oakback
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Post by oakback on Aug 24, 2020 12:15:12 GMT -8
I recently had a weird issue. My tow vehicle had a blown fuse, lost all tail lights on the trailer, and my vehicle's lights acted weird (wrong lights blinking at wrong times, etc.). Got the fuse replaced, tail lights work fine. However the tail lights and license plate lights on my trailer aren't working. I have a 7-pin plug on my TV bumper, which leads to a junction box on the trailer just like this one. I have 2 LED tail lights ( like this) and 4 LED license plate bolt lights ( like this). Everything was new when installed by me, maybe 20 months ago. It all worked fine up until this issue. I have a pair of backup tail lights (the kind that have magnets that stick to your rear bumper), and these work fine. So I know my TV plug is working fine. I used a multimeter to test for signal at the junction box, and as far as I can tell the power is getting there fine (running lights, signals, brake lights). I inspected the wire from the junction box all the way to the rear, and found no signs of damage. I inspected the wiring from the frame to the lights (accessible in the rear storage area) and found no signs of damage. I can't image that ALL the lights would be damaged simultaneously, but I'm no electrician. What can I try next to figure out how to get my lights working? |
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datac
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1957 Cardinal
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Post by datac on Aug 24, 2020 14:58:15 GMT -8
Well, hard to say without seeing your trailer, but a few thoughts.
First, it's possible that when your fuse blew, whatever problem led to that zotzed your LEDs at the same time- LED drivers generally don't respond well to much in the way of mistreatment. You might try hooking up some known-good incandescents (or known-good LEDs, if you're feeling brave) in their place until you get this sorted.
Secondly, whenever anything weird or inexplicable happens with vehicle or trailer wiring, it's pretty much always bad ground. Even if you're certain the ground is good, it's the most likely culprit. Once you've got known-good lights in place, if your problems continue, I'd start there.
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kudzu
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Post by kudzu on Aug 24, 2020 15:19:13 GMT -8
A buddy of mine showed me a neat trick the other day. He has a harness he made, it is a pair of wires with an alligator clips on the end he puts on the positive and negative terminal of a battery. Then other end, one grounds the frame with another clip.
The positive lead has a spade terminal on the other end. Plug that into the trailer plug one position at a time. You can plug it into brakes, blinkers, whatever you want to check. We were trouble shooting brakes on my car trailer and it made the job much easier knowing we had 12 volts on the line all the time.What just started at the front and worked back till we find where we had no power. |
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shastatom
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I can chase women or fix campers, I choose to fix what I understand........... campers.
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Shasta 54,57 1500 58 Airflyte
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Post by shastatom on Aug 24, 2020 16:54:53 GMT -8
One thing to thing about as well is try another trailer. I had this issue with my car and found that the control module in the car went bad and that is what blow the fuse. Just a thought.
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Post by vikx on Aug 24, 2020 18:45:17 GMT -8
When in doubt, GROUND IT AGAIN. Always always check the grounds and be sure they are clean and secure on both trailer and vehicle. There are tutorials at the top of this board that might be of help. I use a battery and alligator clips to test the trailer, never the tow vehicle.
The idea on the LED lights might be the problem.
I had this problem on my Red Dale and one teeny tiny copper hair had slipped out of place on a clearance light and grounded it out. Blew the fuse for sure.
I say it's the ground or the LEDs.
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Ten
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70 Shasta 16SC + 1964 Airflyte
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Post by Ten on Aug 25, 2020 9:33:30 GMT -8
I had a problem with a fuse in an older (2006) Chevy pickup once. A short took out the fuse in the regular fuse panel for the tails on the truck, but replacing it did not fix the tails on the trailer, although the truck worked fine.
I found there was a separate fuse panel that contained fuses specifically for the tow harness, and there was a fuse there which controlled the running lights through the tow rig. Replacing that fixed the tow lighting. Check your vehicle's manual.
Replacing fuses didn't fix my wiring problem however, and I blew both fuses again before I realized I had a bare wire against the skin in a marker light that caused the problems.
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Post by vikx on Aug 25, 2020 10:04:38 GMT -8
Ah, those dastardly clearance lights...
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