13 pin plug

[papafulton]

Coming back from holiday today and the cable from the caravan 13 pin plug came loose and was trailing on the ground. By the time i discovered it the friction had worn through the outer casing and some of the wiring rendering the cable usless. It is only approx. 6 inches from the plug, can i cut the damaged part off and rewire the plug ?. Any help appreciated.

 

[Ricey]

Hi,
yes, it should be a fairly straght forward job to cut off the plug just behind the damaged section, strip back the wire sheath and refit the plug. Might be a good idea to download a 13pin plug wiring diagram and before stripping out your old plug check that everything is in the correct place (photos could also help when re-wiring).

Something that would merit further investigation is the outer casing of the plug and the socket. The fitting style of the 13pin plug and socket, i.e. insert, twist and secure with socket cap, makes it quite difficult for it to simply fall out, unless something is broken or it wasn't fitted correctly when you left.

 

[Ricey]

?

 

[JTQ]

It might be wise considering what the plug must have gone through and as said above "why" it came out, to simply buy a new plug. Then you still have the old one, with the wires fitted etc., to be able to copy the wiring configuration and its layout.

 

[Philspadders]

do you actually mean that the plug did not come adrift ( cos your indicators would not work and since you have an audible alarm fitted you would know that) but that the cable was long in the first place, that it was restriained in some way on the hitch and that it became unrestrained and dragged on the floor.

 

[TopCat1]

Hi William-5073980
As it is practically impossible for the plug to come out once plugged in I assume the problem was caused by a dangling lead.
This is not an ucommonn problem and as such most caravan manufacturers will allow sufficient cable to reconnect the lead. You may have to release some from under the van where it has been looped to take up the spare length. I would suggest that you cut off the existing lead immediately after the damaged area and dismantle the 13pin plug to the point that you can see the wires fitted to the plug. note the length of outer cable sheating that has been removed to allow the fitting and cut a similar length off of the cable that you must now reconnect. Prepare the new cable ends by stripping the covering on the individual wires. Now go to the connector that you cut off and remove one wire. Select that same colour wire from the van and connect it. you will now have one wire from the van connected the corresponding connection on the plug. Simply repeat this process one wire at a time and you should end up with a correctly wired plug on your van. now simply test and go!

 

[RayS]

Agree with advice from Top Cat with one further suggestion. Stard with a sire towards the centre of the plug and work outwards, or you may find making connections to pins in the centre quite difficult if all the others have already been done.

 

[papafulton]

Hi folks, thanks for your helpful replies. Sorry i did not explain myself properly. Philspadders got the reason why it happened in one. The van is new but the car is not as i have to use an adaptor which as has been mentioned on previous posts gives excess lengths of cable. I had it tied up with a bungee cord but not as securely as i thought. Thanks once again for all the replies.
William

 

[Philspadders]

make a loop about 8" dia then tie it up with cable tie. Its what i do.

 

[oldievanner]

I would change the car to a 13 pin socket, not a very hard job, but as stated above, download yourself a good 13 pin wiring diagram, there are several on line, plus one on the CC website.