yet another wiring issue....

[fishfulthinking]

i have searched here and haven't found exactly the same situation. i have a 95 ram 1500 and can't get the new lights on my trailer to work. old lights didn't work at all so i bought a new light kit. i used a grinder to clean a nice shiny spot on the trailer tongue and ran a self tapping sheet metal screw into it with the ground wire on a ring terminal on it.

my situation is this. with my headlights/running lights off i have no lights on the trailer at all. with either my running lights or headlights on my rear taillights light up and both signals work. but when i step on the brakes my trailer lights go out completely.

the funny thing is while i think i have a good ground, when i took the ground wire off the tongue it had no effect on the lights at all. still work exactly the same, only with the headlights on and no brakes lights.is there a better way to ground the harness to the trailer? will running another wire from a stud on the taillight themselves to the front white ground harness help at all? or should i just ground the wire from a stud to the frame by the taillights?

my truck plug is fine. it works perfectly on my pop-up, so i am taking it the issue is with the new lights.

thanks for your help.

 

[Titanium48]

Re: yet another wiring issue....

will running another wire from a stud on the taillight themselves to the front white ground harness help at all? or should i just ground the wire from a stud to the frame by the taillights?

I'd suggest one of those two options, preferably the first one. Exposed frame grounds have a bad habit of corroding, especially on boat trailers. Full duplex wiring avoids the problem.

 

[fishfulthinking]

Re: yet another wiring issue....

the ground i have now is clean. i used a 4" grinder to take off the galvanized finish right to bare aluminum. i will try grounding both light individually tomorrow.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: yet another wiring issue....

i believe you need the proper connector kit, for the vehicle.

 

[fishfulthinking]

Re: yet another wiring issue....

i am using a 4 pin to 7 pin converter since i have a 7 pin round on my truck. mabye i should just throw a 4 pin on my truck since i don't have a big trailer anymore needing the 7 pin.

 

[fishfulthinking]

Re: yet another wiring issue....

http://www.accessconnect.com/trailer_wiring_diagram.htm

i am looking at this diagram and wondering how to connect my truck's 7 pin wiring to my trailers 4 wire.

i see to take the red from my truck and hook it to the brown for my left turn signal.

brown on my truck will go to green on the trailer for right turn signal.

now for running lights on the trailer and brake lights what do i do? will the red and brown from my truck's 7 pin also serve as running lights?

 

[haskindm]

Re: yet another wiring issue....

The lights are not concerned with the ground on the trailer it is just a link in the path back to the battery. They need a return path back to the negative side of the battery in your tow vehicle. They use the trailer as this return path and then through your connector and then the frame of your vehicle back to the battery. Sounds like you are losing the path through your connector. It will sometimes work by grounding through the ball, but that is not reliable. Check all your grounds and you will find the problem.

 

[fishfulthinking]

Re: yet another wiring issue....

well i ran a seperate ground wire from each taillight stud (1 per side) to the tongue ground and it made no difference. i may run a wire from my neg. terminal on the battery to the trailer ground when i get home and see if that helps.
this is very frustrating.

 

[haskindm]

Re: yet another wiring issue....

You need to get some connection from the trailer frame to the chassis of your tow vehicle. Hook a temporary wire to trailer ground point and connect to something metal on the tow vehicle. I think you will find that everything works. The ground connection between your trailer and the tow vehicle chassis is what is missing.

 

[DRIFTER_016]

Re: yet another wiring issue....

Since you say your pop up trailer is fine and you have repaired the grounds on the trailer the issue is likely your trailer plug. Spend a few $$$ on a new one, hook it up and your problems will likely be fixed.

 

[fishfulthinking]

Re: yet another wiring issue....

i bought the whole wiring kit including the new plug.

 

[slia67]

Re: yet another wiring issue....

http://www.accessconnect.com/trailer_wiring_diagram.htm

i am looking at this diagram and wondering how to connect my truck's 7 pin wiring to my trailers 4 wire.

i see to take the red from my truck and hook it to the brown for my left turn signal.

brown on my truck will go to green on the trailer for right turn signal.

now for running lights on the trailer and brake lights what do i do? will the red and brown from my truck's 7 pin also serve as running lights?

No, the green wire from your truck should serve as your taillights.

What type of truck do you have? (maybe you mentioned it in another thread that I didn't see)

Is RV using a 4way connector also?

Is the 7pin to 4way connector homemade or is it commercially purchased? (the reason I ask is because it sounds like you are trying to figure out which of the trucks pins should connect to which of the trailers pins)

 

[fishfulthinking]

Re: yet another wiring issue....

i have a 95 1/2 ton ram with the towing package. yes the 7 to 4 converter is store bought. yes the pop-up is a 4pin flat too and i use the same 7 to 4 connector for both.

 

[slia67]

Re: yet another wiring issue....

Do you have the green wire hooked up to the taillights?

Does the RV have the brake lights and turnsignals on one bulb, or are they seperate?

Does the truck have the brake lights and turnsignals on one bulb, or are they seperate?

It sounds like you have taken the ground from the 4 way connector and provided a new ground on the coupler or trailer, true? You need to make sure you are getting a good ground from the truck to the trailer. Ideally, you want to be able to hook your trailer light plug up to your plug on your truck (without the hitch and coupler attached, acting as a path to ground) and everything should work as intended.

 

[MaxOD]

Re: yet another wiring issue....

Take a battery charger or any other 12V source and with the plug disconnected from your tow vehicle ground your battery charger negative to the frame on the trailer. Probe each of the male pins with the 12V positive. The Brown wire will be running lights, the green will be right turn sig., the yellow will be left turn sig. If you get the correct lights working with this method use a 12V test light on your truck plug and probe the female pins. They should correspond with what you got at the trailer plug. If not you will have to correct wiring issues, probably on your trailer. If all is well with the truck and trailer it has to be a grounding problem. I find most often the poor ground is at the lights themselves and not the connection between the trailer and TV. In most instances the ball will provide enough of a ground to function. Good luck

 

[beezee28]

Re: yet another wiring issue....

Did you check to see if the plug from the pickup is working. Go to wally world and buy one of the trailer light plug tester and if it works from the pickup side then you know the wiring on the trailer is not good. Eliminate one source at a time. I have had the same problem at one time. Next hook everything up to the pickup and start testing the light with a 12V light tester as suggested earlier. Make sure the ground is good. Keep testing the test light along the frame until you don't get connectivity and that is how you know that the ground is bad. One thing I found that really works and if you have time is to soldier the connections as this would make very good a perfect connection, no break. Hope this helps

 

[fishfulthinking]

Re: yet another wiring issue....

finally figured it out. there must have been a bunch of corrosion in not only my 7 to 4 converter but my 7 pin connector. it's been in and out of salt water for years. i was getting about 3.5-5 volts through the pair. grounding was not the only issue. i cut the 7 pic out and wired in the supplied 4 pin for the vehicle side and all is well. thanks for your input everyone.

7.25 hrs till fishing!!! pray for some big ones for me!