Trailer light help...

[De Hoog]

Finally finished sanding, primer/painting and putting my trailer back together. (pics will be coming) I bought new LED submersible lights and installed them. When I plugged in the trailer, I only get a single, very dim light smack dab in the middle on each tail light. I know I have the grounds on bare metal because I used my Dremel with a wire wheel to get down past the paint and primer. I checked all fuses on my truck (all good) and then I plugged in my other boat trailer with incandescent lights and it worked just fine. I have checked the plug-in numerous times, rechecked my grounds numerous times, made sure the wiring was correct. Any suggestions? Do you think I have a bad set of lights or am I missing something?

 

[whistler]

Finally finished sanding, primer/painting and putting my trailer back together. (pics will be coming) I bought new LED submersible lights and installed them. When I plugged in the trailer, I only get a single, very dim light smack dab in the middle on each tail light. I know I have the grounds on bare metal because I used my Dremel with a wire wheel to get down past the paint and primer. I checked all fuses on my truck (all good) and then I plugged in my other boat trailer with incandescent lights and it worked just fine. I have checked the plug-in numerous times, rechecked my grounds numerous times, made sure the wiring was correct. Any suggestions? Do you think I have a bad set of lights or am I missing something?

Are your lights on an elevated type pole or side rail guide type bunk rail? I had a little ground problem (and still do) getting a good ground between the trailer frame and the uprights on these side guide rails. Hope I explained myself well enough.

 

[GTS225]

Personally, I do not rely on the trailer frame for my ground. I run a dedicated ground wire to each and every light. It's far to easy to end up with a bad ground on steel, and having to chase a bad ground is just one more headache I can do without.

Roger

 

[T-MAN]

Personally, I do not rely on the trailer frame for my ground. I run a dedicated ground wire to each and every light. It's far to easy to end up with a bad ground on steel, and having to chase a bad ground is just one more headache I can do without.

Roger

I also do the same thing and i grind a small section to make my ground get gool contact with the trailer

 

[lckstckn2smknbrls]

I too run a white ground wire to every light but then I loop it back to the connecter at the tongue.

 

[De Hoog]

My lights aren't on guides. They're attached directly to the trailer.

So the white ground wire that came attached to each light that attaches to the trailer via the nut/bolt on the light isn't enough? Like I said, I'm at bare metal at these spots.

Can anyone explain why there is the single dim light on each tail light for me? Electricity ain't my strong suit but I can grasp the concepts if explained. I'll post a picture after I get back from church to show my set up.

 

[lckstckn2smknbrls]

From what I've heard about LED's grounding them through the trailer is not enough they need a very good ground to work properly.

 

[De Hoog]

So I hooked up the trailer one more time and the buggers worked. I didn't do anything different. Drove out to my parent's farm with it to grease my hubs and visit awhile so they could see their favorite grand daughter. They worked the entire trip there (I know because I kept checking and playing with the blinkers/hazards/brake lights on the back country roads to make sure.) When I left tonight they were working until I hit a few bumps in their driveway and they went out. Played with them a bit and they came back on, drove a 1/4 mile and they went off again.

So based on searching other threads and advice given here, we have a ground issue I'm guessing.

Sorry I didn't get pics up yet.

 

[De Hoog]

Well, it was a ground issue, but not what you think. The ground wire at the plug-in on my trailer side was faulty. But instead of returning it and pulling wires again, I'm just going to try and find a new four pin plug-in and replace that. Thanks for your suggestions and help!

 

[lckstckn2smknbrls]

Walmart sells an 18" extension, just cut off the end you don't need and splice it on.

 

[nomowork]

Do you have a "tilt" trailer? That tilting mechanism can cause a break in the grounding.

I too run a white wire to each light bypassing the trailer frame ground all together.

One other problem I had once was that two different manufacturers had different lengths of male and female connectors. Some the connecters would make contact and others didn't. The trailer lights were from Harbor Freight so I cut the connector off of the trailer light and spliced a connector in from the same manufacturer as the hitch wiring to cure it.

 

[De Hoog]

It's not tilt trailer. The plug-in on the trailer side had the wires molded into the plug so there was no way to simply replace the bad ground. You can actually see where the white wire going into the plug isn't quite right, but you would never really notice it if you weren't troubleshooting...and even then, it took help from my brother. So I'm heading to Napa to get a new plug-in connector, cut off the old connector and replace it. I'll have an update when it's working... [-o<

 

[De Hoog]

I spliced in a new plug and now we're working! I never would've thought to look there first. Thanks for all your help and suggestions!

 

[rusty.hook]

I noticed in another post that some people are greasing the trailer ball. I am wondering if this will affect the grounding?
Maybe just another stupid question?