Trailier Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

[Mike in Tac]

I bought a 14' Livingston with a Shorelander trailer last summer. The lights didn't work too well on the trailer - bulbs were clouded, rusted out screws and bolts, cracked plastic, etc - so I figured that I'd just replace the lights and wiring altogether.

I'm no electrician, but I know enought to put in a ceiling light or a lightswitch, and definitely know not to stick my tounge in an outlet. So, I figured I could handle the wiring for this trailer.

I bought a set of Wesbar submersible trailer lights (under 80") for $40 at a local store. When I got them home, I found that they didn't have any instructions - so I went back to the store only to find that every single set of these lights that they had in stock (about 6 in all) didn't have instructions. The clerk went ahead an gave me the instruction sheet for a set of Wesbar non-submersible trailer lights that appeared to be similar.

Today, I went ahead and took off the old lights and wiring, and then ran the new wiring through the trailer frame just like the instructions said to do. Then I attached the ground wire, and hooked up the lights to the wires at the back of the trailer - yellow to yellow and brown to brown on the left; and green to green and brown to brown on the right. I then hooked up the plug to my Toyota Tacoma and ..... nothing. Not a blink, no light, nada.

Thinking that something may be wrong with my truck plug, I went ahead and plugged it into another trailer I have (that I did not wire up myself) - and that worked.

I tested the wires, and confirmed that there is power running through them. So, I'm stumped.

After reading another post here, I think I may re-check the nut/bolt I attached the ground wire to - just to make sure that there isn't any rust getting in the way.

I am also wondering if - because I don't have the proper instructions for this set of lights - I am missing out on some steps in the installation process. Another clue is that after I hooked "everything" up, I still had some left over pieces in the box that the lights came in - some metal clips, and some plastic/metal clips.

I am emailing Wesbar tonight and asking for the proper instructions, but would really appreciate any insight/advice that you may have to offer.

Thanks a ton,
Mike in Tacoma

 

[Mike in Tac]

Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

I bought a 14' Livingston with a Shorelander trailer last summer. The lights didn't work too well on the trailer - bulbs were clouded, rusted out screws and bolts, cracked plastic, etc - so I figured that I'd just replace the lights and wiring altogether.

I'm no electrician, but I know enought to put in a ceiling light or a lightswitch, and definitely know not to stick my tounge in an outlet. So, I figured I could handle the wiring for this trailer.

I bought a set of Wesbar submersible trailer lights (under 80") for $40 at a local store. When I got them home, I found that they didn't have any instructions - so I went back to the store only to find that every single set of these lights that they had in stock (about 6 in all) didn't have instructions. The clerk went ahead an gave me the instruction sheet for a set of Wesbar non-submersible trailer lights that appeared to be similar.

Today, I went ahead and took off the old lights and wiring, and then ran the new wiring through the trailer frame just like the instructions said to do. Then I attached the ground wire, and hooked up the lights to the wires at the back of the trailer - yellow to yellow and brown to brown on the left; and green to green and brown to brown on the right. I then hooked up the plug to my Toyota Tacoma and ..... nothing. Not a blink, no light, nada.

Thinking that something may be wrong with my truck plug, I went ahead and plugged it into another trailer I have (that I did not wire up myself) - and that worked.

I tested the wires, and confirmed that there is power running through them. So, I'm stumped.

After reading another post here, I think I may re-check the nut/bolt I attached the ground wire to - just to make sure that there isn't any rust getting in the way.

I am also wondering if - because I don't have the proper instructions for this set of lights - I am missing out on some steps in the installation process. Another clue is that after I hooked "everything" up, I still had some left over pieces in the box that the lights came in - some metal clips, and some plastic/metal clips.

I am emailing Wesbar tonight and asking for the proper instructions, but would really appreciate any insight/advice that you may have to offer.

Thanks a ton,
Mike in Tacoma

 

[royal0014]

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

Trailer lights are pretty universal. Brown is the common hot wire for taillights, comes on w/the headlights. Yellow is the LEFT stop/turn (driver's side) and green is the RIGHT stop/turn (passenger side). Usually the light buckets will ground to the frame through the mounting bolts. Must be clean, shiny metal there. The trailer itself must ground back to the tow vehicle. The ground at the trailer side of the plug must be clean, also. And frequently that ground through the plug isn't enough. Test everything with the trailer properly hooked up to the towball. You'd be surprised what a difference that makes. A little dielectric grease at all contact points, including the plug, will help a lot.


<<)))(((>>

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

Is it a tilt trailer? Sometimes if it is a tilt trailer then an additional ground wire must be run to the rear past the tilt point.

 

[Evinbuck]

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

While it's nearly impossible to diagnose without hands on the most common problem with trailer lights is proper grounding. It can truly drive you to the bottle. Over years of messing around I finally removed every light on my trailer and soldered a ground wire to every one of them and ran a continual ground wire everywhere on the trailer. In doing that I have found I've eliminated ever questioning whether they're grounded properly. Now if I have a problem it's typically a burnt bulb or corrosion. In your case having your truck being able to light another trailer is pretty much proof positive you have a ground problem with your new wiring.

 

[paultjohnson]

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

Like every one says GROUND- GROUND- GROUND! On both my snowmobile and boat trailer I added another wire, about 3 ft long, directly to the trailer. I soldered a washer to a big wire, took out one of my main hitch bolts and ran it thru the washer. On the other end I attached a stout l alligator clip that I clip on to the hitch on my pick-up truck. That has worked for me. Nice bright lights. Thats in addition to what the have suggested.....

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

I never rely on the trailer frame for a ground. I always add an additional ground wire to each light.

 

[paultjohnson]

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

I never rely on the trailer frame for a ground. I always add an additional ground wire to each light.

What do you attach the wire too ? From the light to the... what ?

 

[mike64]

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

What do you attach the wire too ? From the light to the... what ?

You attach two ground wires running from each light up to the white ground wire that goes into the plug.

 

[Yellow Yota]

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

I assume you have the 5 wire in, 4 wire out little box that is required to run your setup correctly when you have a Toyota. (Or any other tow rig with separate brake and turn signals.)

What you're describing does sound like a ground issue, but I always start at the source and work my way back. Get a test light and start at the pigtail on the truck. Make sure you have what you need there, and work on back.

 

[swede428]

Re: Trailier Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

Mike, if nothing works at all then it must come back to the ground wire or where the lights are contacting the frame of the trailer. Paint is a incredible insulator, so is rust. Do you have a test light or voltmeter?? If yes then check your connections with a Known good ground At this time, I would call a "known good ground as being the battery's negitive terminal, of the tow vehicle or the terminal where the trailer wiring harness attaches to the frame of the trailer the white wire!! Check your brown wire with the headlights on, and the yellow and green with the 4 way flashers on. IF you have a flashing test light or a steady light on the brown wire you know you have a bad ground connection. By hooking the testlight to the known good ground, you are effectively bypassing the trailer ground circuit. Your best action in any case is to remove the white ground wire where it attaches to the trailer and clean it up down to clean, shiny metal. Do the same to where the taillight attach, and the marker lights. All lights with a single wire rely on the screws to ground the unit to the frame of the trailer. Tailight/brake/turns with two wires rely on the same thing, they ground through the mounting bolts. Does your trailer have a tilt feature?? IF so then you maybe getting a ground interruption through the tilt. If this is true, take a wire with eyelet terminals on both ends and screw them to the frame of the trailer, and the tilting section. The ground with then reliably travel through the wire instead of the pivot bolts. Just to be sure on where you are. Green is Right turn and brake normally, Yellow is left turn and brake, and brown is taillights. If your markers including the ID bar has two wires, then black in power and white is ground. I hope this helps. I have done this stuff for years. I am a master truck and auto mechanic and upfit Police cars and emergency vehicle. I am rarely on here, but I was looking to source some Shoreland'r decals for my newly refurbished trailer. give me a private reply that goes to my email if you have any questions. Doug...

I bought a 14' Livingston with a Shorelander trailer last summer. The lights didn't work too well on the trailer - bulbs were clouded, rusted out screws and bolts, cracked plastic, etc - so I figured that I'd just replace the lights and wiring altogether.

I'm no electrician, but I know enought to put in a ceiling light or a lightswitch, and definitely know not to stick my tounge in an outlet. So, I figured I could handle the wiring for this trailer.

I bought a set of Wesbar submersible trailer lights (under 80") for $40 at a local store. When I got them home, I found that they didn't have any instructions - so I went back to the store only to find that every single set of these lights that they had in stock (about 6 in all) didn't have instructions. The clerk went ahead an gave me the instruction sheet for a set of Wesbar non-submersible trailer lights that appeared to be similar.

Today, I went ahead and took off the old lights and wiring, and then ran the new wiring through the trailer frame just like the instructions said to do. Then I attached the ground wire, and hooked up the lights to the wires at the back of the trailer - yellow to yellow and brown to brown on the left; and green to green and brown to brown on the right. I then hooked up the plug to my Toyota Tacoma and ..... nothing. Not a blink, no light, nada.

Thinking that something may be wrong with my truck plug, I went ahead and plugged it into another trailer I have (that I did not wire up myself) - and that worked.

I tested the wires, and confirmed that there is power running through them. So, I'm stumped.

After reading another post here, I think I may re-check the nut/bolt I attached the ground wire to - just to make sure that there isn't any rust getting in the way.

I am also wondering if - because I don't have the proper instructions for this set of lights - I am missing out on some steps in the installation process. Another clue is that after I hooked "everything" up, I still had some left over pieces in the box that the lights came in - some metal clips, and some plastic/metal clips.

I am emailing Wesbar tonight and asking for the proper instructions, but would really appreciate any insight/advice that you may have to offer.

Thanks a ton,
Mike in Tacoma

 

[Mike in Tac]

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

Thanks a ton for all the suggestions - I plan to get back to work on it some night after work this week.

MIT

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

You attach two ground wires running from each light up to the white ground wire that goes into the plug.

Even one wire is unnecessary. Why on earth would you run two?

If the light mounting area is cleaned down to bare metal, the ground at the light will not have a problem. No need to add an extra ground wire.

 

[wifisher]

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

Even one wire is unnecessary. Why on earth would you run two?

If the light mounting area is cleaned down to bare metal, the ground at the light will not have a problem. No need to add an extra ground wire.

I never ground anything to the frame on a trailer. Every ground is wired to the plug. When the trailer is new, you are correct. It will ground properly with the frame ground. The problem arises a few years down the road. The connections on the frame will start to corrode, and stop working properly. If the ground wires are all run to the plug, there is less opportunity to have a bad connection, as there are fewer of them and they are better protected.

 

[mike64]

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

Even one wire is unnecessary. Why on earth would you run two?

I meant to say "you run two wires, one from each light, to the white ground wire going into the plug." And I was simply answering a question.

I do think it's a good idea to run ground wires though. If you're having intermittent trailer light problems, it sure eliminates the question of a grounding issue.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

So when you have intermittent lighting issues in the future, you now have two wires to diagnose instead of one. Bad idea. I make sure I have good grounds when I attach my lights and have a good ground coming from the trailer connector. Never had a ground issue in 30 years of trailering.

 

[mike64]

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

So when you have intermittent lighting issues in the future, you now have two wires to diagnose instead of one. Bad idea. I make sure I have good grounds when I attach my lights and have a good ground coming from the trailer connector. Never had a ground issue in 30 years of trailering.

You'd have to test for a bad ground either through the trailer or through the ground wire, so it's not like you're adding to your troubleshooting. And I'd much rather test a wire than try to track down where the ground is failing on a trailer. And a ground wire is less likely to fail than grounding on a trailer.

If you've never had a grounding problem through your trailer, good for you. But plenty of people like to run ground wires just to be certain, including several in this thread who recommended it. Not sure why you're singling me out to argue the matter.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

If you mount the light correctly by making sure you have bare metal at the mounting bolts, you won't have a problem. And I definitely differ on your opinion that a wire is easier to diagnose than a light ground to a trailer. With e ground at a light, you disconnect the nut from the light mounting post, clean and reinstall. With wires you have to follow the wire to all connections and crimp/solder joints.

Plenty of people running extra unneeded ground wires does not make it a reason to do the same.

And I am not singling you out. This goes to all the people who think this somehow is a good idea.

 

[mike64]

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

I became a believer in ground wires when I rewired a utility trailer and for some reason I could not get it to ground through the frame for the life of me. So I finally tried running ground wires. Bingo, problem solved. It's not like it's that hard to do.

You think it's unnecessary because it's been unnecessary for you. But one day you just might find yourself kicking the trailer tires and tearing your hair out because you tried everything else and can't get a light working right, or it's intermittent, and you might just decide "well, I got this extra 20 odd foot piece of wire, let's just test from the light to the ground at the plug..." and one bright unwavering light later you become one of us ;-)

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

Re: Trailer Light Wiring - driving me nuts!

So...lets see. You have two lights at the back of the trailer. Marker lights at the center. 4 clearance lights on the side. A license plate light. You actually run 8 seperate ground wires? I will pass on that. I am an electrical engineer. I think I can figure out what is less complicated.