Wandering Free.com

Making your own Wiring harnesses for your Rv or Motorhome

Making and creating your own wiring harnesses for youre motorhome is not that hard read more to find out how. To illustrate this I am going to show you how to make a harness for factory speakers in order to convert them to fit aftermarket speaker plugs in your RV. 

Tools and materials needed for this section:

- Solder
- Heat Gun
- Heat shrink
- 2 Core wire
- Soldering Iron
- Split tubing or Conduit
- Corresponding Plug connector
- Spade Terminals Normal and Mini

You can use this theory and make it suit any application for Wiring harness plug adapters in your Rv or Motorhome that you wish to.

There is no limit to how you can use this information, and knowing how to make wiring harness plug adapters,  should give you the know how to repair or trace faults in wiring as well.

The first thing I am going to do is make an loom to adapt from a set of factory speakers to suit after market speakers. This means that we are going to keep the factory plug that attaches to the factory speakers and change it to suit our after market speakers.

Now before you can get into the speaker itself you will find you have to remove the speaker cover which may be just clipped in place, simply pry the clips inwards and it should pop free. You also have to remove the door trim in your Rv first of all. Now, knowing that all vehicles are different in the way that they are fixed to the door shell, I am unable to tell you how to locate these with your specific vehicle. To do this, please search the Internet, for door removal instructions with the make of your vehicle, such as “FD166 Hino door trim removal”.

You may have to try this with and without the quotes in your search engine. After you have found that information you may proceed with your door trim removal. After all the screws have been extracted you will then be able to see the speaker and the spacer or surround that it is sitting in. All you do now is remove the screws or rivets that are holding the speaker in place, remove the speaker and the speaker plugs from the vehicle and put the speaker on the desk or bench.

As you may well know the after market speakers normally come with two spade terminals in female configuration, and some come with a large and what is called a mini spade terminal. For today we are going to cover the large and the mini female terminal application as well as the factory 2 pin offset plug.

The first step is to source out spade terminals for the job and our wire that we are going to use. It is okay to use your plain 2 core speaker wire for this job as no current (power) will flow through them and they are marked with a red line to denote the positive. Although many people will choose to use a higher grade of speaker wire for the job, and if you do you can get this wire from any Supply parts store such as Crutchfield.com i.e. Electrical outlets, Autobarn, Supercheap, or your more targeted stereo places such as Pimp my ride and so on. The higher the grade of wire you use the better the sound.

Seeing as we are only going to make a very short adapter in this case I am going to use the plain 2 core wire. All we do is cut the wire to length and grab a couple of terminals to fit to our speaker. We then grab out wire strippers and take about 5 to 10 millimeters of the two ends exposing the metal conductor, being very careful not to cut any of the conductors. Then we will twist the conductor to make a tight end with our thumb and forefinger. We then take a soldering iron; I am using the butane soldering iron for this job as it heats up quickly. We then tin the wires with our solder (basically heat up the conductor then melt the solder into the wire until the conductor is covered).

Before fitting the terminal fit a piece of heat shrink over the wire and terminal base, this will make for a tidy joint and much more element proof. Then we use our terminal pliers to fit the terminal to our tined wires. Make sure the terminal is fitted firmly and then slide up the heat shrink over the end of the terminal, then grab your heat gun and shrink down the heat shrink, do not hold the heat gun on for too long as this will melt the wire. Repeat this step for all your speaker wires.

Now we will fit our female connector to the other end of the adapter. You will need female spade terminals for these ends and they are slightly different to your normal female spade terminals and they are not insulated. What you want to have in these terminals is a small tag on the spade surface that will grab hold of the connector when you insert it in. Please see the picture below :

 The ones in the picture are female and you will want the male type for this job.

Once you have stripped and tinned your wires we can now fit our female terminals to the wires, then all we need to do is fit the connector and you are nearly done. Now for the final touches, we cut a bit of our conduit and fit it over our wires. And there you have it a custom speaker adapter.

Rv safety Basic Information

Hello, in Rv safety Basic Information, we are going to learn that safety is paramount, and learning these simple rules can save your life and/ or the cost of equipment or vehicle damage. We all know that things can happen while traveling, and vehicles can brake down, please remember if you have to park up on the road side use your safety triangles. 

The triangles should be placed at the correct distance from your vehicle, those distances are: 50-100 meters both front and rear if you are driving a heavy vehicle such as a bus. If you should have the misfortune of a flat type, when changing your tyre make sure you have a axel stand (rated for your vehicle) correctly placed under the stated points in your manual. This will greatly improve your chances of making the the tyre change without being crushed should the jack fail.

Now when you think of safety gear you think of glasses, gloves and steel cap boots these are all general precautions and vaild. If you are working outside with extension leads you will need waterproof connections for plugs and also a circuit breaker in the line to protect from electrocution.

Should you undertake any under bonnet work I would also recommend that you take off any loose jewelry, such as chains or bracelets, also tie back long hair as these can be caught up in moving parts and you may be dragged into them causing severe cuts and or loss of fingers or limbs.

Keeping the working area clean of debris and tools will also help the safety factor, as it only takes a few moments to put your tools back on the bench and or sweep the floor.

While working outside is a good practice to use a short circuit protection, these have a built in circuit breaker and will trip if there is a short to earth. I.e. water in a plug or faulty tools such as drills and so on.

If you do have to use a generator while you are at the road side, please be aware of your surrounds and place the generator clear of any dry patches of grass and or oil deposits, also if it happens to be raining use a plug shield (these units cover the entire plug connection in a waterproof housing) making it much safer.

Most drills today and other tools are double insulated; basically the outer case is separate from the inner so you are less likely to get a shock if something goes wrong.

I would have to suggest the safest way to work out doors is by using battery powered devices. Most places have these drills now a days and I would recommend a 18 volt battery due to some of the heavy duty jobs you will face while on your travels. Most of the bigger drills will charge fully in an hour so you wont be stuck on the road for long waiting for these little gems to charge.

Other safety features are in-line fuses these are attached in the circuit on the positive connection in order to protect the wiring from heating up and catching fire. Most vehicles today will not suffer from this fate, but rememeber if you add an accessories to your motorhome please use a suitable in-line fuse.

Basic 12 volt Accessories and Materials Required in your Rv travel kit 

Hello again, I am going to go over some of the Basic 12 volt Accessories and Materials Required in your Rv travel kit. Lets start with the most important accessory. This would have to be a UHF or RT this will help you commuicate with other travellers while on the road.

One of the uses for a UHF is to call for help if you are out of cellphone range or the cellphone battery is flat. After spending many hours in remote areas of the country I have found that cellphones are not that reliable. Some important points is to make sure that your UHF is capable of at least 1-5 kilometers in distance. There are many brands on the market today here are some of them, Uniden, Oricom, GME  just to name a few.

The other handy 12 volt accessory would have to be a Jump and carry or jump starter. If you are unliky enough to have your battery go flat overnight, this unit will save you having to call for the tow truck. Most units start from $99 dollars and range in CCA (cold cranking amps) the most common are from 600amp to 1000amps. PLease make sure to purchase either a 12 volt or 24 volt Jump and carry to suit the voltage of the rv or motorhome.

These units are also able to run most 12 volt accessories like Tvs and CD players, lights etc for a number of hours, depending on the watts of the accessory you wish to run. You will need to have a male cigarete holder adapter on the end of your accessories to use this function.

They also come with a deep cycle battery with in the unit so you dont need to worry about standing the unit upright or making sure it is packed correctly.

Terminals for your Rv kit

Terminals having these in your Rv Kit will save time and money if you are stuck out on the side of the road while traveling . Very simply a terminal is used primarily to  attach a wire to a connector block or switch body, commonly known as spade terminal.

Other types of terminals are used to connect to wires together; these are known as bullet terminals and are male and female in configuration. Ring eye type terminals are used to connect wires directly to battery posts or ground and any other example that requires this type. You can get these types of terminals and many others from any store that sells car parts or a local Electrical outlet, such as Haymans or Ideal electrical.

This information may seem boring for those of you that know what terminals are and how to use them. But if we could just take a moment to think back to when we were learning these things for the first time, and understand that, we all started with next to no knowledge at some point.

Now let’s continue with the materials required in your kit

Solder – The main use for solder is to join via heat (soldering iron) too stripped back wires together to either lengthen or to splice into another wire. Other uses for solder are to tin the wire, this means to cover the conductor with solder. This makes for a better solder joint and it stops the conductor being crushed by the terminal.

Heat shrink – Once you have soldered your joint, the heat shrink is then applied to the joint or wires that you have soldered together. Then apply heat with your heat gun to shrink it down making a water tight joint.

Split tubing or Conduit – Once you have completed all your solder joints and attached there wires to the switches or lights etc. You now insert the split tubing over the top of all your wires, this will protect all wires and joints from rubbing though and shorting out on any metal services, and it makes for a very neat and tidy job.

Cable ties – These come in varied lengths and sizes, they are primarily used to tie back your wires that are now protected by your split tubing back to a fixture point. Common fixture points are main wiring looms or steel line tubes installed by the manufactures. You can attach to anything as long as it looks good and will not be affected by heat.

Fuses – There are as many types of fuses as there are terminals, but we are going to cover the basics here. The three main types of fuses that we are going to use in the repair and install blogs are as follows:

Push twist – This fuse has to be one of the most common types used today, and they have been around for a long time as well. You may have seen these types of fuses connect to your car radio and the like. You will use your standard glass type (round) fuses in this holder.

Inline Blade Fuse - Mini Blade Fuse – These types of fuses are flat as is more commonly used within late model cars they take up less room than there counter parts and are easier to change than the glass fuse. These are the types of fuses and holders that we will be using the most. Commonly used under the bonnet for wiring accessories such as UHF`s and fog/spot lamps.

Basic 12 volt Electricial color codes for wiring Rv accessories

Welcome to basic 12 volt electrical color codes for wiring accessories.  There are three main colors to remember while fitting accessories like UHF`s and driving lights to your chosen vehicle.

As shown the electrical wiring color code standards, and wire codes for 12 volt and 24 volt wiring.

Red – This color is used for positive terminal connections in 12 volt applications i.e. all connections to and from the battery marked with the plus sign. You can usually find this on the top of the battery case, next to the battery post. This is the wire that carries the power (current) to the accessories.

Black – This is for negative terminal connections in 12 volt applications i.e. all connections from the battery and to the ground of the vehicle. You can find this connection on the battery displayed as a minus. This wire does not carry power (current) but it is required to complete the connection (circuit).

White – This color wire is usually used for the connection of switches to your circuit. This means that you are able to turn the lights on and off via the switch. This will be explained in depth later on in the course.

There are other color codes used by vehicle manufacturers that do match the color codes that I have explained here. I will talk you though how to find the positive connection or wire in the following sections. Also in that section we will cover the use of muilt-meters and or circuit testers.

Basic Electrical tools Required to carry in your Rv while traveling and there use

Welcome to Basic Electrical tools. I know this first hand, that problems occur in your rv while traveling. So here are a few things to help you through those frustrating times. There is nothing more annoying than sitting on the side of the road waiting for a serviceman to repair any fault. So this section is all about helping you get back on the road at your own pace and with hardy any cost to you.

I hope that everyone is able to get something useful from these pages. I know that most of you are well versed in tool selection but for some of us we need a little fine tuning. For example, if we try and use a spanner or shifter to loosen a nut instead of using a socket set this can cause rounding of the nut and make it impossible to remove. So this is where we will find why it is so important to have the right tool for the job.

Now the basic tools you will need for your Rv or motorhome kit are as follows:

Heat gun
Side Cutters
Multi-Meter
Circuit Tester
Cordless Drill
Wire Strippers
Flat nose pliers
Long Nose pliers
Marking knife or Stanley knife
Adjustable spanner or crescent or shifter
Socket Sets 1/2 inch drive, 3/8 drive, ¼ drive
Electric soldering iron at least 60watt (you will find out why later in this section) or
Gas (butane) soldering iron
Cordless Drill

 Okay then, now that we have our basic list of tools we can continue to choosing the best tool for the job. This can be explained simply by giving you examples using the tool list above, Heat gun, Side cutters, etc.

• Heat Gun – The reason we use a heat gun is to apply the heat shrink to our soldered wire joints. The main reason we use this is for safety purposes, as if you are using a naked flame in an engine bay (such as a lighter) you may ignite combustible fluids i.e. Petrol. This could result in an explosion. I kind of like the heat gun myself.

• Side Cutters – Side cutters are used to cut wire or conductor down to length. They will also cut steel wire and I also use them to trim insulation tape.

• Multi-meter – This is a battery powered device usually used to check for voltage i.e. power 12 volts. It can also be used for checking circuits between wires and switches. Testing batteries for voltage.

• Circuit tester – This is a basic way to test for power (current). More simple operation that the multi-meter, commonly used to find the positive wire. This device has a small light in the body which lights up when you find a source of power. This also has an alligator clip, attach this to a negative source.

• Cordless Drill – These drills are for light work only, for drilling small holes and can be used a screw driver. A variable speed is the best as well as keyless cutch makes for fast changing of pieces. You will need at least a 18 volt drill for this work. All screw driver bits are available from your local tool retailers.

• Wire Strippers – These can be used for taking of the plastic surrounding the wire on the conductor. You would then twist the conductor Clockwise between the thumb and forefinger to make best connection.

• Flat Nose Pliers – Used to hold a wire you wish to solder together.

• Long Nose Pliers – Retrieve a dropped article though a hole that is too big for your hand and or holding delicate pieces.

• Marking knife and Stanley Knife – To cut out a pattern you have made as a template in cardboard or to trim back and or neaten off edges.

• Adjustable spanner or crescent or shifter – If a nut is already loose, use this. Do not try and undo a nut with this tool. Use a socket set instead. You may round the edges of the nut making it to hard to use the socket set.

• Socket Sets 1/2 inch drive, 3/8 drive, ¼ drive – The best way to take off nuts that are to hard to do with the spanner.

• Gas Soldering Iron – Portable and high powered this is used outside. The reason we use this outside is to stop the wind the iron down and causing a bad solder joint. This iron burns hotter and has adjustable flame. Note: you won’t have to wait for it to heat up unlike its electric counter part.

• Electric Soldering Iron – As mentioned in the first list 60 Watt or more is good. The reason for this is to have as much power or heating power going into the wire or conductor to aid the solder to melt into the wire. This should only be used for inside wiring. I.e. making wiring looms before fitting them to the vehicle.