Anyone know where I can buy 7 core trailer cable that has a wound-in curl? I want a couple of metres of it for my Forth-Rail-Bridge trailer project and balk at paying £20 for an extension cable.
BTW Maplin is not the answer!
TIA
Richard
I think the size of your towbar and the power of the towing vehicle are going to be more of problem if you intend towing the Forth Rail Bridge ;-)
How about some compressed air curly flex with singles threaded down the middle?
Yes. I am pretty sure that you could get these from Autac
I had some cables specially made for a table saw control application. THey are signal cables with 8 x 7/0.2mm, 2 metres long, so not wildly different, although I presume that you would need heavier gauge than this for a trailer.
Cost was £12 each.
go to a commercial vehicle factors, mind you I might have a spare bit in my garage, I'll have a look tomorrow, what length do you need it to extend to ?
mrcheerful
Hi Mrcheeful. Thanks for that.
3 metres tops. I want to fit a box that distributes power to the various side/front/tail lights on the trailer to the front of the box body. Then run the curly stuff from that to the towing vehicle. The idea being that the curly stuff will allow for cornering without the risk of slack dragging on the ground. Does that sound valid.Ta
Richard
Sounds very reasonable. Oddly enough I had looked at Autac before posting to the NG. The site looked very professional, non-retail and expensive, hence my posting. Although I have sent them an email.
Rgds
Richard
sounds perfectly sensible, IIRC the bit I have got has a commercial type plug on one end and the other is just wires, if you hard wire it to the trailer and fit a standard plug on the end it should be fine, I know where it will be in the garage, but I can't conveniently go and check till tomorrow afternoon . Assuming I can find it you can have it for nothing, but I'll dig it out and check the length and post the details here tomorrow.
mrcheerful
The
IMHO, you will only be able to have a very short length of 'curly' unsupported and / or very little tension on it to stop it pulling out the plug?
I used some on the recent rebuild of a little German box trailer (as you did to feed a waterproof 'junction box') but it ends up getting used like non curly (and being heavier can actually hang down easier than non curly)?
Offering a common d-i-y reply, in all of my 32 years towing I can't remember ever catching the lighting cable on the ground / objects (but then don't tend to tow 'off road' much .. except the B.O.B 'Yak' behind the tandem maybe) ;-)
All the best with your project ...
T i m
| Offering a common d-i-y reply, in all of my 32 years towing I can't | remember ever catching the lighting cable on the ground / objects (but | then don't tend to tow 'off road' much .. except the B.O.B 'Yak' | behind the tandem maybe) ;-)
I have severed my caravan road lighting cable, once in by dragging it along the ground. Repairing it in a service area with PVC tape was a right pain.
To come back to the OP's question, curly cable or at least ready made ext leads made with curly cable should be available from CPC or Towsure for less than an arm and a leg.
However, as others have noted, it really isn't necessary, as long as only a little slack is left on the cable (and only a little should be needed if the cable is cable tied to the A Frame / Drawbar to just short of the tow hitch).
As mentioned about 12 quid but are only 1.5m long and I believe the OP was looking for something around 3m (tops)(with his current design in mind anyway) ;-)
When I rewired my trailer I brought std 7 core cable from each of the light units, up the A frame of the chassis to a point up near the draw bar coupling where they were united in a waterproof box with the coily bit. This meant there were unused conductors in each cable but also all signals were present at both points (backup wires maybe)?
On from that, I have even see the 'loop' held up by a light elastic band to the jockey wheel handle so that there is slack when needed, won't pull the plug out and is held clear of any bits that might trap the cable (like overrun brake mechs)?
A small loop that would cope on full lock with the socket on the 'wrong' side and a bit for luck seems to work though. I use those large black re-usable cable ties so I can quickly adjust the slack if the trailer is towed by a different vehicle.
All the best ..
T i m
Have you tried a commercial vehicle breakers yard ? threre should be several in the yellow pages.
Have you tried a commercial vehicle breakers yard ? threre should be several in the yellow pages.
Now that's a very clever idea. I need to install trailer fittings and I'll certainly follow that up.
despite a good hunt that bit of curly lead has eluded me, sorry.
mrcheerful (despite having too much junk)
Thanks to all who replied, and especially to those who looked!
Autac, bless them, have offered to send me a sample.
Rgds Richard
That's a good result, Richard.
I found them good to deal with and pricing for my special custom requirement pretty fair and delivery fast.
Just wondered, are these curly cables sold in set lengths so that you get a straight bit of cable at the ends or can you buy it 'off the roll' and in that case do you just fight the curley bit into the 7pin plug etc?
All the best ..
T i m
The ones I got from Autac have straight ends and I could specify how much straight end I wanted.
One *could* make off a curly end into a connector, but the result would look rather tacky.
You need a straight end.
Nice ..
That's what I though ..
At all times ;-)
All the best ..
T i m
You're quite right about the pukka Autac cables having straight ends. I expect that my 'sample' will be curly in its entire length. Not something I'm going to complain about tho'
Rgds
Richard
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