Ok so I went the other day and bought a set of trailer lights from West marine and thought I would install them this afternoon. I wired them together first to test them and here is what I got:
Daytime (no headlights) - works fine, no lights on while driving, hit brakes lights illuminate, hit turn signal everything works,
Headlights on- lights illuminated while driving, turn signals work, but when brake is pressed the lights go dark.
They are incondescent lights and only one of the two filaments is lighting up. I thought maybe I had a problem with my truck so I tried a different vehicle, same thing. I even went and bought a cheap set at Wally World, same thing.
I found something online that said it could have been a grounding issue. I had the white grounding wire “touching” the galvanized trailer frame but wasn’t sure if that was enough. Any help on what could have gone wrong is greatly appreciated!
The brown wires are for your lights. The green or yellow wires go to your stop/turn signals. Sounds like you may have the lights wired to your stop/turn signals and vice/versa. Did you just change out the lights and not the whole wiring? If so, it may be crossed up at the pigtail.
The brown wires are for your lights. The green or yellow wires go to your stop/turn signals. Sounds like you may have the lights wired to your stop/turn signals and vice/versa. Did you just change out the lights and not the whole wiring? If so, it may be crossed up at the pigtail.
'06 Mckee Craft
184 Marathon
DF140 Suzuki
Yes , I used the wires from the second kit. I have the colors matching- brown to brown, yellow to yellow, and green to green.
I remember when I put new lights on my trailer (using the existing wire from the tongue/plug,) I still had to ground each light.
“I am constantly amazed at the stupidity of the general public.”
~my dad
Equipment:
2007 Grady White 222 Fisherman / 250 Yamaha
Simrad NSS evo2 and G4
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Make sure your hitch ball & coupler are making a good connection as well. Put the front wheel/stand up so full weight is on the ball/coupler. I’ve had times when I’ve hooked up & the lights aren’t working right. As soon as I move a bit, the lights work fine. May be a little rust or something on the ball or the coupler.
Bob Van Gundy
803-727-4069
Custom Aluminum Fabrication
Hard wire your ground directly to the truck’s wiring harness.
Don’t depend on your trailer coupler to make the ground for you.
If the lights are going out, you’ve lost your ground.
It’s likely you have a just enough of a ground to carry a small amount of current but insufficient to carry the entire load.
X3 on the ground problem. Don’t depend on getting ground through the hitch. Hard wire it! I have cussed trailer lights enough to send a GOOD man to hell.
Do you have separate Turn and Brake lights on your Pickup? I had to put an adapter on an older toyota to get turn and brake lights to work proper.
I would think if you had a ground issue it would show up on everything? Pretty simple circuit. White ground straight to your trailer frame, Brown-running lights, Green right turn and brake, Yellow left turn and brake.
Not sure what kind of truck you have or the other test truck was, but most new trucks now run seperate fuses for a trailer. Chevy even has a seperate fuse for left and right turn sig.
Make sure you didn’t pinch a wire while mounting the lights?
quote:Make sure your hitch ball & coupler are making a good connection as well
I about went crazy trying to put a new wiring harness/lights on a kayak trailer. Could not get anything to work. The problem? I had the trailer plugged into my truck BUT, I had not hooked the trailer up to the truck. Once I hitched it up. TA DA, lights!
“Apathy is the Glove into Which Evil Slips It’s Hand”, but really, who cares?
Does anyone think if I got a set of LED lights that there wouldn’t be as much of a grounding issue???
17’ Mako
16’ Alumacraft
. Not sure but I put led lights on all 5 of my trailers following the directions supplied and have not had any problems.As some mentioned before,my ground is going through my plug ,which I think helps. I purchased the kits with new wires and all.Get a voltmeter and check the plug on your truck also.Pretty good directions on those kits.
No expert here but, both of my trailers have LEDs and I think grounding is just as important with them. Check all connections, somewhere there is probably a weak or loose one.
“Apathy is the Glove into Which Evil Slips It’s Hand”, but really, who cares?
Wired many trailers. Grounding completes the circuit. Don,t count on the ball connector. You will always have problems with rust. Got to have a good ground. Connect the white wire with a screw on the trailer. The white wire on the unit doing the towing. If you don’t make good grounds the run lights will go out when the brakes are hit.
Update: I went and bought a set of LEDs from Wally World: they worked! Hooked them up but didn’t mount them onto the trailer yet. The leds have a 3rd grounding wire coming out of each light which may have solved my grounding problem. I bought special mounts off eBay to mount them on top of my guide poles to try to keep them out of saltwater. This means I will have to make an extension for the grounding wire and run all 3 wires through the guide poles to the frame. Hopefully I have everything figured out and it is smooth sailing from here on out. I really appreciate all the help from eveybody!
After having some common ground issues with mine, I now accassionally clean up the ball and inside the receiver with sandpaper and a wire brush to get rid of any corrosion that may be keeping them from making a good connection.
Also, if there’s ever any doubt, as a check, you can always just connect a jumper cable from the vehicle chassis to the trailer frame to assure a good common ground. The jumper cable also works well if you are working on the lights and don’t want to have actually hook up the receiver to the ball.
Update: I went and bought a set of LEDs from Wally World: they worked! Hooked them up but didn’t mount them onto the trailer yet. The leds have a 3rd grounding wire coming out of each light which may have solved my grounding problem. I bought special mounts off eBay to mount them on top of my guide poles to try to keep them out of saltwater. This means I will have to make an extension for the grounding wire and run all 3 wires through the guide poles to the frame. Hopefully I have everything figured out and it is smooth sailing from here on out. I really appreciate all the help from eveybody!
17’ Mako
16’ Alumacraft
Don’t ground to the frame. Run wires all the way to the front and connect them to the white wire on the pigtail. You do this and you will have years of trouble free service from your new LEDS!
I put a junction box near the tongue on my old trailer and ran grounds to each light. Eliminated all grounding issues.
Also, use adhesive lined shrink tube like Ancor makes, not the automotive stuff. It’s heat shrink with hot glue inside that waterproofs the connection. Worth the extra $$$
