Trailer light problem

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Re: Trailer light problem

Postby pchast » Thu Dec 15, 2016 10:35 pm

OK.. Remove the bulb. Look into the socket. If there are two contacts in the bottom of the socket
try your test light between them. It should light if wiring/voltage is ok.

If one contact test from the contact to the side of the socket. It should light.

Change the bulb for a new one...
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Re: Trailer light problem

Postby GuitarPhotog » Thu Dec 15, 2016 11:10 pm

pchast wrote:OK.. Remove the bulb. Look into the socket. If there are two contacts in the bottom of the socket
try your test light between them. It should light if wiring/voltage is ok.

If one contact test from the contact to the side of the socket. It should light.

Change the bulb for a new one...


If there are two contacts in the socket, one is for tail lights, the other is for Stop/turn lights. You won't see anything between them. Always go from the contact to the lamp socket shell.

<Chas>
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Re: Trailer light problem

Postby Dale M. » Fri Dec 16, 2016 9:37 am

mariannf wrote:
Dale M. wrote:If you have power and ground at the ends of the wire with light fixture disconnected, and then you connect the wires to fixture and you loose power to the probe... There are two possible scenarios,... One, bring there is problem with fixture... Two, there is problem with power from tow vehicle, meaning if the power to light trailer lamps comes through a "converter" the converter may be bad because it can not supply enough voltage (power) to light the actual fixture lamps ( probe takes very little power to light lamp) ... Since Both side have same result with the testing I would be suspicious of there being bad converter in tow vehicle if there is one or there is some confusion on how lamp fixture is wired.... Are by chance new lamps LED, if the are they are very specific how they are wired or they do not work....

Dale


Good to hear from you Dale and thanks.
The new lights aren't LED. I was wondering myself if I had a voltage problem.
Do you have any guidance (or links to resources) about how to identify 1) if i have a converter, and 2) if it is not working properly?
I was thinking that next I should test the voltage coming out of the tow vehicle side of the connector. I have a mulitmeter (honestly i haven;t used it before...got it free at HF). I foudn this video..does it look about right to you for how to proceed?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3H5_g2lyOcs

Many thanks in advance!
mariann


Video is good for process, but color codes for wires in video are not common... The colors on his wiring are white -black - white and green with function stamped on them ... Never seen this type of cable before... Most cables for trailer are white (ground) - brown (tail/marker) - yellow (left turn/ stop) and green( right turn/stop) ..

4-Way_Diagram[1].png
4-Way_Diagram[1].png (83.45 KiB) Viewed 1899 times


Might try taking bulb out of fixture and again testing your "connection" at point you lost power when you connected fixture wires to main wires....

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Re: Trailer light problem

Postby pchast » Fri Dec 16, 2016 9:55 pm

GuitarPhotog wrote:If there are two contacts in the socket, one is for tail lights, the other is for Stop/turn lights. You won't see anything between them. Always go from the contact to the lamp socket shell.

<Chas>
:beer:


Thanks <Chas>
I missed that.
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Re: Trailer light problem

Postby mariannf » Fri Dec 16, 2016 11:21 pm

Thanks for your advice everyone.
Mystery solved; it was the converter. After doing a voltage test with a multimeter there was not even close to 12v coming through the pins.
Dale you were right that just enough volts were coming through to light the bulb tester but not enough to light the taillight.
I should have started with this step since it was so darn easy!
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Re: Trailer light problem

Postby Dale M. » Sat Dec 17, 2016 9:59 am

Have you replaced converter?...

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Re: Trailer light problem

Postby mariannf » Mon Dec 19, 2016 6:53 pm

Dale M. wrote:Have you replaced converter?...

Dale


yes, the converter was replaced (I took it back to the shop that installed the hitch and wiring initially) and everything works great.
thanks Dale!
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Re: Trailer light problem

Postby Dale M. » Tue Dec 20, 2016 9:00 am

Cool.... Happy wandering...

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