Trailer wiring help needed!

[mizestang]

Can't get my trailer lights to work now. Followed every diagram I can for a 4 flat. Passenger side light has Brown, Green, White. Driver side, Brown (2) Yellow, White. 2nd brown is for the 3 lights on back. 4 flat into the truck. I've blown 3 fuses trying to get these new lights in.

I get both brown (tail light) wires on L & R go to the 1 brown on the pigtail. Driver side light has the extra brown that I tied into the existing brown on that side. Driver side Yellow goes to yellow, Pass side Green goes to Green. Where do BOTH white wires go? I've tried splicing them into the 1 white on the pigtail, I've tried grouding to trailer. Nothing is working. And I blew both L & R trailer fuses and the backup fuse probably cause I was touched all kinds of wires together. Can someone point out what I;m doing wrong?

Thanks
Chris

 

[JimS123]

Brown to both sides - tail lights
If an extra brown, hook to the brown pigtail.
Green right turn and brakes
Yellow left turn and brakes
White is chassis ground, or if the wire extends all the way to the lights, ground the lights.

Its a simple procedure, just don't hook any wires to some place other than above.

If you still have fuses blown, rip the whole thing apart again and find the short. Somewhere the insulation is stgripped and wires are touching each other or the chassis.

 

[GA_Boater]

No wonder fuses are glowing in the dark.

White is ground from the car/truck. If you have a white going to each side, it goes to the mounting stud for the light housing.

Is this a new harness with no instructions? From the connector, most have a short white to the trailer frame, 2 long browns for taillight, one long yellow for left turn/brake and 1 long green for right turn/brake. The diagram below also has side makers and the 80" lights.

 

[mizestang]

Each tail light has a white. The driver side had a connector like I was supposed to ground it to the trailer. Do I ground both whites on L & R to the chassis?

 

[GA_Boater]

if the wire extends all the way to the lights, ground the lights.

If you have a white going to each side, it goes to the mounting stud for the light housing.

Don't know how we can make it any clearer.

Is this a new harness and what brand is it?

 

[MTboatguy]

Put two short pigtails on the ground side of the tail lights and screw them to the trailer frame. At the truck end, put a loop on the white wire and screw into the trailer frame. Run the yellow and brown down the left side, hook up to the yellow and brown wire on the back of the light, then run brown jumper wire and secure with zip ties or something similar and run jumper to the right side and attach to the brown side on the right side of trailer, run green wire down the right side and hook to green wire on the trailer tail light.

What type of truck or car are you hooking up to, some of them require a tailight convertor, if you have amber turn signals/emergancy flashers, you might require a convertor.

I just finished my new to me trailer about 15 minutes ago, no shorts, no blown fuses, plugged in and ready to go.

 

[mizestang]

Put two short pigtails on the ground side of the tail lights and screw them to the trailer frame. At the truck end, put a loop on the white wire and screw into the trailer frame. Run the yellow and brown down the left side, hook up to the yellow and brown wire on the back of the light, then run brown jumper wire and secure with zip ties or something similar and run jumper to the right side and attach to the brown side on the right side of trailer, run green wire down the right side and hook to green wire on the trailer tail light.

What type of truck or car are you hooking up to, some of them require a tailight convertor, if you have amber turn signals/emergancy flashers, you might require a convertor.

I just finished my new to me trailer about 15 minutes ago, no shorts, no blown fuses, plugged in and ready to go.

Its a 08 Chevy Trailblazer. Everything worked fine except I had snapped a wire in the harness. It was a spliced harness, so I wanted to make it cleaner. I also decided to get new lights. Trust me, I took off an old wire, hooked the new wire up procedure so I didn't forget where the wires all went, but I missed something. I'll try again using your method I think I blew the fuses cause I was doing a trial and error touching different wires to see it the light worked. Thanks and I'll post back.

 

[mizestang]

Don't know how we can make it any clearer.

Is this a new harness and what brand is it?

I know, it's super clear. It's the strangest thing. It worked fine until 1 wire snapped in the old harness. So I bought a new harness and wanted to make it clean and replace both tail lights and a new harness. Step by step I removed a wire, then hooked up a new wire and it just wont work. Fuses blew probably cause I was messing around with touching different wires,

Brand is Hopkins I believe.

 

[Silverbullet555]

Just take the entire old harness out and start over. Trying to patch it together can lead to issues as you have found out.

 

[mizestang]

Is this correct?

 

[JimS123]

Yes and No. As was stated before, if the white from the plug extends all the way to the lights, connect them to the lights. If not connect the white light wires to ground.

Ground issues usually result in dim or non-working lights. If you are blowing fuses you have a short. Wires are touching wires somewhere.

 

[mizestang]

Yes and No. As was stated before, if the white from the plug extends all the way to the lights, connect them to the lights. If not connect the white light wires to ground.

Ground issues usually result in dim or non-working lights. If you are blowing fuses you have a short. Wires are touching wires somewhere.

Got it. Thanks everyone.