Lottie is Not Wired
Manly was on a roll and there was no sign of the Mad Axe Man anywhere close to Lotties rear end. Manly had wired up dozens of trailer sockets over the years so he had popped into the yard Saturday afternoon expecting to complete the tow bar job in 10 minutes or so and he did!
How simple can it be when you only have 6 wires to connect? Dead easy and the job was soon completed. The light board was by Lotties rear end - all ready to be tested as a new stick on yellow number plate with the infamous black labels LTR 989Y had just been completed.
Manly had begun to think he was seeing all life in yellow and black and wondered if it was his age but that idiocy soon passed.
Plug pushed into the socket, place the light board alongside the 2CV so it could be seen from the driver’s seat and turn on the side lights. Great! The sidelights on the board were nice and bright and then switched off. Left indicator – fine, right indicator – fine. Brake lights – dim.
Puzzled, Manly scratched his grey beard. Six wires. How could he have got it wrong?
Back in the house he checked out the interweb thingy (on 3 sites) and confirmed all the wiring colours before going back into the yard and checking the car. All seemed correct but applying the brakes put on the side lights and switching on the sidelights sparked up the brake lights on the board.
Then Lotties rear off side light bulb blew - so off came the lens and in went a bulb from a boxed Citroen bulb set marked CIT 1092. I think that was the year it was made - as it looked that old.
The blown bulb was a wonderful display of many colours rather than clear glass. Manly put it down to an aged bulb and coincidence.
It was starting to get dark but Manly thought he must have made some simple mistake and it should be easy to switch over the brake and tail light feeds. Pop went the nearside brake light bulb so at that point he gave up and went for a reviving cup of tea.
Son-in-Law of Manly (now named MSIL) was due the next morning – Mothering Sunday - and he was a qualified electrician for flying objects creating global warming and noise around airports so Manly slept easy.
Mothering Sunday 2007 arrived with flurries of snow so Manly decided to get up and out early between snow showers. Everything was rechecked and it was good but there was still the same fault. Could the plug for the board be wrongly wired? Seemed unlikely. Could there be a simple solution to a baffling problem?
Manly removed the trailer board light lens cover on one side. A single tail/brake bulb was found - so could the bulbs be in the wrong way round? No. What would happen if the spade connectors on the bulb holder were reversed?
Yes! The board lit up perfectly. On to the other lens – repeat the prescription - and all was well.
Manly then began to puzzle on this. The trailer board was about 4 years old and fitted on the motorbike trailer. It was hardly ever used as Manly normally rode his bike and the trailer was only brought out in the event of a breakdown recovery or if an extra bike was going to a show. Could it have been wrong from new and never noticed?
Who knows and who cares. Manly had solved the problem and was putting his tools way as MSIL arrived in the yard clad in blue overalls, clutching his toolbox and towering over Manly. MSIL had a light sprinkling of snow already whereas Manly had melted his snowflake smattering, or the few Citroen volts flowing thorough his arms had electrically heated his jacket.
MSIL was devastated and had to return indoors to his family, Womanly and Manly’s Mum (from here on to be known as MaMum).
The tow bar was tested properly on 24th March when an old single bed and a leather 3 seater sofa were tied onto the bike trailer for a trip to the tip. Lottie pulled a treat.
Manly is now thinking about creating a yellow and black trailer as opposed to a rusty black hulk. After all, if that colour scheme is good enough for Lottie and the most famous railway engine ever – Stevenson's Rocket – why not?
Last updated: 03 May 2008