Maybe one of you trailer boaters can help me out. I've got an
intermittent problem with my trailer lights - either one side or the
other will light (tail lights and side marker lights). This is
intermittent - sometimes both sides will light. I put a test light on
my truck's electrical input - that doesn't seem to be the problem Any
suggestions on where to start troubleshooting?
Thanks much.

On 15 Mar 2007 03:31:06 -0700, wrote:

Maybe one of you trailer boaters can help me out. I've got an
intermittent problem with my trailer lights - either one side or the
other will light (tail lights and side marker lights). This is
intermittent - sometimes both sides will light. I put a test light on
my truck's electrical input - that doesn't seem to be the problem Any
suggestions on where to start troubleshooting?
Thanks much.

You have a faulty ground somewhere.

95% of all trailer lighting problems are grounds.

Start at where the trailer lights are grounded to the trailer, check
the connection, clean the connector and the connector on the truck
paying particular attention to the ground and trace the wiring back to
see if there is a ground fault or wire that is being grounded against
the frame of the trailer. Check the grounds at the lights.

Sense a theme here? :)

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On 15 Mar 2007 03:31:06 -0700, wrote:


Maybe one of you trailer boaters can help me out. I've got an
intermittent problem with my trailer lights - either one side or the
other will light (tail lights and side marker lights). This is
intermittent - sometimes both sides will light. I put a test light on
my truck's electrical input - that doesn't seem to be the problem Any
suggestions on where to start troubleshooting?
Thanks much.


You have a faulty ground somewhere.

95% of all trailer lighting problems are grounds.

Start at where the trailer lights are grounded to the trailer, check
the connection, clean the connector and the connector on the truck
paying particular attention to the ground and trace the wiring back to
see if there is a ground fault or wire that is being grounded against
the frame of the trailer. Check the grounds at the lights.

Sense a theme here? :)
The best way to solve trailer light problems forever is to run two wires
to all of the light fixtures on your trailer. Use one wire for the
ground. Fasten the ground wire to the light fixture using sheet metal
screws. Direct connect the ground wire to the tow vehicle's ground, and
run one ground wire to the trailer body. i.e. like a AC circuit
except the ground wire to the trailer.

I have my boat trailer set up this way for many years. After having the
boat is storage since last fall I will be able to go out connect the
trailer and the lights will work.




--
Keith Nuttle
3110 Marquette Court
Indianapolis, IN 46268
317-802-0699

wrote in message
oups.com...
Maybe one of you trailer boaters can help me out. I've got an
intermittent problem with my trailer lights - either one side or the
other will light (tail lights and side marker lights). This is
intermittent - sometimes both sides will light. I put a test light on
my truck's electrical input - that doesn't seem to be the problem Any
suggestions on where to start troubleshooting?
Thanks much.



Bad Ground connection.

wrote in message
news
On 15 Mar 2007 03:31:06 -0700, wrote:

Maybe one of you trailer boaters can help me out. I've got an
intermittent problem with my trailer lights - either one side or the
other will light (tail lights and side marker lights). This is
intermittent - sometimes both sides will light. I put a test light on
my truck's electrical input - that doesn't seem to be the problem Any
suggestions on where to start troubleshooting?
Thanks much.

Grounds can be a problem but don't ignore that cheap assed connector
most trailer lights hook to the car with.
Trailer lights always seem to be trouble if they are out in the
weather and dunked in the water.. I have mine on a 1x4 that I keep in
the garage and I bungie it across the back of the boat when I tow (or
just to the trailer if I am going "bareback"). The wiring is SJOW
cord, not that zip lead the trailers come with.


I agree ... mainly because I am not so sure the OP's problem is a ground.
Usually there is only one, common ground connection to the trailer. Since
he stated that either one side lights or the other ... sometimes both ...
it would seem to indicate that he has a ground connection.

Betcha his problem is in the connector plug.

Eisboch

"Eisboch" wrote in message
. ..

wrote in message
news
On 15 Mar 2007 03:31:06 -0700, wrote:

Maybe one of you trailer boaters can help me out. I've got an
intermittent problem with my trailer lights - either one side or the
other will light (tail lights and side marker lights). This is
intermittent - sometimes both sides will light. I put a test light on
my truck's electrical input - that doesn't seem to be the problem Any
suggestions on where to start troubleshooting?
Thanks much.

Grounds can be a problem but don't ignore that cheap assed connector
most trailer lights hook to the car with.
Trailer lights always seem to be trouble if they are out in the
weather and dunked in the water.. I have mine on a 1x4 that I keep in
the garage and I bungie it across the back of the boat when I tow (or
just to the trailer if I am going "bareback"). The wiring is SJOW
cord, not that zip lead the trailers come with.


I agree ... mainly because I am not so sure the OP's problem is a ground.
Usually there is only one, common ground connection to the trailer. Since
he stated that either one side lights or the other ... sometimes both ...
it would seem to indicate that he has a ground connection.

Betcha his problem is in the connector plug.

Eisboch

Or where it's spliced into the car/truck harness.

"D.Duck" wrote in message
...

"Eisboch" wrote in message
. ..

wrote in message
news
On 15 Mar 2007 03:31:06 -0700, wrote:

Maybe one of you trailer boaters can help me out. I've got an
intermittent problem with my trailer lights - either one side or the
other will light (tail lights and side marker lights). This is
intermittent - sometimes both sides will light. I put a test light on
my truck's electrical input - that doesn't seem to be the problem Any
suggestions on where to start troubleshooting?
Thanks much.

Grounds can be a problem but don't ignore that cheap assed connector
most trailer lights hook to the car with.
Trailer lights always seem to be trouble if they are out in the
weather and dunked in the water.. I have mine on a 1x4 that I keep in
the garage and I bungie it across the back of the boat when I tow (or
just to the trailer if I am going "bareback"). The wiring is SJOW
cord, not that zip lead the trailers come with.


I agree ... mainly because I am not so sure the OP's problem is a ground.
Usually there is only one, common ground connection to the trailer.
Since he stated that either one side lights or the other ... sometimes
both ... it would seem to indicate that he has a ground connection.

Betcha his problem is in the connector plug.

Eisboch

Or where it's spliced into the car/truck harness.

My last answer doesn't make sense.

The left side/right side isn't determined in the connector (except for turn
signals). It's in the trailer wiring, if at all.

The four pin connector has +12v for the running lights, left turn, right
turn and ground.

The +12v should be "Y'd" to the left and right side running lights. If some
how that connection is hosed up, that could be the problem.

On Thu, 15 Mar 2007 13:33:10 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote:


wrote in message
news
On 15 Mar 2007 03:31:06 -0700, wrote:

Maybe one of you trailer boaters can help me out. I've got an
intermittent problem with my trailer lights - either one side or the
other will light (tail lights and side marker lights). This is
intermittent - sometimes both sides will light. I put a test light on
my truck's electrical input - that doesn't seem to be the problem Any
suggestions on where to start troubleshooting?
Thanks much.

Grounds can be a problem but don't ignore that cheap assed connector
most trailer lights hook to the car with.
Trailer lights always seem to be trouble if they are out in the
weather and dunked in the water.. I have mine on a 1x4 that I keep in
the garage and I bungie it across the back of the boat when I tow (or
just to the trailer if I am going "bareback"). The wiring is SJOW
cord, not that zip lead the trailers come with.


I agree ... mainly because I am not so sure the OP's problem is a ground.
Usually there is only one, common ground connection to the trailer. Since
he stated that either one side lights or the other ... sometimes both ...
it would seem to indicate that he has a ground connection.

Betcha his problem is in the connector plug.

Good point.

Although on my Ranger trailer and on othe Loadright Princecraft
trailer, both sides have seperate grounds.

Why, I don't know.

Tom,

I believe it is common for both light assemblies to have a ground, ie. right
and left side grounds.

I just replaced my expensive Wesbar (?) incandesant tail lights with
relatively cheap WalMart LED tail lights. During the process I found that
each lamp had a ground wire with a ring connector for the ground. The old
lamps were the same. When removing the old lamps I found that the ring
connector was attached to the trailer rail by the lamp's mounting screws.
There was a large amount of white powder all around the drilled holes for
the lamp mounting screws where the ground wires were connected. I used some
sandpaper to clean up the area before mounting the new lamps.

The OP could easily check this on his/her trailer.

A continuity tester (ohmeter) would be my choice of test equipment to
isolate any possible trailer wiring fault. BTW, WalMart sells an
inexpensive trailer wiring harness tester. WM and BW have one for a bit
more $.

Butch
"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 15 Mar 2007 13:33:10 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote:


wrote in message
news
On 15 Mar 2007 03:31:06 -0700, wrote:

Maybe one of you trailer boaters can help me out. I've got an
intermittent problem with my trailer lights - either one side or the
other will light (tail lights and side marker lights). This is
intermittent - sometimes both sides will light. I put a test light on
my truck's electrical input - that doesn't seem to be the problem Any
suggestions on where to start troubleshooting?
Thanks much.

Grounds can be a problem but don't ignore that cheap assed connector
most trailer lights hook to the car with.
Trailer lights always seem to be trouble if they are out in the
weather and dunked in the water.. I have mine on a 1x4 that I keep in
the garage and I bungie it across the back of the boat when I tow (or
just to the trailer if I am going "bareback"). The wiring is SJOW
cord, not that zip lead the trailers come with.


I agree ... mainly because I am not so sure the OP's problem is a ground.
Usually there is only one, common ground connection to the trailer. Since
he stated that either one side lights or the other ... sometimes both ...
it would seem to indicate that he has a ground connection.

Betcha his problem is in the connector plug.

Good point.

Although on my Ranger trailer and on othe Loadright Princecraft
trailer, both sides have seperate grounds.

Why, I don't know.

On Fri, 16 Mar 2007 13:36:41 GMT, "Butch Davis"
wrote:

I believe it is common for both light assemblies to have a ground, ie. right
and left side grounds.

On other trailers I've owned, there was always a single ground wire
which ran to the frame - the lights were gorunded through the frame.
On the trailers I have now, each light is connected to a ground wire
and there is a bundle where they join at the connector.

Seems a little complicated to me.

I just replaced my expensive Wesbar (?) incandesant tail lights with
relatively cheap WalMart LED tail lights. During the process I found that
each lamp had a ground wire with a ring connector for the ground. The old
lamps were the same. When removing the old lamps I found that the ring
connector was attached to the trailer rail by the lamp's mounting screws.
There was a large amount of white powder all around the drilled holes for
the lamp mounting screws where the ground wires were connected. I used some
sandpaper to clean up the area before mounting the new lamps.

I've been thinking about changing the Wesbar lights over to LED
lights, but I can't find the style I need for the Ranger trailer. I
might just change the mounts, but that would look kind of kludgey.

I'll take another look in a week or so.

The OP could easily check this on his/her trailer.

A continuity tester (ohmeter) would be my choice of test equipment to
isolate any possible trailer wiring fault. BTW, WalMart sells an
inexpensive trailer wiring harness tester. WM and BW have one for a bit
more $.

I have one of those - they are pretty handy.