IRG trying to get there...But..electrical problems

[Ron Dickey]

In two days I leave for IRG ... or I thought I was.
Drove the car & trailer around the block and a neighbor pointed out that my left brake light flashes when I hit the brakes.
I climbing under and took a look all looked ok. I had the wife put the brakes on several times as I disconnected this then that. I have brake lights normal spot and a second set hight up LED's it flashed too.

I disconnected the upper one then the lower one and it still flashed....
Went to an RV store and got a LED trailer wiring tester for the car and found the box might be out.
http://www.etrailer.com/Custom-Fit-Vehi ... d=20012305
looks like this I called my cousin in Southern CA He went to Auto Zone and found 2 made by O'Reilly 1 Hopking.
I can just cut the wires at the box and splice them onto the new box.
I thought I was going to have to bring pictures of the trailer and sleep in a tent the good part is we would take the Prius and be able to do it in 2 tanks of gas. The Carolla with the trailer will take more stops like 4.
Those iPhones are amazing my cousin is 600 miles south of me in the big city looking in an Auto Zone to see if they have the parts as I write this he is sending me pixs of the boxes front and back. I asked him to have them check and see if they are found in mine ..... is it time for me to put put a large screen LED TV on my trailer wall and I can be in the woods looking a pixs of the world? What ever happened to smoke signals.
Any way any one have any thoughts on my predicament.

[keen_tear]

I would check and make sure your ground wiring is solid. A poor ground to your chassis can cause all kinds of strange behavior with your lights.

[Ron Dickey]

Thanks I will do that in the morning. I do not think I grounded my trailer frame I have a wire the leads all the way to the car. and just found out it is a little tinny ground. so Far it has done ok 2007 till now. guess it is time to add that .
My trailer is a little odd it is an old boat trailer T style
so my all lights are not attached to metal but wood. so I run a ground wire to them. I could put in a ground to trailer frame front and back.
Living in salt air does not help.

Ron

[danlott]

I was having very strange light problems with a trailer once. Spent lots of time and could never figure it out. Finally gave up and decide to use the trailer as it was. After towing it for a little bit the light started working right. I am pretty sure that it was because the trailer was not grounding well through the ball and hitch. After I drove awhile the ground became better because the connection between the ball and hitch was cleaned up by the movement.

Dan

[Ron Dickey]

I do a double ground on everything even a metal horse trailer or my boat too.

you need not just a ground to the trailer frame but tied in to a ground wire to every light on the rig.

and tied into the vechiles trailer plug even to or more ground wires to the frame instead of one does not hurt.

but over kill on a ground wire works good.

and dont' forget to run a wire to every light as well.

tie it all to the trailer plug to the vechile and you should be fine.

a lot of it though can be the kits that convert the tailights to the trailer plugs.

old vhicles used to be one wires or so and it was a matter of splicing into the tail lights.

now we have to have a convertor box mostly made in cheapo china on these new modern rigs and they fail a lot.

slow

Dan and Slow
We have lift off trailer is grounded and found a loose wire on the side with the light problem as well.
Car fixed trailer fixed now I need to rest .... just have to get gas pick up the IRG buttons from graphics by Erick in San Luis Obispo .... load the trailer get up early and go.
Thanks to you both.
Ron

[pete42]

Glad you found your problem
you should never depend on the trailer ball being the ground for the lights.
the 4 or 7 wire plugs all have a socket for the ground use it.
you will save yourself from trouble down the road.
pete

[jeffmutch]

Glad to hear you've found the problem in time for IRG!!

I second what Pete said in that you shouldn't rely on the ball & hitch to provide your ground. It's purpose is simply mechanical to connect the two. I spent over a month trying to figure out my lighting problems. (turns out I had several) I cleaned some grease and dirt off the coupler and ball and it improved my 'flickering' problem. Thats when I realized every light needs a clean ground from the light itself all the way back to the negative terminal on the TV battery. (using the frame of the vehicle and trailer to carry the current)

However, I found with these foldable trailers being somewhat flexible, they don't provide a constant connection all the way through as youre bouncing down the road. So it's far better to just run a ground wire from each light, all the way back to the tow vehicle. Next time I'll do this from the start and quit trying to save time taking short cuts.