overheated trailer plug

Hi Jamas, overheating is a sign of poor connectivity , or a high resistance joint or overload. If the only problem has been a melt at the van plug it probably was caused by a poor contact (loose or dirty) in the van plug.
Was it the first time you used the van with this connection or has it been ok in the past?
Are you charging the van battery or using the plug to run the fridge as these loads will be too heavy for a trailer plug and may be causing the problem ,if so you will need to uprate the wiring.
Good luck chasing the problem.
Sparkie

Jamas,
My guess would be bad connectivity between the convertor and original plug. I run two plugs on the back of my 80 series, 1 large round seven pin and a rectangle plug. The reason I did this at the time was it cost me about 1/3 the price of one of those converter things. They also are quite bulky which over road vibrations could have worked it's way loose enough to cause bad connection (heat build up). Lucky you found out that way and not by a smouldering mess.

Rob

As an old auto sparky.. your problem is not in the plug design.

Either you have a loose connection in the plug or else you have a short in the wiring in the blinker circuit on the van. Shorts burn or heat from the point of trouble back towards the power source.

Go find a good auto sparky and let him/her sort it out.

Cheers

Mark T

as it is probably a bad connection as already stated, I tow all sorts of things for work & my patrol has 6 types of plugs on it, but i always carry a can of spray contact cleaner & often spread the pins so it is has a good connection as most people are not gentle when they wriggle the plugs apart closing the pins on the male plug.

as i tow some trailers 30' that have many clearance & tail lights by fitting LED globs has been great help (my old 94 patrol never had a problem but my 04 will blow fuse's at the slightest extra load)

Hi Jamas - agree with above - get an auto electrician to check it - stray heating can cause rather large damage. It happens while you are unaware - eg towing (and it is down the end of the fuel tank).

Could I make 2 suggestions :

1. I notice you have checked that the van is not being charged from the car. If you do want to charge from the car to the camper, which keeps the camper battery fully charged, get an anderson plug with heavy wiring from the car battery (via a fuse and solenoid - redarc or similar). As voltage drop is your biggest problem over the distance (5-6 mtrs) you need some seriously heavy cable to minimise it. Also ensure the anderson plug EARTH - either full length back to the battery, or wire to the chassis connection is of similar heavy guage.

2. Check out this web site. For all things camping electrical. Site Link
In particular, read the 'Electrics - wiring woes' article.

....................Regards.................Keith
nb owned a Coromal Magnum (loved it) - now have a Coromal Corvair (both offroad)

Change the plug, or change/add the correct socket to your tow vehicle.
Do away with the adaptor ("conversion link"), all the adaptor does is provide an additional point of failure.

Cheers,
dion.

Jamas - there is one thing you NEED to check.
The Campers have electric brakes.
When installing a brake controller, they fit a thick wire (normally blue) for the power to the brakes, but sometimes forget to fit a larger earth wire to the plug (on the CAR.)

The same current that flows down the power wire, must return via the earth.
If the EARTH wire is too small - the current burns it out.
Perhaps that is the cause of your burnt wire?......................Keith