Trailer Lights not working

I have a 2002 Eagle dual tandem trailer. Yesterday while hooking up the lights with a 7 plug to 4 plug converter all my trailer lights failed. All my tow vehicles lights operate properly (though maybe I blew a fuse). What could be the cause of failure for all the trailer lights (no turn, no brake, no side lights, no hazard lights, nothing)?

Thank you,

Jim

Re: Trailer Lights not working

No trailer ground connection followed by 1) incorrect wiring, 2) incorrect wiring, 3) incorrect wiring followed by 4) bad 7-4 plug or incorrectly inserted plug, 5) miswired tow vehicle connector wiring, 6) not likely fuses but that would have been the first place to look but not necessarily the cauise of the proplem.

Is this the first time this trailer has been connected to this tow vehicle?
If not, are you absolutely certain everything worked before or at least the last time the trailer was used.

All we have to go on is that you plugged it in and the lights don't work. We need a little more than that. As in tow vehicle make and model, factory wiring yes or no, when used last, does the tow vehicle need a five wire to four wire converter? It does if it has amber turn signals or if the stop and turn signals are on separate bulbs AND the factory has not included this feature in their vehicle wiring.

Re: Trailer Lights not working

I used the trailer two times prior and the lights worked (only owned the boat for a month). The only thing that was different this time was I had gone off road with my Xterra and in the process I did drag the male side of the 7 pin connector on the ground.

Although this occurred when I first hooked up my lights all but the left turn worked (left turn did not work prior). I unplugged the connector and tried to reconnect. In the process I must have not aligned up the connector properly because the turn signals were back wards from commanded. I unplugged the connector again and that was the last time I could get any of the lights to work.

I tried to insert the plug at each different possibility but still nothing. During the off roading I damaged where the connector hooks into the tow so I am unable to know exactly the right hook up.

My tow vehicle is a 2007 Nissan Xterra Off Road. The trailer requires a 4 prong connector and has it's own brakes. Orange side lights on the trailer and standard brake and turn lights on the rear with additional three illuminated red lights between the brake lights. An orange and red light on the side of the fenders that illuminate as well.
Thanks,

Jim

Re: Trailer Lights not working

How do you insert what is a keyed plug into a keyed 7 pin receptacle in more than one position? the plug only goes in one way. Apparently you forced it in in the wrong orientation. That places ground where there is hot terminals which blows fuses. You probably have a bunch of fuses to replace and perhaps a connector. See how these little details help out when describing a problem.

Re: Trailer Lights not working

There are only two things that make a set of trailer lights not work...and because they all stopped working, I am not including the bulbs.

Either you have a bad ground, or you have a bad plug, either way, juice is not getting from the tow vehicle to the trailer, the best way to check you trailer lights is a good old fashion battery charger, just ground the charger to the trailer, then use the hot clip with a nail and touch each one of the contacts to see if the lights work.

This is the way we used to check lights in the RV business..

Re: Trailer Lights not working

Where would the blown fuses be located? I have two fuse boxes within my Xterra and I did not see any problems.

As far as forcing the plug that did not happen. The male side of the connector is not enclosed in any type harness. It is just hanging loose. I broke the harness part while off road. The male and female connect in more than one position without any extra force. I know originally the elevated portion on the female side could only go in one direction but that was when the male portion was attached to the harness.

Thanks again for you help.

Jim

Re: Trailer Lights not working

I can't make head nor tail out of your description of this connector. Electrical connections are "keyed" so they can only be connected one way. Look -- if you were randomly able to stick the connector any which way you end up with +12v on the truck going directly to ground on the trailer. That creates a short circuit and would blow a fuse for the circuit you shorted. Post a picture of the connector on the truck. You have two fuse panels so look at the index on the cover or in your owners manual. Trailer harnesses generally have separate fuses for RT, LT, TAIL. Unless you pull them and verify they are good you won't know.

Re: Trailer Lights not working

Sorry for the fustration. Hopefully these photos will help. I refer the male connector to the one with the prawns while the female to the one with the holes.

Re: Trailer Lights not working

^^^^ ahhh, that makes sense now, as that male end could be plugged in any old way

Get a 12V test light, and start testing for power at that plug, after you have verified the fuse(s) are not blown. Silvertip is right on the money.

Here is a link to a page that will help you sort out which wire goes where

http://www.etrailer.com/faq-wiring.aspx

Re: Trailer Lights not working

Totally agree. Before you go any farther, buy a trailer light tester or use a multi-meter if you have one.

Make sure there's power at the plug for each light function (tail, stop, turn) so you eliminate the vehicle as a source of the problem right off the bat. That or you confirm it.

I had a similar problem last year with my Olds Bravada. My running lights on the trailer wouldn't work. I had turn and stop, but no running lights.

Turns out, after I drove myself insane trying to figure out where the "bad ground" issue was on the trailer, the problem was a blown fuse in the vehicle. Guess what? Now I own one of those quickie tester things.

But this was not obvious because the running lights on the vehicle were still working. The fuse that tuned out to be bad was NOT the running light fuse, but the manual's fuse box schematic gave it some totally vague name like RLTTRLR or some such.

I only found it by pulling out each of the 100 fuses in the 2 fuse boxes one at a time until on the 78th fuse I found the bad one. Then I looked it up. I would NEVER have known based on the crappy description in the manual.

So now I know that each prong on the trailer lights is seperately fused on my vehicle. All of them have gibberish names in the manual, but now I kind of see the convention, there's RLTTRLR (running lights trailer), there's TRNTRLR (turn trailer) and so forth.

Bottom line is first to figure out if the problem is with the vehicle or trailer. $5 for a simple tester will rule the vehicle in or out in 10 seconds.

Grouse

Re: Trailer Lights not working

Thanks all for you help. After speaking to three Nissan dealerships and getting zero help I started the fuse by fuse suggestion. I managed to get the left and right turn, brake, and hazard lights to work which all were on on 15 amp fuse. Still have not found the winner for the running lights. Interestingly, not only do I have three locations for fuses that are labeled, but I also have a couple under the steering column that are not. This was the only help the Nissan dealer gave me but neither one of the two fuses were out.

Jim

Re: Trailer Lights not working

Glad you got most of it working.

Do you have a 12v tester ? Check the Brown wire if you have power at the vehicle/ harness, then check further back until you find the problem.

Re: Trailer Lights not working

No I do not. What I purchased is a tester built into the trailer plug. It shows if power is going to the proper outlet similar to what you are referring to. I need to go through my third fuse box today and look for another blown fuse.

Re: Trailer Lights not working

Flyer69 said:

No I do not. What I purchased is a tester built into the trailer plug. It shows if power is going to the proper outlet similar to what you are referring to. I need to go through my third fuse box today and look for another blown fuse.

Click to expand...

I find a test light to be invaluable, because one can check for 12V just about anywhere.

Did a little search on your vehicle, and it seems there is a relay, and a really hard to see 10A fuse that might have been missed.

Here is a link to the forum where I found it, scroll about half way down , there are some diagrams and a description of the relay. vvvv


http://www.thenewx.org/forum/showthread.php?t=18713&page=3