry.

When time permits I solder and seal all my trailer connections that get submerged. Salt water can migrate into the smallest of places and desolve copper in short order. I've been dipping trailers in salt since 1983 and have come to the conclusion that trailer wiring is temporary at best.[laugh]