Melted connector

[JRS]

I tow a 32 foot enclosed gooseneck car trailer, it has a 7 pin round connector for the wiring. I pulled the connector out of the bed of the truck and noticed that the portion of the male connector around the light contact was melted. Needless to say the contact was hot, too! The lights were still working on the trailer before I disconnected. I have not had time to check it out, but was wondering where to start first. I recently switched brands of ball lube, but didn't think this would matter since there is a negative contact in the plug. Thoughts? None of the other contacts are warm.

 

[HBarlow]

Do you mean only the part of the seven pin male connector immediately surrounding the running lights pin was hot/melted?

If so, it sounds like an excess current situation. How many lamps are on your trailer? Are there too many lamps or lamps with larger than normal bulbs?

Normally I would expect that if the running lamp circuit had a shorted wire or bulb, a fuse in the truck would be blown but I don't know how your traller is tied into the truck.

 

[CKelley1]

this is a common problem. you need to clean the contacts with fine sandpaper until shiny and then use some dielectric grease in the connectors next go to led's for your lights. napa or car quest will have the tail lights get the marker from superbrightleds.com

 

[HBarlow]

Kelly's is a good suggestion. Corroded, dirty, or worn and loose connections in the plug create a high resistance to the flow of electricity through the contacts which generates heat.

Inspect and clean the connections first, if they are worn and loose or damaged replace the male and/or female connectors for a clean, tight connection.

 

[JRS]

thanks, guys. I have a 7 pin metal female and 7 pin metal male I've been meaning to replace the plastic units with. They have been on there for some time had have probably given in to ozone, etc.

 

[JRS]

also a good idea about the led's. I replaced all four tailights about two years ago.

 

[jelag]

A hot connection means a bad connection..... this connection has some resistance across it... . that resistance is like a heating element and gets hot with the voltage drop... based on ohm's law...

Kelly and Harvey have it right... .

As I have my trailer open, and I find these scotch locks I remove them, install a custom butt connector and shrink tubing... the shrink tubing I use has an adhesive in the liner of the tube... . as its heated the adhesive heats and melts making the connection a water proof connection...

 

[B.G. Smith]

Someone somewhere once told me never to use sand paper on an electical connection (residue sand left in the contacts is not a good conductor) so I use a set of mini files kinda like this and then flush the contacts with electrical spray cleaner. bg Mini Files: Miniature Wood Files, 12 pc Mini File Set, Steel, Diamond Files

 

[JRS]

The shrink tubing with resin in it is available at Fastenall, it's all I use. Especailly on the underside of a trailer.