Another trailer wiring question...

[Yarnie]

Hey,
So I bought a drift boat today, hooked up to it and started on my way with all lights on both car and trailer working..so far so good.
Somewhere about half way I realized that my turn signal indicators in the car had gone out, flipped on the flashers to check it out. They went on for 2 seconds and then they went out.
Replaced fuse for TS, fuse for flashers looked OK, but they wouldnt work. Did I mention no brake lights on neither car nor trailer, despite healthy fuse?
Back on road, TS fuse blew again when I applied TS.
Got home slowly,replacing fuse for TS 2 more times on the way, and when I unhooked the trailer, the TS<with new fuse>, and brake lights on the car came back on.Flashers still don't work.
Hmm.
Why did everything work, then not, then work without the load?
Whats blowing the fuse?
I am towing with a Chevy Impala<don't laugh>, is it possible that the electrical going to the wiring harness isnt strong enough for the trailer, and it was working hard til it gave out? There are more lights on it than I thought?
Remedies, tips, anecdotes appreciated.
Thanks

[Orca]

Suspect TS wire is shorted to frame of trailer. Could have worked initially, then when you are moving the line shorted, or shorts and un-shorts as you move. Check all you 12V wires see if there is continuity to the trailer frame, wiggling all the wires as you test.

You will want to get the "heavy duty" flasher to drive the extra load of the trailer lights. The auto parts guys will fix you up there. Without the heavy duty flasher, the TS will just flash fast and dim. This would'nt be the problem with the fuse blowing however.

[baitsauce]

Like Orca said the wiring sounds like its shorted to the frame of the trailer. The insulation has been probably chaffed somehwere. Its a real pain to find too. I dealt with this problem once and fixed it when I finally gave up and replaced the wiring. Wish I had done that to begin with. :twocents:

Good luck..........

[siletzsal]

I gave up messing with trailer lights. I bought a nice magnetic light set like the tow companies use on towed vehicles. Purchased a couple cheap gavanized pads at the hardware store, painted them to match the boat and attached to rear corners. EZ to put on and take off. Never worry about trailer light again!! :D

[Speedy TJ]

Ditto on all the above posts. Also make sure you have a ground thru the wire plug from vehicle to trailer.this is very important.do not depend on the trailer ball for a ground circuit ever.BTW i sold a set of magnetic tow lights in my garage sale last weekend for $5.00 .

mike s.:twocents:

[Yarnie]

Like Orca said the wiring sounds like its shorted to the frame of the trailer. The insulation has been probably chaffed somehwere. Its a real pain to find too. I dealt with this problem once and fixed it when I finally gave up and replaced the wiring. Wish I had done that to begin with. :twocents:

Good luck..........

I am an idiot when it comes to this kinda stuff so bear with me...
When you say the insulation is chaffed, do you mean the coating of the wire? Does a wrap of electrical tape on chaffed wire solve the problem?

Also, what does shorted to the frame mean? Bad ground, or a cross in wire?
I really appreciate everyone's help, keep it coming..
Jeff

[No Reservations]

after you replace the fuse in the impala is it hot to the touch make sure your fuse box is clean and clear of rust sometimes that will make the fuse heat up and pop

[Orca]

Yes, the outside plastic coating of the wire is likely worn or broken somewhere along its length, allowing the inner copper to touch the metal of the frame, thus "shorting it to the frame". When you find it, you can wrap with electrical tape to keep it from shorting.

If it is really mangled or frayed when you find it, you would want to cut and either solder the splice, or use the crimp comnnectors. You could splice in a new piece using just electrical tape if you wanted, and if done well it could last a long time.

Did you get just a light tester, or a digital meter? If you have a meter, with the wiring disconnected from car, check to make sure you have continuity from the white wire to the frame of the trailer. Put meter on the smallest ohm setting - Ω. If it has a beep for continutity, put it in the beep mode. The meter should respond and go to something like 0.5 ohms and beep if it has that capability. If the meter doesn't change, then the trailer ground is bad. Now, with the meter black still on the white (assuming it was connected to frame), put the red on all the other 12V wires - brown, green, yellow. If the meter responds or beeps, then that wire is shorted to the frame and needs to be fixed.

[Lou]

Make sure your flasher unit is Heavy Duty, the ones that came on
Chevy's were regular duty.:)

[Yarnie]

So upon closer inspection I didnt find much in way of wear on the trailer wiring, but I found that the wire from the RTS on my car was melted pretty good from coming in contact with the muffler..
Im thinking it didnt heat up enough til I got half way home and when it hit the muffler again, the TS fuse blew and blew and blew..sound about right?
Anyways, I taped that up and we'll see what happens with the fuse issue..I totally meant to shorten that wire before I left..doh
Now I have both TS' on trailer and running lights, but still no brake lights on car<with trailer attached>or trailer.
From what I am reading, the trailer tails have two filaments;one for brake one for TS.If the brake light part of the bulbs on the trailer were blown, would this keep the car brake lights from coming on..are they a circuit, or something..
Do Heavy duty flashers increase the power sent to the trailer?
I am way past my comfort zone here..thanks for the replies ORca and everyone.

[Orca]

Wire shorted on Muffler - that would do it!

Most American cars and trailers have bulbs with 2 filaments (part #1157), with the dimmer filament being the running light, and the brighter filament being both the turn signal and brake indicator. That is why you don't have a brake light wire on the connector, just a gnd, RTS, LTS, and running lights. When the brakes go on, 12V is sent down both TS wires and both turn signals come on resulting in brake lights on. And if turning, the one TS will keep flashing while the other side is on full for brakes.

All foreign cars have seperate turn signal and brake light wires. For these rigs, you need to wire in a convertor to put the brake light wire onto both the turn signal wires.

Sounds like your brake lights worked originally, but are now dead on both when the trailer is hooked up. Do they work on the car with trailer unhooked? Need to ponder this one for a bit.

Here is info on wiring, convertor, and flasher - http://www.brokeboats.com/trailerlights.html .

Having a regular flasher won't be causing the loss of the brake lights, that I know of, just quick flash and dim turn signal.

[Yarnie]

Sounds like your brake lights worked originally, but are now dead on both when the trailer is hooked up. Do they work on the car with trailer unhooked? Need to ponder this one for a bit.

Yes they work without the trailer..
Also, I didn't see anything fishy going on with the filaments. Just some big ole spiders up in the light.
I wish I could give you more info..

[honker1]

Don't want to beat a dead horse, but I have found that if you can't find a short in the trailer lights, then make sure you have a good ground. Is your ground connected directly into your car wire system or is it connected to the car from the trailer ball. Try splicing it into you car ground wire. You could also run a long temporary wire from your trailer ground to your car battery ground, just to see if my theory is correct. Found this solved the trailer wire problem on my bother-in-laws Toyota pickup. If it doesn't help, sorry I added my :twocents:

[Lead Bouncer]

Yarnie, its difficult to know what you might have left out of your situation, so I just go with the troubleshooting sequence,

Car only.

brake TS lights all seperate. THEN combine them. If any bulb doesnt light up, switch the bulb from right to left etc. Pay attention to the pigtail in the light socket to look for rust, broken contact points. If the bulbs all work and dont have a dark tint to the glass, or the brass base is not loose, then move onto the fuse box. Its possible you might not be looking at the correct fuses. Make sure you have the correct amp rating. Older cars can fall victim to weak springs inside the light socket. Bad connections are only one problem. If you see dark wires, you need to put an OHM meter on each end of the wire or replace the wire. Resistance is a silent, nearly invisible killer. Never connect the leads to voltage, while the meter is set on Ohms. It will burn out the fuse in the meter.

If problems still exist in the car, look at the wiring and connections to the trailer plug. Never use scotch locks. Dont worry about the trailer until everything on the car works correctly.

Next item is the trailer plug.

Use a test light or volt meter. Use the ground in the plug and just put weight on the brake pedal to check those lights. check the connections at the back of the plug. A single strand could short between to terminals.

Trailer. In addition to connections, socket rust, bulb deterioration look for any bolts going through the frame that could have pinched the wiring, thus rupturing the insulation and causing a short.

[Hawk JJ]

disconnect the trailer lights from car
remove brakelight cover
clean bulb, 2 contact nubs on bottom (emery cloth on sides to make good connection)...or replace the bulbs.
clean 2 socket contacts (scrape with small screwdriver)
if bulb is loose in socket u can use a small rubberband around bulb to have tighter fit.

You said u have NO brake lights on trailer but do u have Taillights to the trailer when u turn on car headlights??


it sounds like u have a bad ground wire connection or a rusted connection .

[Yarnie]

Problem resolved!
I am an IDIOT..I don't care to elaborate, but it was a fuse in the OTHER fuse box that I didn't know existed, and I am dumb.
Thank you Orca and everyone else who responded, you guys are extremely knowledgeable. I will use this thread to diagnose any future problem I might have.
Hope everyone's well, take care.
Jeff