nccamper
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1962 Forester- 1956 Shasta
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Post by nccamper on Oct 10, 2014 7:45:27 GMT -8
Our license plate came disconnected and when I opened up the back there were three cut wires tied together. A green that comes from the wiring harness below and a brown from each taillight on the back. I am wondering why three? i would understand one power in and another moving on to the next light. also, I might understand if they were all wired together. Or if they were cut like you see but the lights didn't work, but they worked fine.
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John Palmer
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Hi, From a vintage trailer guy located in Santa Ana, CA. It's good to see lots of activity here.
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Post by John Palmer on Oct 10, 2014 7:51:04 GMT -8
Just a guess, RT turn, LF turn, and a Tail light, the skin was used for a Ground.
ALWAYS run a white 14GA wire to each light while you have it apart.
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Post by bigbill on Oct 10, 2014 12:49:12 GMT -8
My guess would be Power from the harness to the license light, then a wire to each tail light to power them. That would be a little different but one never knows.
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mobiltec
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1954 Jewel In Progress...
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Post by mobiltec on Oct 10, 2014 13:40:13 GMT -8
I usually don't get involved in wiring discussions but I will this one time. I always rewire the rear comlpetely.... It's easy to do and you need to do it anyways. Just run a whole new harness under the trailer and to the rear where all the lights are and own it. That way you know how it is wired and the wiring is new.
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Ten
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70 Shasta 16SC + 1964 Airflyte
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Post by Ten on Oct 10, 2014 14:02:58 GMT -8
Green was the running light power wire. Ground was from the skin. License light should power off the green. I believe the brown was the brake light circuit.
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nccamper
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1962 Forester- 1956 Shasta
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Post by nccamper on Oct 10, 2014 18:57:13 GMT -8
Thanks gang.
I was planning on running back up wires, as John suggested, since everything is working now. But I guess if I'm doing that I can just go the entire route with new wire.
I didn't realize the license light might also be wired to the brake lights.
I had a light on my Forester that didn't ground through the skin and it drove me crazy. So I like the idea of running a separate ground to the frame for the lights. Overkill?
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mobiltec
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Post by mobiltec on Oct 10, 2014 19:47:09 GMT -8
Thanks gang. I was planning on running back up wires, as John suggested, since everything is working now. But I guess if I'm doing that I can just go the entire route with new wire. I didn't realize the license light might also be wired to the brake lights. I had a light on my Forester that didn't ground through the skin and it drove me crazy. So I like the idea of running a separate ground to the frame for the lights. Overkill?I run separate (white wire) grounds to all the running lights. This comes right off the harness. You can ground it to the frame to if you like.. The license plate light is hooked to the running lights. If it also has a brake light in there as in two filaments then the brake part of the light hooks to the brake wire so you run that there too. Brown is the running lights on a 4 pin flat wire. Yellow and green are signal lights. The color code comes with the new harness. If you are going to 7 pin the color code is different and it too comes with a description.
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Post by bigbill on Oct 10, 2014 19:48:19 GMT -8
If the brake light was wired into the license plate light there would be no brake lights when the tail lights were on because the power from the tail lights would back feed and turn on the brake lights any time the tail lights were on. Over the years someone has rewired it most likely the answer is tear it all out and run new wires including a ground circuit.
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nccamper
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1962 Forester- 1956 Shasta
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Post by nccamper on Oct 11, 2014 6:03:39 GMT -8
A yellow wire… it's now black. The brown wires are black too. I think everyone here has the right idea, rewire the lights!
And ground everything.
thanks again.
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phil
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Post by phil on Oct 11, 2014 12:06:57 GMT -8
If the brake light was wired into the license plate light there would be no brake lights when the tail lights were on because the power from the tail lights would back feed and turn on the brake lights any time the tail lights were on. Over the years someone has rewired it most likely the answer is tear it all out and run new wires including a ground circuit.
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Post by universalexports on Oct 11, 2014 18:25:50 GMT -8
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nccamper
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Post by nccamper on Oct 11, 2014 18:45:51 GMT -8
They put off a lot more light than the old bulbs. I've seen that LED before. Where did you buy it?
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Post by universalexports on Oct 12, 2014 9:43:08 GMT -8
I got them off ebay
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travelrn
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Post by travelrn on Oct 31, 2014 11:31:12 GMT -8
Do you have a pic of the interior of the "after" light? I would like to do this LED set-up to mine. Did you attach it to something inside or just placed it?
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Post by universalexports on Nov 5, 2014 17:34:06 GMT -8
in the 2nd pic I posted above you can see the 3 little LED's. I gorilla glued it the inside top part of the housing. if you look close you can see it.
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