mikeexplorer

I don't think that would be a good idea, but I am not sure. My understanding of the brake lead is proportional to how much you step on the brakes proportional to the electric brake controller in the vehicle. It is calibrated by trailer weight so the trailer brakes operate proportional to the vehicle brakes. That lead is connected to the trailer brakes and activates them when the brakes are pressed in the vehicle. If that circuit is screwed with, it might flash on your dash "trailer disconnected" Plus you must have a battery connected to it on the trailer so in the event the trailer breaks free of the vehicle. the onboard battery activates the brakes and stops the trailer.

I do what I can, just slower now. I do still ski in the winter.

I meant the trailer harness is probably a 4 pin connection since it is only lights. You have the center light connected to the right turn wire. The center light can only be a marker light, not a brake light with a 4 pin connection. There is a way to do "B" but the center light will blink with either turn signal activated. It will glow bright with brake applied. It is a bit of a hack. If thats good for you, I will post the solution "A" cannot be done with 4 pin connection.

Agree you have to be careful, but I have used these with my camper trailer for all my connections and as long as I keep that in mind, I have not had any issues. I just keep this in mind when wiring Source side - Positive covered Load side - Positive exposed Charger - Positive exposed So for the solar controller it would be #3. I already have that connector on the battery box which I currently use for a charger when the trailer is sitting at home. (I used to use AGM battery) I probably don't have to tender the Lithium like I did. but I figure it doesn't hurt since it shuts off when charged. I also use that port when camping to connect to a 12 volt pump for our portable shower. The only thing I have to do is bump it up, currently fused to 7.5 amps so I may have to change it to a thicker wire and higher fuse for the controller. No big deal. I don;t need solar power much. The lithium battery would probably last all weekend without charging. My main draw is a 12 volt refrigerator which when running pulls 3.5 amps. (Gotta keep the beers cold) Other power draws are lights (LED so they are next to nothing), fans if needed, and USB chargers for the phone and anything else USB powered. I plan to use this panel if we are at a campground that prohibits generators.

Here riding options are more limited. These are two small state trails, one is 7.5 miles, the other 7.7 miles. They are about 5 miles apart from each other so we do them both in one day. They are nice, but small. They are called "Maple Run" and "Burnt Mills" managed by DCNR.

I am in the group photo on the right side, the fat old guy, from the video of the memorial ride. I generally don't take selfie pictures, nothing worth showing.

Trailer harness use the 4 pin connector? You have a short between green and brown wire

Oh that is perfect. Has the 2 pin connector that I have on the battery box. Yes the solar panel side is those connectors Cool, thanks for sharing the link

It is a SJCAM S10PRO model. Bought it off Ebay. I mounted it to the same mount that holds my GPS unit. I made a mount for the GPS for my older quad so I can use the same unit on my old quad. (I keep it as a spare machine and for snow plowing) I also mounted the camera to the GPS mount, but it was more shaky because of the pod. I will be filming some local trails today, and now that I have the anti0shake turned on, it should be better video.

The controller I have for it is bad, One of the buttons is broken so I cannot select the battery type 😕 Panel comes with wires that have two connectors on it, forget the name of them, then they gave me different adapters for different types of power stations. I have a 2 pin connector already at the battery box I use for the tender, I was just going to plug into that if I use the panel, but first I have to replace the controller. (out of warranty of course)

Made a video of the memorial ride. The video camera I am using is new so I did not have a lot of time to play with it. I found out AFTER I shot the video that the image stabilizer was turned off 😆 but the video didn't turn out too bad.

Looking back at the picture you posted of the quad, yeah I see what you mean. The rack is bare (no pun intended) In my case I drilled through the plastic cover and did not have to drill into the rack itself. If you mean those thread inserts used to repair a stripped out hole, two things. They may not be long enough , hard to tell from your picture, the rack tube may be 1/2 inch or 3/4 inch. The insert would have to be that long. Second issue is the thickness of the rack metal is probably 1/16 inch. Not sure if there is enough meat there to hold the insert in place. Would not be an issue when the box is attached, but when removed, they may slide out. What you might get away with is drilling and tapping a hole in the rack for the screws, I would use fine thread screws such as 1/4-28 instead of 1/4-20 or use metric screws. Then when you go to screw them in coat them with red loctite. If in the future you had to remove the screws, heat them with a torch to break the loctite bond. Mike Why not use some heat shrink tubing, slip it on over the u-bolt and shrink it for protection? If the u bolts are larger then the rack, the garden hose idea will work.

It is a soft tent so roof mount not possible. When I camp I have plenty of space to put out a solar panel if needed. What I meant by "where to put it" is the solar controller. It is not part of the fold up panel.

If this helps. Michelle's cargo box (a soft box) was going bad, attachment points were tearing off so it needed replacement. I got this metal box from a friend cheap, so what I did was remove the plastic cover on the rack and drilled out 4 holes to slip 4 bolts through. Took some plate steel and drilled & tapped to act as thin nuts. So now the bolts act as studs. Drilled the holes in the box and used knobs to screw it down to the rack. This makes the box removable if needed. I used some thin gasket material around the rack to help dampen any noise it might make, but just from trying to shake it, this sucker is on there solid. I bought a cheap outdoor floor mat, cut to size and used it for the bottom of the box.

The vehicle has 7 pin plug but the trailer side does not use it. I am not concerned about charging the battery when towing because when I have the tent trailer put away. It is hooked up to a 3 amp tender (yes rated for the battery) So its fully charged when I am headed out to camp. I do have on hand a 200 watt inverter if I need. Generally at night I run a generator. The solar panel I have is bulky and only 100 watts (the one with the older controller. I do have on hand a thinner 200 watt one I am thinking of using and I do have a newer controller for it. I just have to figure where I am going to put it.

There is no connection from the battery to the vehicle. Although the trailer plug is 7 pin, since the trailer is single axle it has no brakes. I charge the battery with a proper charger I bought for the battery using a generator at night. The solar panel I used with the old battery, but the controller does not have a LiFePO4 setting so I don't use it now.

I replaced the battery on my trailer with a LiFePO4 this past year The solar panel I have the controller does not have a LiFePO4 option (it is older one) but what you are saying it isn't needed as long as I regulate the voltage down to 14.6. The battery has its own charge controller?

I just caught this statement. Your using a DC-DC converter to upscale voltage as an input to a solar controller to charge the battery? So your charging input can be from a vehicle or a solar panel? If I read that right, I could make a change on my setup for simplicity.

Yes control transformers *MAY* work both ways but you have to look at the KVA rating of the transformer. (Small ones will rate by VA) The available current output would be less then 1/4 of the input current. Normally control transformers are designed for step-down only. Running them reverse would cause a lot of heating on the secondary side (being used as primary) since they are not designed for it (wire gauge is too small) If you really wanted to do that, they make step-up transformers for that purpose.

Most of the time an electric blanket is all I need. If it is real cold, I have a diesel heater I can use and it runs on 12 volts so I don't need to keep the generator running all the time.

The sell electronic parts. It takes getting used to their search engine. They stock over a million parts https://www.digikey.com/en/products/filter/boxes/594

1: True, OEM belts are $$$ but they last. I had an aftermarket one on Michelle's quad and it did not hold up. (had no choice, OEM out of stock at the time) The belt was starting to come apart and only lasted 2,500 miles. OEM belts I usually get 6,000 plus miles. 2: True/False Depends on the machine. Arctic cats do not use lube They use a wet clutch for the main clutch, but the primary/secondary CVT is dry. 3: Have not seen this, I have/had machines with up to 16,000 miles on them with no sheave wear.

Before the topic gets too derailed, a few photos from last weekend at Snow Shoe Rails to Trails. They held a memorial ride for one of the founding members (and a good friend of mine) He started SSRT back in 1999 and was passionate about the trail. He died last year due to cancer. He was one of the nicest people to ever know.

The box is an electronics hobby box, you can buy them in many sizes at an electronics site such as Digikey.

In PA its not allowed and you would get pulled over for it.