kimberwarden
Junior Member
Posts: 91 
Likes: 32
17' 64 Oasis
Currently Offline
|
Post by kimberwarden on Mar 23, 2017 9:24:22 GMT -8
I'm hooking up my exterior lighting system after having the trailer taken apart for well over a year. All the lights work, with the exception of the right running light on the back and the right marker light on the side. The right brake and turn signal lights on the back do work. (The tail lights are 2-lamp.) When I check each of the running lights with a continuity tester, the tester lights up.
I don't know whether or not to suspect a grounding issue. Would a continuity tester light up if there was a problem with the ground?
|
|
mrmarty51
Leading Member
Posts: 1,787 
Likes: 423
1972 HOMEMADE
Currently Offline
|
Post by mrmarty51 on Mar 23, 2017 9:45:23 GMT -8
Yes it would.
I too am suspecting a bad ground since You do have voltage to the lamps.
If You hook the test lamp to the light fixtures "ground" wire or terminal, with the park/tail lamp turned on, then touch the other end of Your probe to a known good "ground" and if the test light illuminates then You have got a bad ground and the test lamp is simply completing the grounding circuit.
|
|
kimberwarden
Junior Member
Posts: 91
Likes: 32
17' 64 Oasis
Currently Offline
|
Post by kimberwarden on Mar 23, 2017 9:59:29 GMT -8
Great to know, thanks! These lights are grounded by being screwed to the trailer skin. (I wish I had thought to run individual ground wires to each light while I had the skin off!) Is there any way to know whether the grounding problem is between the lamp and skin or between the skin and frame? If it's possible, I'd love to know which to try to fix first, since the light is already puttied in place and I don't want to remove it unnecessarily; and I don't want to drill a hole in the skin to wire it to the frame unless I have to.
|
|
mrmarty51
Leading Member
Posts: 1,787
Likes: 423
1972 HOMEMADE
Currently Offline
|
Post by mrmarty51 on Mar 23, 2017 10:50:14 GMT -8
Yes there is. with the trailer lights turned on. Probe the skin then connect the other end of the probe lamp to a known good ground on the trailers frame. If the lamp illuminates then the skin is not being grounded.
A simple fix. Just run a grounding wire from the trailer to a designated skin ground. bare off a small spot through the paint of the skin, drill a small hole then a sheet metal screw that is smaller than the drilled hole. You might have to drill a small hole in one of the trailer frames outriggers to get something to connect the other end of the ground wire too. just be sure that wherever You are grounding to that the surface where the wire will attach to is clean. I also like to apply a light coating of a corrosion preventive to the ground wires terminals and to the surfaces that the ground wire will be attaching to.
It might even be that a small grounding wire may need to be attached between each of the campers pieces of siding in order to get a good ground to the frame.
Be sure that from the trailers plug/wire that there is a good ground to the frame of the trailer.
|
|
kimberwarden
Junior Member
Posts: 91
Likes: 32
17' 64 Oasis
Currently Offline
|
Post by kimberwarden on Mar 24, 2017 7:18:31 GMT -8
Thanks for the tip about how to test whether the skin is being grounded. Just for my own education, can you explain why the tester light would light up if the skin isn't grounded? I would expect the opposite, but I don't have a good understanding of this stuff, despite all I've read.
|
|
mrmarty51
Leading Member
Posts: 1,787
Likes: 423
1972 HOMEMADE
Currently Offline
|
Post by mrmarty51 on Mar 24, 2017 8:36:40 GMT -8
Thanks for the tip about how to test whether the skin is being grounded. Just for my own education, can you explain why the tester light would light up if the skin isn't grounded? I would expect the opposite, but I don't have a good understanding of this stuff, despite all I've read. I will try. LOL If the marker/tail lamps ground wire is not getting a circuit carrying the current to the ground, then the tail/park lamp will not light up because there is not a completed circuit. If there is not a completed circuit to the ground, then, the voltage that is sent to the tail/park lamp bulb just dead heads right at the ground wire of the tail/park lamp wire or terminal. When the probe/test lamp is introduced into the circuit by attaching one of the test lamps terminals, either the clip or the probe, to the ground terminal or wire of the park/tail lamp, and the other end of the probe/test lamp is connected to a good ground source, then, the voltage that is going to the park/tail lamp is no longer dead headed, the voltage is passing through the probe/test lamp and going to the ground that the probe/test lamp is hooked to. That makes for a completed circuit, and the voltage that is going to the ground source, as it passes through the probe/test lamps bulb will cause the probe/test lamp to light. In a lot of cases, once the probe/test light makes the completed circuit, then the tail/park lamp will also light up. I hope this helps in the understanding of the flow of electrical current. |
|
kimberwarden
Junior Member
Posts: 91
Likes: 32
17' 64 Oasis
Currently Offline
|
Post by kimberwarden on Mar 26, 2017 15:46:56 GMT -8
Thank you so much for that great explanation! I got the lights to work. It turned out that I had the tail lights wired wrong. I went from a 1 lamp tail light to a 2 lamp tail light and got the wires mixed up.
|
|
mrmarty51
Leading Member
Posts: 1,787
Likes: 423
1972 HOMEMADE
Currently Offline
|
Post by mrmarty51 on Mar 26, 2017 18:18:14 GMT -8
Thank you so much for that great explanation! I got the lights to work. It turned out that I had the tail lights wired wrong. I went from a 1 lamp tail light to a 2 lamp tail light and got the wires mixed up. That happens. LOL Well, at least now You have an understanding on how to test for a bad ground connection. |
|
