Wiring . . . wiring . . . wiring

I just finished my two wiring projects this evening. I started as soon as I got home from work, and spent about three hours; this is about two hours longer than I had planned.

Project number one was to fix the trailer plug wiring in my truck (a 1989 Ford Ranger). I will be taking Alex ATV riding at Brown's Camp on Saturday, so I will need to pull the trailer and ATV with the truck. A few days ago I hooked the truck up to the Soap Box Derby trailer and saw that the tail lights weren't working. I did enough troubleshooting to figure out that it was in the truck, and left it at that.

I was expecting to have to replace a single bad wire and nothing more. I discovered that it was SO MUCH more! I discovered that both the taillight wire and the ground wire were bad. I'm not sure why the trailer turn signals were working. It looked like each turn signal was grounding back through the other; I didn't spend much time trying to figure THAT one out. It also became quite apparent that I was going to need a new trailer plug; the one on the truck was quite corroded inside. In fact, I think that's where the ground was interrupted. Also, when I started troubleshooting the tail lights and pulling on the truck's wiring harness, the wires started literally crumbling in my hands. Before I had decided what to do, neither the trailer lights NOR the truck's tail lights were working; I needed to replace the trailer plug AND do some patching on the truck's wiring harness.

Trip number one to Schucks was a quick one. I took the truck, and was frantically hurrying to get home before dark (because I didn't have tail lights). Intending to buy a $3.99 splice-in trailer plug, I found a plug-in kit for $15.99. Instead of splicing wires, this kit just plugs into the truck's existing wiring harness. I had already spent more time that I wanted, so the extra $12 didn't seem bad. The kit said it fit 1989 F-150s, but did not list Rangers. I crawled under my truck in the parking lot and determined that I had the same plug as the kit, then bought it. I got home and found out that I did NOT have the same plug. It looks very similar, but has a small clocking tab in the wrong position.

For trip number two to Schucks, I took the van (it was dark) and took my time. I returned the plug-in kit and, after determining that they do not have a plug-in kit for my Ranger, bought the $3.99 splice-in plug. Once I got home with everything I needed, the splicing and wiring went fairly quickly. I plugged the truck into the Soap Box Derby trailer, and . . . voila . . . it worked.

Project number two was to wire in an electric outlet on my ATV. I've been meaning to do this for a while. With a 12V outlet, I can mount a GPS on the handlebars and (theoretically) never get lost in the woods again. Don't laugh – it's happened. One time after dark. It's too cold this time of year to spend the night in the woods, and Saturday I plan on riding pretty far out – past the places that I know well – so I figured a GPS would be a required piece of equipment.

I purchased an outlet at Baxters today during lunch. I pulled the ATV out of the shed and into the garage and started looking at how I wanted to mount it. I ended up not really mounting the outlet. There is a little empty pocket under the seat and next to the battery; it is a perfect size to place the outlet. I put ring terminals on the outlet pigtails and hooked it straight into the battery. The cord on the GPS is long enough to reach from the handlebars, under the seat, and back to the outlet. This is really a nice setup, and did not require me to drill any holes or physically mount anything. In addition, I did not have to splice into any wiring on the ATV. My fear now is that the GPS will drain the battery because it is hooked into non-keyed power. I've got it hooked up right now, so I'll find out before I get out in the woods. If it does drain the battery, I'll just have to lift the seat and unplug the GPS when I shut off the ATV.