theboondork's RV blog

Not ready for prime time yet

6/30/2022

Clicking the pics will give you something to do, while you're waiting for something to do.

Mirror mirror on the wall.....

A comfortable day weather-wise since it only made it to the low 80s today. But it was cloudy with a little rain, so the humidity increased to 30%, making it a little muggy.

Did a few odd jobs on the Lance today. I hooked up my temporary tail lights on the back of the camper and zip-tied the lights themselves to the rear jack legs. I also made up some number eight wires to attach the solar controller and inverter to the battery. All the cables are only two feet long, so I figure number eight wires should be big enough to handle the load. I also changed out all of the bluish-colored LED lights in the Lance to white LEDs.

Since I've got to go to Colorado Springs Friday, I was hoping I would get to go up in the mountains and spend the night in the Lance. But I don't have a solar panel on the roof yet, so I can't charge my battery. And the Lance has a bunch of boxes piled all over it with my stuff in them, so I think that as much as I would like to head for the hills, the Lance isn't ready for prime time yet, and I should wait until I can sleep in it comfortably.

Theboondork

Bumblebee.

Daylily.

4 Comments

Judith

6/30/2022 07:50:10 pm

Lance may not be ready for prime time, but your granddaughter is. My goodness.

Tom

6/30/2022 08:15:42 pm

Thank you Judith. I do get a lot more pictures of my granddaughter simply because she likes to have her picture taken. Her brother.... Not so much.

Tom

Ken Hufnagel link

7/1/2022 06:09:07 pm

Troubleshooting electrical problems of this type is not really all that hard. The key is to do each step methodically, one at a time. It is also important to write everything down so you can refer back to it if you get confused. This way you are only looking at, and dealing with, one problem at a time. You have a ready tool to help you - the Bronco. You know it is wired correctly for your truck. What you need to do is wire the Lance connector the same way. The wire colors will be different, but I will show you how to get around that.

Someone advised you earlier to put those incandescent light bulbs back in. That was good advice, do that if you haven't done so. You can put them in after you know that the wiring is correct.

You will need your continuity tester, your test light, a jumper wire, and a pen and several pieces of paper. It will be easier if you have a helper but that is not essential. You are going to identify what pins are used for what signals on each connector. Ignore the wire colors for now, they will only confuse you.

Part 1: Grab the connector on the Bronco.

1. Draw a picture of the connector with the notch on top. Label it "Bronco". You are going to write in the signal names for each pin.

2. Use the continuity tester to find which wire is GND - tied to the negative terminal of the battery. Write that on the picture.

3. Use the test light (with one lead on the GND pin) to find which wire has power on it. That is the BAT (battery) signal. Write that on the picture.

4. Use a jumper wire to connect from the BAT pin to each of the other pins (but not the GND pin) and note what lights come on - tail lights, reverse lights, left turn, and right turn. Write each of them on the picture next to the pin they are on.

Part 2: Grab the connector on the Lance.

1. Draw a picture of the connector with the notch on top. Label it "Lance - not working" or something. You are going to write in the signal names for each pin.

2. Use the continuity tester to find which wire is GND - tied to the negative terminal of the battery. Write that on the picture.

3. Use the test light (with one lead on the GND pin) to find which wire has power on it. That is the BAT (battery) signal. Write that on the picture.

4. Use a jumper wire to connect from the BAT pin to each of the other pins (but not the GND pin) and note what lights come on - tail lights, reverse lights, left turn, and right turn. Write each of them on the picture next to the pin they are on.

5. Now take the Lance connector apart and write down the wire colors next to each pin. Something like "brown" next to pin 3 or what ever it is. You are going to associate each wire color with the signal name that is on that pin.

Part 3: Now draw another picture of the connector and label it "Lance - working" or something.

1. Write the signal names next to each pin as they appear on the "Bronco" picture.

2. Write the wire colors from the "Lance - not working" picture next to each signal name, like "brown" next to the signal name "tail lights" or what ever it is. Ignore the pin numbers for this part, they will likely be different than they were on the "Bronco" picture.

You now have a picture showing how to wire up the Lance connector!

Part 4: Rewire the Lance connector.

1. Disconnect the pattery on the Lance.

2. Disconnect all the wires on the connector.

3. Connect each wire up according to the "Lance - working" picture.

4. Put the backshell back on the Lance connector.

5. Connect the battery back up.

Part 5: Test it out. Plug the Lance into the truck and test each light function. It should all be working now.

If some things are still not working, write down exactly what happens for each light function - tail lights, right turn, left turn, and reverse lights. Send that info to me at the email address you have from this comment. I will watch that email periodically and we can take things from there.

Also if you have any questions send them to that email address.

7/1/2022 07:10:15 pm

Thank you so much Ken, that was a helpful and well thought out plan. It never occurred to me to look at how the bronco is wired, but that is a great idea.

I know how the truck is wired, because even though the plug is molded in and can't be taken apart, I have been under the truck untapeing wires and found out it's wired just like it's supposed to be from the pictures I see on the Internet, with all the wire colors in the position there supposed to be in.

I've checked the fuses for the trailer hook up both in the dash and under the hood and they're okay. One clue I've spotted is I can't get the taillights to work. I can't get them to work on the normal trailer plug-in from the truck to the Lance, and oddly enough I can't get the taillights to work on my temporary lights that I just installed the other day which bypasses anything to do with the Lance, which would lead me to believe that there's a trailer taillight problem in my truck, such as a blown fuse that I can't find, And yes all the lights in my truck work, it appears to be just the trailer wiring in my truck that's got the problem.

So now that I've got the Lance on the truck and able to go places, I will have more time now to fool around with the lights and start chasing wires as per your instructions, and I've copied your comment onto my desktop so I can easily refer to it.

Thanks again Ken
Tom

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