More tail light/brake light problems

[bobhenry]

If you go direct to the battery make a short run to a circuit breaker first then continue on to the rear of the vehicle . There are a lot of things to ground out on in 20 feet.

[greasywheats]

Bob-
Excellent point...Am I correct in believing that I olny really need a direct-to-battery connection if the loads on the tail lights plus the side marker lights would be heavy and make them all dim? Or is there another good reason to have the connection?

Thanks!

[bobhenry]

I was a U haul center manager for 3 years and in that time our center installed well over 2,000 hitchs and wired even more vehicles. The only time we ran dedicated wiring direct to the battery ( thru a circuit breaker) was with electric brakes. Highter draw and you really want them to work when needed. I suppose if one went crazy and covered the trailer with lights you might need larger wire to accomidate the added amperage draw but I see no reason for you to need to do this.

[madjack]

...there are a handful of cars/trcks(mostly cars) out there that have insufficient voltage to tap directly for trailer lights or the lights are 'puter controlled...that is what the battery direct adapters are for...greasy, I guess I misunderstood you, I thought you had a 7pin outlet on the vehicle and used a 7pin to 4pin adapter to hook up the lights to the trailer...I have seen these adapter be bad right out of the box(cheaply made by pissed off Chinese prisoners)........
madjack

[angib]

Anyway, with a trailer, when you apply the brakes, aren't all the other lights meant to pulse in time with the turn signals?

I thought that was how they were designed.

Andrew

[greasywheats]

Hi all- so i got a tail light converter...so now how to wire it in....

Its got 3 wires on the car side and 2 on the trailer...

3 on the car side are RT blinky, LT blinky and stop (brake) switch.

Can't tell where the bad directions want me to put this thiung.

Do I connect it in between the car wiring harness and the 7-pin connector? If so, i get the blinkies, but what is the stop (brake) switch? which wire in the wiring harness does this get tied to?

Tyhanks!

[BrwBier]

Are all the lights on your trailer LED or just the side marker lights?
Brwbier

[Leon]

Anyway, with a trailer, when you apply the brakes, aren't all the other lights meant to pulse in time with the turn signals?

I thought that was how they were designed.

Andrew

Not ALL the lights, just the brakelights.

[greasywheats]

BRW- just the side marker lights are LED - the tail lights are bulb.

[greasywheats]

Ok- an update on my tail light wiring soap opera. Dug around in my Nissan Pathfinder and found that uHaul had already installed a 3-to-2 wire tail light converter when they installed my 7/4 pin connector.

So, I took my tail light units (wesbar) out and attached them with alligator clips directly to the connector pins on the vehicle connector and got the same problem (no right blinky when the brake is engaged, but left blinky does work when brake is engaged).

So I feel better that its not the wiring on my trailer- either the tail light converter is busted, or ...uhh.... I need a whole new truck!

[BrwBier]

First, do you really like the truck. Second, would the wife flip out if you bought a new truck. Only you cn answer these questions, but new is always fun.
Brwbier

[madjack]

grreasy, tailight converters regulary and routinely go bad, often right outta the box ..................

[greasywheats]

Well- now that I am sure that my wiring isn't at fault, I don't feel so bad. It's a good learning experience to have to trouble shoot stuff, so I'll take it in stride.

Have an appt tomorrow at the uHaul place that installed the converter and connector last year- hopefully they'll install a good converter and I can get on with this wiring soap opera!

thanks for all the replies and I'll let ya'll know how it goes!

[angib]

Anyway, with a trailer, when you apply the brakes, aren't all the other lights meant to pulse in time with the turn signals?

Not ALL the lights, just the brakelights.

You're thinkin' only about Merka. Here in Yurp where all trailers have separate amber turn signals and red tail/brake lights, you can get much better bad earth/ground effects.

My favourite is when you put on the brakes, the correct turn signal still flashes, but the wrong one also joins in, but weakly and out of sync with the right one!

Actually, I'm not sure there isn't something to be said for completely random and illogical light behaviour on trailers, as it persuades the following drivers that something unexpected is about to happen and so they pay more attention.

Andrew

[bobhenry]

Ok- an update on my tail light wiring soap opera. Dug around in my Nissan Pathfinder and found that uHaul had already installed a 3-to-2 wire tail light converter when they installed my 7/4 pin connector.

So, I took my tail light units (wesbar) out and attached them with alligator clips directly to the connector pins on the vehicle connector and got the same problem (no right blinky when the brake is engaged, but left blinky does work when brake is engaged).

So I feel better that its not the wiring on my trailer- either the tail light converter is busted, or ...uhh.... I need a whole new truck!

If it's truely a u-haul converter talk to the center and ask for a replacement if they turn you down ask for the regional office phone #. They will probably knuckle under immediatly if not make the call. 1 800 go uhaul will get it done also. We replaced a ton of these and yes they do and probably did take a poo poo.