Third Wheel Trailer - anyone have one?

Hi guys,

I recently bought a used Third Wheel Trailer and I finally got around to looking at the wiring. It has a six wire connector and I have identified all of the wires except one. I have found the ground, running, brake, left turn, and right turn signal. But there is one more wire that doesn't seem to do anything -- it is blue.

If any of you have this trailer, can you tell me what the blue wire is used for?

The trailer did not come with any instruction and the manufacturer's web site doesn't have any information. I can always call them but this is such a great resource that I figured I'd try here first.

Thanks in advance.

Not familiar with that trailer, but I have the Uni-Go which is also a one wheeled trailer.
Mine had 7 wires from the factory and one of them was to power a light on the inside of the trailer.
Does your Third Wheel have an interior light? It could be that circuit is just for that or other accessories?
Charging a laptop or phone inside the trailer while travelling...

Jim

JMartin said:

Not familiar with that trailer, but I have the Uni-Go which is also a one wheeled trailer.
Mine had 7 wires from the factory and one of them was to power a light on the inside of the trailer.
Does your Third Wheel have an interior light? It could be that circuit is just for that or other accessories?
Charging a laptop or phone inside the trailer while travelling...

Jim

Click to expand...

Thanks, I thought of that too. In fact, first thing I did was look inside to see if it had a "dome" light.

I didn't see anything in there but there is a liner that doesn't seem to be easily removed. Maybe something is underneath that liner?

When all else fails, follow the wire - visually. You did not say what kind of trailer this is - a house, camper type or utility for carrying heavy equipment. If the latter, the cable is probably attached to a frame member and goes to a distribution point. If its the former, you will be out of luck because the wiring will be covered.

etrailer has some wiring diagrams on their sight. Looks like blue would be for trailer brakes from a controller.

etrailer wiring diagrams

SMSW said:

... You did not say what kind of trailer this is - a house, camper type or utility for carrying heavy equipment.

Click to expand...

This... is a Third Wheel Trailer:



Jim

I don't have one of these but I have wired up a few using a 6 pin connector as well as 5 and 4 pin connectors.
on the follow the wire back. Usually that wire is used for trailer brakes but such a system added to a trailer adds a little weight, that becomes a big weight in a small trailer. I can see using trailer brakes on a bigger heavier trailer like a pop-up camper, but a lightweight mono-wheel trailer is really too small for the trade off IMO (unless you plan to regularly pack it with 300+ lbs of gear!). That wire may possibly be just sitting under the liner along the inside back side of the trailer near one of the lights. It a standard off the shelf 6 pin plug was used the maker may have just buried the end just to protect it. Feel along the liner to see if you can find a wire that just ends at nothing. Since your bike likely doesn't have a trailer brake system installed you can choose to use that wire for anything you want, as long as you find it not already connected someplace. Add a dome light, or a 12v/USB charge port in the trailer, or both. I've seen at least one rider who added a connection for a spare bike battery (but they were having "other" electrical problems ). Or you can just leave it alone and do nothing with it. As long as the trailer lights and ground are handled you have all the connections needed.

I remember reading somewhere that there is wiring associated exclusively for ABS bikes. That maybe?

Good Ridin'
slmjim

This'll do it...... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trailer_connectors_in_North_America ?

Dave look on the wheel hub to see if it has brakes. If it does that would be the blue wire like the others said.

JMartin said:

This... is a Third Wheel Trailer:



Jim

Click to expand...

LOL I was thinking fifth wheel. Sorry.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I couldn't find what the blue wire led to so I determined that it must just be an extra power source (if needed for future expansion). I got the trailer wiring all connected and tested and everything works according to plan so I just left the blue wire unconnected.

This is funny, I've been looking at Third Wheel Trailers off and on for the last couple of days! I originally was considering one for my Bandit and gave up the idea, but now that I have my ST......

It's probably just a pipe dream at this point. I doubt I can justify or even B.S. a reason for buying one at this point. I go to the Ride for Sight here in Ontario every year (this is my 20th year, the Ride for Sight's 40th year) and would love to have this to haul my tent etc in. As it stands I'll probably end up with a new dry bag and Rok straps instead. Not nearly as slick looking but much more affordable.

As for the wire, is it possibly for a plate light? When I look at pics of the TWT, the plate is not mounted under the break light so it has a separate light to illuminate the plate.

Anyone have any pictures of how these trailers are mounted? I'm thinking of making up a third wheel trailer and am just wondering where there bolted to. Going to put a ball hitch on it to so I could also pull a normal trailer

I run a home built single wheel trailer. I use a unigo hitch and for wiring I am using a hoppy 5 to 4 wire converter. Here is a pic of it. I also have the drawings as I designed it. I have over 20K on mine with no issues.

That looks great and exactly what I'm thinking of. Any chance you'd post your design and maybe some more pictures

Could you post pictures of hitch too, I'm gonna have a go at making the hole lot

Paddy said:

Could you post pictures of hitch too, I'm gonna have a go at making the hole lot

Click to expand...

Here's a thread that may help.
https://www.st-owners.com/forums/threads/where-are-the-plans-for-the-single-wheel-trailer.113499/

Thanks joe

Paddy said:

That looks great and exactly what I'm thinking of. Any chance you'd post your design and maybe some more pictures

Click to expand...

I added a few pics to my 1 wheel album. It won't let me post a pdf there so I am adding it here. Personally I would not bother building the hitch. Just get the Unigo one and be done with that part. But that's your call. I don't have any photos of the hitch. I can take some but some parts are going to be hard to see.