Schallhorn
Recruit
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2009
- Messages
- 1
I'm sure this might have been discussed before, but here's my problem:
We recently bought a little runabout boat. The trailer's lights aren't working. According to the previous owner, it was from being submersed in the water and he didn't feel like changing it out, so he just went without lights for the past 1.5 years. I choose not to do that for obvious reasons.
I decided to mount them at the top of my guide posts, (not the kind that are already mounted in PVC that gets slide onto the existing PVC - but the kind that have brackets that are attached to the PVC and stick out for the plate and lights). During my first attempt, I used the trailer's existing wire and ran it up through the PVC guide post to about half way (as far as it would reach) then used new wire to run it to the light and connectors. (To which I have recently found out that I will be unable to leave them there as the width limit for my state is 8.5 feet, so I'll have to put it back underneath to be submerged in water.
)
The result was:
With the vehicle lights off, I could turn on the turn signal, step on the break, and the trailer light would work. When I turned the vehicle lights on, the trailer lights would not work at all.
I figured it was perhaps the crappy wiring in the trailer. So I used the new wiring harness, hooked it up to my vehicle, and then to the light (without running it through the trailer). And it did the same thing. Vehicle lights off, Trailer lights worked, Vehicle lights on, Trailer lights don't work.
What could the possible problems be?
I'm expecting a lot of "Grounding is the Issue" replies, but are there other issues as well?
Sorry for the long, and most likely overly detailed, post.
Thanks for your help!
Jena
We recently bought a little runabout boat. The trailer's lights aren't working. According to the previous owner, it was from being submersed in the water and he didn't feel like changing it out, so he just went without lights for the past 1.5 years. I choose not to do that for obvious reasons.
I decided to mount them at the top of my guide posts, (not the kind that are already mounted in PVC that gets slide onto the existing PVC - but the kind that have brackets that are attached to the PVC and stick out for the plate and lights). During my first attempt, I used the trailer's existing wire and ran it up through the PVC guide post to about half way (as far as it would reach) then used new wire to run it to the light and connectors. (To which I have recently found out that I will be unable to leave them there as the width limit for my state is 8.5 feet, so I'll have to put it back underneath to be submerged in water.
)The result was:
With the vehicle lights off, I could turn on the turn signal, step on the break, and the trailer light would work. When I turned the vehicle lights on, the trailer lights would not work at all.
I figured it was perhaps the crappy wiring in the trailer. So I used the new wiring harness, hooked it up to my vehicle, and then to the light (without running it through the trailer). And it did the same thing. Vehicle lights off, Trailer lights worked, Vehicle lights on, Trailer lights don't work.
What could the possible problems be?
I'm expecting a lot of "Grounding is the Issue" replies, but are there other issues as well?
Sorry for the long, and most likely overly detailed, post.
Thanks for your help!
Jena
