Do it right

This is a 'low tech' commentary piece, but I just have to put it in. The trailer's running lights have not worked since we hooked up as we were moving cross country, after a shop had checked everything out, and given the green light on the operating and safety conditions of the trailer.

This hasn't been a major issue since we mostly tow in day light but with short winter days, night falls rather quickly. So I have started to work on the issues one area at a time. First the plug, no better. I figured I would also add a solar charger to the brake battery since we infrequently trailer. Next I replaced the socket on the truck, and well I have running lights, but no brakes. ERRG.

So I was testing the lines, and noticed that there was a dead 12V lead. Why was it dead? The relay had never been installed, I installed it, so we should now have a charge circuit for the battery, and allow us to have our accessory lighting to work in the trailer. BUT something is shorting out. So I am trying to figure out if they swapped the wire colors on me, or if they hooked it up wrong in the first place. I am going to have to jack it up, take a wheel off and take a look at the brakes, hoping that I did not mess them or the brake controller up in the process of this whole endeavor.

On top of this, I noticed that the accessory wire that was poorly routed for the camper topper, was pinched and shorted when the hitch was put on. This is the same company that cut the wire harness rather than install a plug and play T-wire harness upgrade for the truck. Has the system worked like it should have for the past years? Not exactly, the trailers lights have not worked inside. Why do we pay people to do crap work, just to have to go behind them and fix what they have messed up? Just do it right in the first place and it will be a much better place, with happier people. I have spent a large amount of time on this, and I can't just take it somewhere, it has no brakes! So I am stuck working on it either late at night or all weekend.