Trailer lights

[whitejamie99]

Whenever I hook up my trailer lights to my vehicle, within 5 miles of the house both the turn signal and brake light fuses blow. Where do I start checking and with what. I have a digital multimeter and a pen type circuit tester.<br /><br />Also do I need to disconnect the trailer lights when I put the trailer in the water? The light package said that they were submersible.<br /><br />Jamie White

 

[vipzach]

Re: Trailer lights

Are you using the correct size of fuses? I would start looking for a short in the trailer wiring. <br />You should not have to unplug the lights, as long as there are no cracks or breaks in the lights.

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: Trailer lights

Make sure you have a proper ground (wire)from the trailer to the chassis of the vehicle.

 

[bosavy]

Re: Trailer lights

Drive it around without putting it in the water and see if it still blows fuses; if it don't it's your lights if it does you have a short

 

[Pony]

Re: Trailer lights

posted by vipzach:<br />You should not have to unplug the lights, as long as there are no cracks or breaks in the lights.<br /><br />

Why take the risk, it takes like 5 seconds to plug and unplug the lights. I have my lights mounted on the boat guides and they never even touch the water and i still unplug. Who knows when insulation on a wire will wear on a part of the trailer or when a small critter will take a nibble. The square tube is a great place for animals to build nests. Unless you check every wire before you leave the house i dont think you can be sure of there being no cracks of breaks in the lights or wires for that matter. It just makes more sense to just unplug them.

 

[ljohns5582]

Re: Trailer lights

Jamie,<br /> What type of tow vehicle do you have and what type of wiring harness? Is it a four wire five wire round,flat etc?

 

[Mark42]

Re: Trailer lights

There is a high probability that the brake light wire has rubbed through the insulation and eventually when the brake is applied and wire bounces, the bare core touches the metal frame and it shorts out blowing a fuse. If it only happens whent the running lights are on, then look at the running light wire.<br /><br />Start looking at the places wires go through holes and can flop around in the wind or on bumps.