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Lookers Park Royal



Member Since: 19 Jun 2008
Location: London
Posts: 338

United Kingdom 
Sankey 24v Trailer Conversion
I had a search for 24v which didn't uncover anything, therefore I decided to post...... But which area, Tech & Mods or here? I figured that those who frequent this area are probably most likely to be able to give me the advice I need, so here goes.........

I've agreed to buy a really nice Sankey Widetrack which eventually, when funds dictate, I plan to turn into a basic camping/expedition trailer. Probably nothing too extensive, but something that I can use for laning, and then camping along the way, plus the odd show. Besides, I've run out of mods (within my own capabilities) for my 90, therefore this is a new project for me. Confused

So, cutting to the chase, the advice I need is regarding converting the electrics from 24v to 12v 7 pin. As I've not got the trailer I've not had a chance to snoop around the electrics, therefore I'm unsure whether it's just a case of bulbs and a plug, or whether it's a complete replacement of all wiring, plug and lamp units. I guess the easy option would be to use my trailer board as a donor and swap everything over, however I would quite like to leave it as original looking as possible and avoid compromises with cheap trailer board components. I'm also not sure what the electrics set-up is on a 24v Sankey, for instance if there is a separate fuse or junction box somewhere on the trailer itself.

And advice, info or tips would be very much appreciated.

James Thumbs Up
Post #140192 18th Apr 2012 8:12pm
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Caterham



Member Since: 06 Nov 2008
Location: Birmingham
Posts: 6298

England 2011 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 XS CSW Stornoway Grey
should be a fairly simple of case of changing bulbs to 12V then removing the nato plug and associated cable replacing it with a 7 pin and associated lead into the junction box. within the junction box you'll need to link some of the circuits together that would otherwise be split across 2 or more pins on the nato plug.

a bit messy within the junction box but if methodical about it then its quite straight forward (after all I managed it) if a little time consuming. alot easier done from above once the tub is removed Thumbs Up
Post #140244 18th Apr 2012 9:54pm
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discocuzzy



Member Since: 16 Jul 2008
Location: surrey
Posts: 1200

England 
James, pm Wiggs on the D3 site, he will point you in the right direction Thumbs Up
Your more than welcome to have a look at mine as well even though it was already done when I bought it. You cannot teach stupid people to do clever things
Post #140260 18th Apr 2012 11:25pm
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Landie Boy



Member Since: 14 Jan 2011
Location: Essex
Posts: 431

United Kingdom 2010 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 USW Stornoway Grey
Hi,

hope this helps

"To convert a Sankey from 24v to 12v all you need to do is swap over the bulbs and change the plug so it fits into a civilian socket. The 24v bulbs are as follows:

Indicator/Fog/Running lights: 24v 21w

Stop/Tail lights: 24v 21/5w

Replace these with the 12v equivalent and job done.

Next job is to remove the 12 pin military plug and swap for a 7 pin12N civvy plug which plugs into the ES01 socket. The wires are as follows:

Military Spec wiring
Wire Letter/No. Function Pins on 12N
[Pin A] wire #1 Spare not used on 12N
[Pin B] wire #2 Left hand Stop Pin 6 / Red
[Pin C] wire #3 Convoy not used on 12N
[Pin D] wire #4 Earth Pin 3 / White
Pin E] wire #5 tail and number plate light Pin 5 (RH Tail/Brown) & Pin 7 (LH Tail / Black)
Pin F] wire #6 Fog lamps Pin 2 / Blue
[Pin H] wire #7 Spare Not used on 12N
[Pin J] wire #8 Right hand stop Pin 6 / Red
[Pin K] wire #9 Aux Not used on 12N
[Pin L] wire #10 Earth Pin 3 / White
[Pin M] wire #11 Left hand Indicator Pin 1 / Yellow
[Pin N] wire #12 Right Hand Indicator Pin 4 / Green"

Taken from http://landroveroneten.com/index.php/2009/...n-trailer/

Jack
Post #140261 18th Apr 2012 11:36pm
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ken



Member Since: 18 Aug 2009
Location: Banging Birds with my bitches !!
Posts: 4328

United Kingdom 
James bring it to the Warehouse we sort

Best advice strip out and start again

Think I have a civie plug
Post #140263 19th Apr 2012 5:00am
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Zagato
Site Supporter


Member Since: 08 Jan 2011
Location: Billingshurst West Sussex
Posts: 5012

United Kingdom 
Either make up a short adaptor (sankey socket to pin!) or what I did was bought a trailor light board and lead/plug and simply took the light board off and wired up the lights and tied the lead up to the front of the sankey - job done for £20 Very Happy
Post #140273 19th Apr 2012 6:54am
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christyler



Member Since: 10 Dec 2010
Location: Cork, Ireland
Posts: 67

My advice although it doesn't fit into cheap, is if you haven't done anything yet then consider using the 13pin euro plug and socket for both car and trailer.
you can then have both a battery feed and ignition feed in the trailer to charge the trailer batteries whilst you are driving,

Also these connectors are waterproof.

i have also run an alarm circuit in there so that the vehicle alarm is triggered if the trailer plug is removed when the alarm is set.

You can get 13pin to 7 pin adaptors if you want to use other trailers.
Post #140287 19th Apr 2012 8:24am
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Lookers Park Royal



Member Since: 19 Jun 2008
Location: London
Posts: 338

United Kingdom 
Thanks for all the advice guys. It doesn't sound like as difficult a job as I had thought. I think I will probably do as Zagato has suggested re a trailer board. Thumbs Up

Ken, many thanks indeed for the offer. The only issue is my 90 is not LEZ compliant, therefore I don't think I will be able to get the trailer in to West London. Big Cry

Thanks again all,

James Thumbs Up
Post #140325 19th Apr 2012 12:36pm
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ken



Member Since: 18 Aug 2009
Location: Banging Birds with my bitches !!
Posts: 4328

United Kingdom 
Trade Plates ?
Post #140329 19th Apr 2012 12:52pm
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blackwolf



Member Since: 03 Nov 2009
Location: South West England
Posts: 17337

United Kingdom 2007 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 DCPU Stornoway Grey
If I recall correctly mine was 24V when I bought it (from the last ever Ruddington auction). I towed it home behind my 80" Series I (my daily driver at the time) with a trailer board, and then fitted a NATO electrical socket to the Land-Rover. The only alteratin to the trailer I made was to swap the 24V bulbs for 12V ones - in the days of the narrow-track trailers (and probably still to this day) this was the only difference.

In the fullness of time, and with the acquisition of other tugs, I decided to convert to a standard 7-pin connector. To do this I mounted a 7-pin trailer socket on the front crossmember of the trailer (between the legs of the A frame) and wired it into the junction box on the back of the crossmember (which, although it used sealed military bullet connectors, also accepts standard civvy bullets). I also removed completely the original NATO plug and lead (which I still have somewhere - they were rare as hen's teeth at one time). Finally I made up a short lead to connect the socket on the tug to the socket on the trailer using a length of 7-core coiled cable which I happened to have (coiled like the air lines on HGV trailers), perfect for the job. This meant that when the trailer was not in use I could remove the jumper cable completely and keep it safe; it was a totally-reversible modification if I wanted in the future to restore the trailer.

Ultimately I sold the Sankey, mainly because it was so damn hard loading or unloading it (the early ones didn't have a tailgate, so everything had to go over the side), and replaced it with a more useful ex-BT trench-digger trailer.

One unusual feature of my Sankey was that it still had all the wading plugs in the bottom, and I always wanted to see if it was true that they could float with a full payload! Unfortunately I never had the opportunity. It always struck me that this was one of the most pointless Army requirements - the Land-Rover won't float, so why have a floating trailer? Never understood that!
Post #140354 19th Apr 2012 3:21pm
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alantd



Member Since: 14 Dec 2008
Location: Northamptonshire
Posts: 1513

United Kingdom 2007 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 XS CSW Tonga Green
As above. Just swap the bulbs and the plug.

I did all the wiring in the plug rather than changing back at the junction box because I wanted to keep the insanely long, flexible harness (and the ability to convert back if necessary/convert to 13 pin at a later date).

Colour coding for Sankey plug is:

[Pin A] Red/Brown = wire #1 = Convoy = not used on 12N
[Pin B] Green/Purple = wire #2 = Stop = Pin 6 / Red
[Pin C] Red/Brown = wire #3 = Convoy = not used on 12N
[Pin D] Black = wire #4 = Earth = Pin 3 / White
[Pin E] Red/Orange = wire #5 = Tail = Pin 5 (RH Tail/Brown) & Pin 7 (LH Tail / Black)
[Pin F] Red/Yellow = wire #6 = Fog = Pin 2 / Blue
[Pin H] Red/Brown = wire #7 = Convoy = Not used on 12N
[Pin J] Green/Purple = wire #8 = Stop = Pin 6 / Red
[Pin K] Purple = wire #9 = Aux = Not used on 12N
[Pin L] Black = wire #10 = Earth = Pin 3 / White
[Pin M] Green/Red = wire #11 = LH Indicator = Pin 1 / Yellow
[Pin N] Green/White = wire #12 = RH Indicator = Pin 4 / Green

Join A,C & H together.
Join B & J
Join D & L

K is the aux permanent 12v feed. You won't need that unless you plan to add some extra gubbins to the trailer. If so, it might be better to swap to 13 pin S-type electrics on the Land Rover.

Whole job: 1 hour (+ the inevitable 3 hours of fiddling around as one of the bolt heads shears off and you cut one cable too far down...).

HTH

Alan One that started out as a 2.4 TDCi 110 XS
+ New Defender 110 First Edition
Post #141878 26th Apr 2012 12:16pm
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Laurie



Member Since: 22 Feb 2008
Location: Sussex, England
Posts: 2897

England 2005 Defender 90 Td5 XS CSW Bonatti Grey
There's a German guy on the Ex Mil Land Rover forum who's selling brand new NATO sockets complete with about 3' of cable. Easy to splice into your existing vehicle wiring. 
Post #141879 26th Apr 2012 12:25pm
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VeeTee



Member Since: 06 Mar 2011
Location: Somewhere
Posts: 1512

Netherlands 
blackwolf wrote:

One unusual feature of my Sankey was that it still had all the wading plugs in the bottom, and I always wanted to see if it was true that they could float with a full payload! Unfortunately I never had the opportunity. It always struck me that this was one of the most pointless Army requirements - the Land-Rover won't float, so why have a floating trailer? Never understood that!


They were also used behind a boat or amphibious vehicle to cross rivers...


Click image to enlarge
 Cheers, Vincent
1959 Polynorm 1/4 Ton Trailer, Olive Drab Green (sold)
1970 M416 Military Trailer (Camping Trailer Conversion), Epsom Green (sold)
1975 Series III 88 V6, Light Green (sadly sold)
1996 Defender 110 CSW 300 Tdi, Epsom Green (sold)
2000 Freelander 1 TD4 3-drs, Silver (sold)
2006 Freelander 1 TD4 5-drs Facelift Automatic, Tonga Green (sold)

MySite
Post #141916 26th Apr 2012 3:44pm
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paulgrs2



Member Since: 11 Dec 2011
Location: Pickering, North Yorkshire
Posts: 39

United Kingdom 1988 Defender 110 200 Tdi PU Baltic Blue
I would personally strip all the wiring out and rewire it with 7 core, based upon I know how crap the original wiring is after 24yrs as a mechanic in the army.
Post #142293 28th Apr 2012 6:57pm
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Merlin



Member Since: 30 Oct 2010
Location: Newmarket
Posts: 981

United Kingdom 
Is "Wiggs on the D3 site" the guy who is/was converting a Sankey to a camping trailer? Have you a link so we could have a look?

Merlin
Post #142366 29th Apr 2012 10:40am
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