I made the snake mad....

[Kmikesell]

On the way home from our last trip, I forgot to "loop" the bargman electrical cord around the post (our cable is kind of long) and it dropped to the ground. While driving I got a fault warning saying my left turn signal was bad, I told my DW, "I'll have to check the bulb when we stop" it was soon followed by a right turn signal that was bad, this was no coincidence, and no bulb issue.

I quickly pulled over and discovered that my power cord was dragging on the ground... (Bummer)

OK here's the question, as I see it I have three options.

• Replace the whole cable with a new cable
• Repair the two or three wires effected
• Place an electrical bos on the frame and connect a new cable from there.

Any suggestions?

[rickst29]

If all of the damage is near the end which "bounced along the paveemnt" you might be able to cut the cable shorter and reconnect the wires(inside) to a new bargman connector.

It's possible that the current connector (into the TV receiver) is usable, if all the pavement scraping happened along the cable and the connector lugs are undamaged. But that's less likely than needing a new connector.

I will recommend against attempting to splice internal "jumpers" to make up for a small number of damaged wires, in which gthe remaining undamaged wire is to short to reach the corresponding bargman connector terminal. The insulation for the junction ends (between the wire segments) is too likely to fail, and so is the connection itself - a soldered connection won't have the flexibility you need, and a small "crimp" connector is too likely to work itself loose.
- - -
A repair will require skill and time. Installing an entire new cord is faster, and probably more reliable.

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by Kmikesell

On the way home from our last trip, I forgot to "loop" the bargman electrical cord around the post (our cable is kind of long) and it dropped to the ground. While driving I got a fault warning saying my left turn signal was bad, I told my DW, "I'll have to check the bulb when we stop" it was soon followed by a right turn signal that was bad, this was no coincidence, and no bulb issue.

I quickly pulled over and discovered that my power cord was dragging on the ground... (Bummer)

OK here's the question, as I see it I have three options.

• Replace the whole cable with a new cable
• Repair the two or three wires effected
• Place an electrical bos on the frame and connect a new cable from there.

Any suggestions?

I select window #3.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FXTB4SH...2s9dHJ1ZQ&th=1

[Kmikesell]

Originally Posted by rickst29

If all of the damage is near the end which "bounced along the paveemnt" you might be able to cut the cable shorter and reconnect the wires(inside) to a new bargman connector.

It's possible that the current connector (into the TV receiver) is usable, if all the pavement scraping happened along the cable and the connector lugs are undamaged. But that's less likely than needing a new connector.

I will recommend against attempting to splice internal "jumpers" to make up for a small number of damaged wires, in which gthe remaining undamaged wire is to short to reach the corresponding bargman connector terminal. The insulation for the junction ends (between the wire segments) is too likely to fail, and so is the connection itself - a soldered connection won't have the flexibility you need, and a small "crimp" connector is too likely to work itself loose.
- - -
A repair will require skill and time. Installing an entire new cord is faster, and probably more reliable.

The damage is all contained in a 6" section about midway through the cable, not at the plug end.

[rich2468]

If it were me, I'd spend the $30 to $40 to replace the whole cable and be done with it. Make your repair as much "like new" and don't worry about it failing in the future.

Life is too short to make repairs more than once.




Rich and Lynn
2021 2922KB

[rickst29]

Originally Posted by Kmikesell

The damage is all contained in a 6" section about midway through the cable, not at the plug end.

The cable is actually very long, with about 4 feet loose at the front (for the tow vehicle connection) but a lot of length going back to it's endpoint (behind the fridge in my 2006 2619 model).

The 'install an electric box on the frame scheme' would allow you to purchase a shorter length of cable at lower cost, and you would not need to 'mess around with' the current cable end connections behind the refrigerator. You would instead need to make 7 reliable connections in matched pairs, and you would need to make it waterproof - maybe with some carefully srceened drainage capability for the case of water getting in (in spite of the "waterproofing").

IIRC, The current cable wire connections behind the fridge are all 1:1, except for the Trailer Battery Charge wire. The Trailer Battery Charge goes into a 3-way with one "downstream lead" going forwards to power the breakaway switch in the case of dead batteries with breakaway activated but bargman power still present.

The single 'brakes' power wire isn't split behind the fridge, but goes down to the axle and gets split there (in my older 2006 model, using an unreliable wire nut) to provide activating power voltage and power to the brakes on both wheels (street side and curb side).