Bargeman Cable Disaster

Elderdude · 11-15-2008, 06:35 PM

I forgot to take up the slack on the electrical cable between the TV and TM.
I noticed a severe lack of braking control on the way back to Sacramento from Santa Cruz. I did not realize what the problem was, thinking possibly I had to take out the Prodigy manual and read it thoroughly when I got home.

Apparently the slack allowed the cable to drag on the ground for several hundred miles and wore throught the black cable sheathing and the blue wire sheathing and then the brake wire itself.

Replacing the whole cable might be necessary. The severing took place approximately two feet from the Bargeman plug. Even if I could find a replacement plug for do-it-yourselfers and reattach it to the rest of the cable I think it would then be too short to reach the TV recepticle by about a foot and a half.

I'm getting too old and fat to do much crawling under, so replacing the whole cable looks like a real pain but I'm too cheap and too far from a Trail Manor repair place to have it done. Any suggestions? (Other than lose weight?)

**Bill** · 11-15-2008, 07:03 PM

Dude -

I love your avatar! Don't think Ive seen it before. Is there a story behind it?

As for replacing the cable, I think you know the answer - yes, replace it. It is readily available, and not too expensive. You could try to splice in a new connector-plus-two-feet, but even if you crimped and then soldered the conections, and then covered each joint heat-shrink-filled-with-waterproofing-gel, you would never quite trust it.

What model TM do you have? In my 2720SL, at least, running the cable and hanging it under the TM isn't a big deal. If I can crawl under mine, you can crawl under yours.

Either way, let us know how it works out.

Bill

Wavery · 11-15-2008, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elderdude

I forgot to take up the slack on the electrical cable between the TV and TM.
I noticed a severe lack of braking control on the way back to Sacramento from Santa Cruz. I did not realize what the problem was, thinking possibly I had to take out the Prodigy manual and read it thoroughly when I got home.

Apparently the slack allowed the cable to drag on the ground for several hundred miles and wore throught the black cable sheathing and the blue wire sheathing and then the brake wire itself.

Replacing the whole cable might be necessary. The severing took place approximately two feet from the Bargeman plug. Even if I could find a replacement plug for do-it-yourselfers and reattach it to the rest of the cable I think it would then be too short to reach the TV recepticle by about a foot and a half.

I'm getting too old and fat to do much crawling under, so replacing the whole cable looks like a real pain but I'm too cheap and too far from a Trail Manor repair place to have it done. Any suggestions? (Other than lose weight?)

Was it just that one wire that chafed through??

You could splice the effected wire(s) with these wire connectors then wrap the cable with vulcanizing tape or heat shrink tubing.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ANCOR-HEAT-SHRIN...3286.m20.l1116

You can also get these for 14-16G wire.

You could cut the cable completely in two. Cut away all of the damaged wire. Cut the outer casing back about 6-8", exposing the color coded wires. Cut each wire about 1/2" shorter than the last so that your connectors are staggered. Cut away about 1/4" of insulation from each wire. Install a connector on each wire.

Cut off all of the damaged cable from the other half and do the same thing (matching the lengths of the colored wires). Match up the colors of the wires when you insert them into the connectors. When you're finished, wrap the whole thing real tight with vulcanizing tape or better yet, use heat-shrink tubing (be sure to put the heat-shrink over the good cable before you make your 1st splice).

This really is an easy fix.

**ShrimpBurrito** · 11-15-2008, 08:15 PM

The fix is not difficult nor expensive. It's just time consuming, and a PITA. Just like my leaky toilet, broken water pump, dismounted table, jumpy oven, slide-out water heater, and GFI fault.

Dave

**B_and_D** · 11-15-2008, 10:00 PM

The same thing happened to us on our way to Yosemite several years ago. We did a quick fix in Mariposa with wire connectors, a crimping tool and electrical tape, and then when we got home had it replaced at our local hitch store for less than $100. Unfortunately, they didn't wire it right (as in, different lights came on when braking on the way home), so we had to take it back for them to do fix again. And I had asked DH to get a brand new Bargeman connector because ours was corroded...and he forgot to ask them to do it, so we have splices in our "brand new" cable now, but it's been working fine. It's shorter than it was before so it doesn't have the opportunity to drag on the highway.

Lesson learned for us: Keep the running lights on (i.e., turn on your headlights) when you're towing. Keep checking them. If they go out, pull over and find out why. I guess some of this safeguard depends on which part of the cable gets ground down first.

Where do you guys like to stay in Santa Cruz? Next time you come down drop us a PM, we'd love to drop by and say "Hi"!

Elderdude · 11-16-2008, 12:54 PM

Bill, HarveyRV, Carol & Wayne, Dave, and B & D,
Thanks to all of you for your suggestions. I will price a new connection but I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Did I mention trying to pull the TM thru a McDonald's drive thru? Cutting and splicing appeals to me but I haven't done any wiring since setting up my Lionel Train set back in the 50's. B & D thanks for the invite. We've made reservations at New Brighton for next May 4th for 4 days. Hope to see ya there.

My avatar is made from a picture of me taken in Hungary at a jazz festival about 5 years ago. Sorry about the size, I don't read graphics solutions either.

**rimartin58** · 11-30-2008, 02:23 PM

I did the same thing - drug the cable and wore the insulation off. I picked up a splicing kit at a local hardware store that has the crimping tool and a variety of butt splices (about $15) and re-connected/rewrapped all the wires. Then I connected the cable to the tongue jack handle with a bungee cord so it stays off the highway but still has some give.

Took about an hour.

Elderdude · 12-03-2008, 01:01 PM

Thanks,
I'm still debating with myself about what I want to do, OK, mostly it's kinda cold outside here in foggy Sacramento, and I'm a warm weather guy. But I'll look out for a similar kit around here next time I venture outside. I couldn't find any of those nifty heat shrink connectors at Lowe's, probably have better luck at an auto supply store. Glad to know I'm not the only one in the crowd.

Wavery · 12-03-2008, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elderdude

Thanks,
I'm still debating with myself about what I want to do, OK, mostly it's kinda cold outside here in foggy Sacramento, and I'm a warm weather guy. But I'll look out for a similar kit around here next time I venture outside. I couldn't find any of those nifty heat shrink connectors at Lowe's, probably have better luck at an auto supply store. Glad to know I'm not the only one in the crowd.

Most marine supply stores carry them.

If you want to PM your address to me, I'll mail you enough to do the job. I bought a bag of 200 and it will take me a lifetime to go through that many.

Elderdude · 04-21-2009, 01:50 PM

Well, I finally got around to repairing the Bargeman cable that had dragged some 300 miles. The outside sheathing was worn through for about 2 inches exposing the wires, two of which also suffered.
When I had some comfortable, dry weather to work in, I opened up the outside box to see where the cable went and decided that tackling the task of replacing the whole cable was my least favorite option.

I took another look at the cable and found that I could just wrap electrical tape around right turn (brown) wire which hadn't actually been severed but worn down to the copper wire. The brake wire (blue) was completely worn through for about an inch. I trimmed each back each end to a clean wire, stripped off a quarter inch from each, took two 12 guage butt connectors and a small piece of 12 guage wire to join the two ends, crimped the connectors, then wrapped the whole cable with electrical tape.
Just for good measure, I wrapped some Gorilla brand, 2 inch black duct tape that fell off of some truck around the electrical tape.

I tested the lights and brakes at home and a short road trip. I'm 90% confident this will work just fine. I also added a bungy cord to make sure the cable doesn't drag again.