Help with Trailer Lights

[Jack K]

Sorry for the bad drawing..



I having trouble trying to figure out why my lights aren't working...



So far #1,#3,#5 works perfect.



#6 works only if I signal or brake.



#2,#4,#6,#7 are out. Don

 

[Staci Matheis]

Fine drawing of a rocket ship, Little Jackie!



Let me suggest that you do yourself a favor and rewire the trailer..... I know it sounds like a big job, but it will be one heck of a lot easier in the long run.



They use crimp connectors to attach the wires from the lights to the main harness. Stuck inside the frame rails, these easily corrode.



When I rewired my last trailer, I ran the wires on the outside of the rails to prevent this from happening again.



me!

 

[Michael Snow]

One thing about trailers... check under the hood of your truck for some fuses... they blow pretty well and will make you chase your tail on the trailer. I darned near threw my trailer in the lake after doing continuity tests on the wiring and not finding any faults... turns out, I blew a fuse or three. The trailer wiring has its own fuses in many cases, so the truck will have proper lights but the trailer will be screwed up.

 

[Greg Meyer]

Scott,



You made my morning... "Fine drawing of a rocket ship little Jackie"... Have we no mercy. Man comes here with a serious, serious, issue and all we can do is kick him when he's down...



Well, little Jackie...tell your daddy that I agree with Scott... sometimes a rewire is easier than a troubleshooting nightmare... But, I notice that all the dead bulbs are on the right side of the rocket ship...I'd trace that split at the tongue on the hot lead for the "taillights" and the ground...since those are the only things that all of those bulbs have in common also because the flasher and brake light circuit is a different (hot) circuit...

 

[Staci Matheis]

Greg..... Greg..... Greg..... You've got to put it in more understndable terms.....



Jackie, you'll notice that Mickey can point to all the bulbs tht aren't working with his right hand.....

 

[Jim B]

Is it just the running lights that are out? if your trailer is made like mine is the running lihts all run off the same wire . i had a similar problem and what it ended up baing was a break in a wire between the lights you have numbered as 5 and 7 that break took oout the whole right side ofthe trailer.

 

[James D.]

that does look like a rocket ship! anyways i've had a lot of troubles from my lights on my trailer also. i've replaced tail lights complete twice and the runnin lights once. it has worked out great for the 2nd half of last season and works great now. i redid most of the connectors and wrapped tape around the wires coming out the holes in the trailer since whomever did the trailer did not think that rubber grommets would be a good idea. with most of the connections redone and new lights all the way around i've had good luck. also, i think at wally world i saw a "test plug" w/led lights that you could check the plug to your vehicle to make sure that it was right. after that, a good ground is needed and each circuit will need to be isolated and checked. like scott said, after a couple of hours of this, running new wires ain't a bad idea. i was not impressed with the grade of wires originally installed in my trailer nor the fact that the plug in connectors were inside the trailer (they weren't run out the little hole where the grommet was supposed to go) so that you have to take a fender off to get to the connection just to change a runnin light. the problems are usually conections that get loose, rust, corrode or ground out. next time mine gets wierd again, i will rewire the whole thing and do it right. one other thing to double check is the rear tail light - make sure you have the brake light wire and the runnin light wire hooked up to the right trailer wire or all kinds of wierd things happen.



also, anybody thought of maybe drilling some extra holes in the bottom of the side tubes of the trailer frame to maybe keep the trailer frame from rusting inside out?



jd

 

[Greg Meyer]

I drilled the holes last year and then "fog the heck out of the inside of the trailer frame with outboard fogging oil...per my mechanic's suggestion....

 

[Mike Levesque]

Hmmm, that fogging idea sounds intriguing, alot of work probably, but intriguing anyhow, Jackie, my trailer was only about 3 months old, when I started losing lights, kept scratchin my head, hookin it up, still didn't work, ended up gettin p.o.'d and doing a complete rewire, it took a good part of a Saturday afternoon, but as James D mentioned, I think the quality of the new wires I ran was better than the originals, also I found some rubber grommets for the holes in trailer by the tail lights at a hardware store, 'cause the same guy that wired James D's musta wired mine at the factory too. egMike

 

[Staci Matheis]

JD -



About 7 years ago, I drilled 4 holes in the trailer frame of my old Nitro 180 before I took it to Florida for the first time so that I could hose it out at the car wash after I dunked it in salt water. I'm sure it also helped somewhat to dry the insides of the rails as well, but I wouldn't think significantly.

 

[Bruce Freeman]

Sounds like a broken wire and there is nothing wrong with the drawing..You want ugly let me try..Rewireing the trailer is a not hard to do. Running the wires on the outside make's problems down the road easy to find. If you do rewire take the time to do it right. Use water proof crimp connectors and not the scotch locks they provide in the kit. use a little dialectric grease on each connector and ground points and it should be fine. Plan on spending the whole day on it...It should not take all day but if you plan on it you will not get in a rush and forget something simple..

BF

 

[Greg Meyer]

Bruce,



ALl good points...especially the waterproof connectors and the grease...



Oh, and we never said there was anything "wrong" with the drawing (actually, I was sorta impressed it being in color and all) but, if we didn't give him a hard time he'd think we didn't like him or something... besides to our (at least me and Scott) sick twisted minds it did look like a space ship...just made us home sick for our home planet and hope that mom was coming back soon...

 

[JEFF WHITE]

ok,here we go!cut,copy paste,or print it out for reference



get some good heat shrink butt connectors,or solder sealheat shrink butt connectors,some 1/4 ring terminals also in 16-14 blue,and 12-10 yellow,and a few 12-10 ring terminals for the grounds to hook to.now would be a good time to update to sealed beam lights,even for the markers also.go to a trailer supply place,for semis now,get some 7 wire cord,6 wires are 14 ga,1-12 ga wire,all color coded,red,yellow,green,brown,black,blue,and 12 ga white.get some 4 wire cord also.about 15 ft,a spool of 14 ga wire in black,or brown.



here is where the fun comes in.you will be cursing your head off,but in the end it will be worth it!you will need to take the markers off,cut the wires to them,the factory used scotch lock connectors to attach them to the harness,STOOPID!ok,tape the 7 wire cord to the harness at the back of the trailer really well,and use it to pull the new wire through.carefully when you get to the toungue of the trailer.if you dont like doing that,tape a rope to the old harness or a electricians fishtape to it and pull it through.where the back tube is on your trailer drill a 5/8 hole so you have access to the tube and run the 4 wire across to the other side.



now the fun part,the markers #1 and 2 is going to be fun,2 ways of doing it,take the light off,drill a 3/8 hole in the side,use some stiff wire,push it to the fender mounted marker since there is a bigger hole there,use a o ring pick to find the wire in the tube,pull it back to there,then fish the wire from the back and pull the wire to the back.do this on both sides with the single wire.



wire run,now to hook everything up.use a 7 pole rv plug on the trailer.there is a wire in the harness for reverse lights/solenoid in your truck harness if you put the lite mate tap in harness on it.use the green and yellow for turns,white is ground.ground that directly to the frame,grind the frame clean,bolt it with stainless bolt,nut,lock washer and washer.use the black or brown for markers and tail lights.use red for reverse lights.leave the blue open for extras if you want.put a piece of heat shrink over the end so the wire doesnt wick waterin it and corode it from the inside.



use the heat shrink butts on everything!hook up all the lights and test them before you shrink them down,just in case of a fubar.shrink everything and tape them up.



ge a half a dozen extra connectorsfor the screwups.also now is the time to put extra lights on inside the frame rails for night launching/landings.also reverse lights on the trailer is a pleasure!



any questions?



good!!



oh forgot the origional harness has scotch lock connectors for the mid and front markers on the trailer.STOOPID!went through this over 3 yrs ago.rewired trailer with light updates and never had a problem with cionnections getting coroded.bulbs burnt out,but no connection problems!



spend it now,or nickle and dime you later!since its winter,now is the time to do it!granted it will be expensive,the ehat shrink butts are expensive,but worth it in the long run!just ask anyone who seen my trailer this summer in ny!

 

[James D.]

good post magna19. those trailer lights will nickle and dime ya to death. those waterproof sealed taillights are great till they get water in them - go figure. i think the trailer is the most overlooked thing when buying a new boat. i'm hoping someone comes out with the square size LED tail lights that will fit my trailer as i think they might be more dependable also.

jd

 

[Staci Matheis]

Jeff..... Did you put chicken lights on your trailer? :^)

 

[JEFF WHITE]

nope!all i did was put lights inside the rails by the bunks for those night landings!oh and to make sure these guys pulling those sparklies can see what a nice tin boat looks like!

 

[James D.]

it probably looks like a UFO or something under the water

 

[JEFF WHITE]

well,ill let you in on a little secret.go to a unlit launch nd try to put the boat on the trailer by yourself!tough to hold the flashlight and maneuver the boat!one splashdown will chnge your mind on them!