Sankey trailer

Hi,
I have got a spot of bother that I can't sort out even with mega searching on the internet etc.

I've just bought a 1986 cooks sankey trailer and to get her home I used a trailer board but I would like to use the proper trailer lights. I have made sure all the bulbs are 12v etc but when I looked at the connector at the front . . Well lack of connector, I undone the electrical tape to reveal 12 all yellow wires! I know I only need 7 of them to wire up a connector so it fits my 90 but I cannot for the love of money see any identification on any of the wires. If I were to strip the black casing far enough will I possible find any?

I have wiring diagrams which I found on the net and they say I should fine some lettering etc but I can't find anything.

I'm useless when it comes to electrics so go easy on me lol

Any help appreciated.

Jase

Buy a length of proper trailer cable and wire the lights as you would a normal trailer.

To be honest I would rewire the whole shooting match using some proper trailer cable with identifiable wires in it; there's plenty of it on that auction website.

If you don't fancy going down that route, then you're going to have to find some way of identifying each wire either by actually tracing them or using any sort of continuity tester and then marking the wire with something like little sticky paper labels ready for connecting up in the 12N plug.

The wires have numbers on

Thanks for the replies
I have stripped back over a foot of the sheath to expose the wires and for the life of me there are no numbers, I think I might have to get a meter and try it out another way.

Many thanks
Jase

easy with a meter then, take out all the bulbs, find the earth, put bulbs back in then touch each one on a battery in turn to see what it does

I have a 12v battery handy, I can take out the bulbs, but how do I find out which one is the earth?

it will be the outside of all the bulb holders easy to find with a meter

I have a wiring guide for the nato plug if you PM me your email i will send it over

ed

flat said:

I have a wiring guide for the nato plug if you PM me your email i will send it over

ed

Click to expand...

he says it has no plug on it? If it did....

I am rather useless with wiring but I want to learn for my own benefit.
I have 12 yellow wires at the front of the trailer and I have removed all the bulbs from the trailer. I have a 12v battery fully charged. I take it I put my meter (positive) on one of the wire ends and then put the meter (negative) on one of the light surrounds and see what reading I get? If no reading this may be the earth wire? if I get a reading this is one of the positives? - Or is this really dumb lol.

Sorry to take up your time

Jase

SteNova said:

he says it has no plug on it? If it did....

Click to expand...

arr thats all i was going to email, thats all i have.

No i know he has no plug, but the info about converting ti civi 7 pin is useful

Thanks guys,
I will get it to work if it kills me lol

Defender90uk said:

Thanks guys,
I will get it to work if it kills me lol

Click to expand...

If it does, can i have first dibs on the trailer please

put meter on ohms scale, it may have a buzzer

then do what you said, low ohms = same wire

once earth comfimed then connect to - on batt

refit bulbs then check what each other wire does when connected to +

if no bulbs light and you get a (big) spark then its likely another earth!

LOL . .
I thought this would be a relatively simple task . . .
I have all the tools I think to sort it out but it's knowing how to work a system to check it out! . . If I could find out which one of the wires is the earth then I could hook that up to the battery and then just touch all the other wires to the positive terminal and see what works. . . sigh lol

you could just guess... but you'll get all sorts of random combinations
you can't break anything if you try

Update . .
I have just put the neg on the light surround and put pos on all the wires, 3 out of the 12 buzzed on Ohms setting and the other 9 didn't... the only other bulb I cant get at the moment is the trailer light as its solid and needs attention, another job to do lol
Any ideas?

2 of the 3 are earth, the other is trailer light

I might have got somewhere !!!!
I just removed the number plate bulb (not trailer light as I first posted) I then tested again and now I have two earths. . So I hooked one up to the negative and then replaced all the bulbs and when for my first wire test and OH NO!!!! In my haste I touched the other earth tie positive !! It didn't like that an made me jump lol.

I have since tried another wire and BOOM!! on came the fog lights !!! . .

Back in the shed now looking some something suitable to mark the wires with.

Thanks for your help I will repost as I go, this thread may indeed help someone else out.

Many thanks

Jase