I'M A MAN OF MEANS BY NO MEANS

 

"Lawks a-lordy and blow me down with a multimeter, I'm an auto electrician".

Yes, add another feather to my hat ...

No, one's enough

.... I rewired the trailer today using the kit I bought from Save Barn.

It took a while but mainly because:

• I don't have a mechanic's pit or a hoist
• There were no instructions
• I had to remove the old system
• The new cables, because of a fancy plastic weather protection system on the connectors wouldn't fit through the drilled holes on the trailer frame
• The new lights didn't fit into the bolt holes of the trailer frame even though the trailer is the same make as the parts I bought
• The cordless drill I own didn't have enough grunt to make new holes through the galvanised steel
• I had to take off the 'wings' that the light fittings are attached to to take them to Rod's place to borrow his electric drill and metal drill bits to drill new holes
• Galvanised steel is bloody tough and thick and it took ages
• my hip tendon problem was giving me gyp from having to crouch down and crawl under the trailer continuously

Still, mustn't grumble.

I got the job done only having to call on The Old Girl's help once to sit in the car and depress the brake pedal to see if the brake lights were working. They were:

• Brake lights - check ✓
• Indicator lights left  - check ✓
• Indicator lights right - check ✓
• Driving lights - check ✓
• Registration plate light - check X

Bummer!

The kit did not come with a registration plate light fitting or connection. WTF!

I played around with the old wiring - the wires from the existing plate light that does work (I think) and tentatively stripped some wires and connected to the new fittings (Right hand side driving lights wire (brown) and white wire (earth) to the trailer body, holding both in place to see if anything 'took'. Nothing - which was both a disappointment and a relief as if it had 'taken' I might have got a shock.

Anyway, I'm happy and will accept the honorific of 'Auto Electrician'- Thanks Lieutenant The Honourable George - and will bask in glory for a day or so.

Longer would be nicer (said the actress to the Archbishop) but I do need to get a W.O.F. for the trailer so that I can take garden rubbish to the tip sometime soon. I'm between a rock and a hard place here. This morning, after spending about an hour and a half getting the old wires out and the new wires in the trailer, when sitting with The Old Girl having an early lunch she asked "Finished?"

Bloody hell! I'd only just discovered that the cables with the fancy fittings wouldn't go through the chassis holes and had to employ a complicated and convoluted zip-tie system. I said that it would take a bit longer not knowing at that time I'd have to go to Rod's garage to drill new holes for the light fittings. Sheesh!

The Old Girl, as women do, said at that point "you know what I'd do, I'd just get an auto electrician to do it."

"An auto electrician would charge hundreds of dollars" I said. "I can do it and save money."

You can see my problem here. Unless I can find an easy snap-in' system  compatible with the Road Chief replacement lights kit and quickly install it myself, I'm fucked and will have to get an expert to do the job. While this should be way less than getting someone to do the entire job from scratch I'm at risk of getting the old "I told you so." from the Old Girl.

Women huh!