Trailer Lights Nightmare

[THEFERMANATOR]

Sounds like you reversed teh yellow and brown wires when you hooked them up.

[Jdog]

well, I had thought that also so I switched them and it didn't even light up.

[THEFERMANATOR]

Originally Posted by Jdog

well, I had thought that also so I switched them and it didn't even light up.

Are these LEDS? If so they may be miswired inside and has the ground reversed with one of teh tail lights(seen it before). Or you don't have a good clean ground going to the lights and they are backfeeding.

[spareparts]

make sure you have a good ground from your truck to your trailer, grounding thru the trailer ball doesn't get it. take a jumper wire and ground the trailer to the chassis of the truck, see if that helps, if it does, start looking at the white wire

[Destroyer]

Originally Posted by spareparts

make sure you have a good ground from your truck to your trailer, grounding thru the trailer ball doesn't get it. take a jumper wire and ground the trailer to the chassis of the truck, see if that helps, if it does, start looking at the white wire

Totally agree...Always a good idea to look at the ground first. And you MUST wire the white wire directly to the trailer.. the trailer ball is a great way to get a poor ground.
But he said that the one side works great, so that doesn't sound like a bad ground at the hitch. It "might" be a bad ground at the trailer light itself, where the pigtail wire from the light gets put over the bolt, but I tend to doubt that also. I think Ferm might be on to something with the miswire internally, which is why I said to switch lights and see if that solves the problem. If it does then you know it's the light and not the wiring. If it doesn't then you know it's in the wiring somewhere.

[SkunkBoat]

The lights connect to ground thru the nuts(one of /both of) that mount it to the metal trailer. Once the nuts get rusty, you lose ground. You can try running a ground wire all the way from the white wire to the nuts. I have had success with that approach in the past

Now, you say they are brand new....

Since all trailer lights are made in China, overtightening that nut causes the bolt to spin and ground (internal to the light) to be lost or intermittent.

Solution, THERE IS NONE. TRAILER LIGHTS SUCK!

Get used to it. You're a boat owner now...


P.S. Once you think you have it fixed, try turning on your headlights and check again.

[phatdaddy]

i used to work at a u-haul dealer and i have hooked up hundreds of trailer lights and skunk is on the money. bout the time you get them working, check again and there gone. i am on my third set of leds, get about 3 years out of them. to overcome the ground issues, i use a 100 extension cord for trailer lights. cut to length and use the 3 wires for light, signal/brake, & ground.