Trailer light Difficulties

[Miriam C.]

Miriam - where is this bolted to and where is the wire coming from? It looks like the side of the trailor? I'm sorry for all the questions I just want to get it right. I wish you guys were here. Also, Miriam I was looking at your photos for your 12 volt system. How does the little wiring strip work and where did you get the switch panel? I'm trying to clean up the wiring inside the trailor also. The 12 volt system in my trailer consists of some lights and female cig. lighter connectors to plug other appliances etc. into.

I got the 12 volt panel from Bass Pro shop. Most marine outllets will carry them or get them on the net. You can even get them in larger sizes. Works great, is fused and has the 12 vdc plug built in.

The wiring strip acts as a buss bar/ground bar. It works great and is a couple of dollars at radio shack. Be sure to get the connector bar thingy too.




The tail lights are the cheap kind and set in wood. Normally those two bolts would be in the trailer frame so ground themselves. Here is a better picture.




This is the left side. Do you have a picture of the lights? Like the guys said "if you have a filament burned it might not look broke but could leave you only brake light on the bright side. I would change the bulbs just because. They are cheap.............

[madjack]

CL, the first thing I would checkout closely is the ground on the dim side...a change of bulbs is OK as well...if they work the same, you will now have a spare set of bulbs..............
madjack

p.s. by the way, the ground is probably thru one of the mounting bolts for the lights........MJ

[chesterlion]

MJ - When grounding the lights individually. I know I'll bolt one end to the trailer, where on the light itself do I secure the other end? It sounds like I'm going run a seperate ground for the lights. I know it won't be as simple as changing a bulb.

[madjack]

CL, the easiest way is to put a ring connector on the ground wire and slip that over the mounting bolt that is grounded...run all of your grounds to terminal/grounding block, similar to the one that AuntieM showed...if you have soldering skils, you MIGHT be able to solder a wire to the brass ground ring in the fixture itself...there is absolutely nothing wrong with grounding to the frame, providing all points of contact are free of rust/paint/corrosion/etc...if you have a bolt together frame, this is trickier since you have so many different points of contact...with a bolt together frame I would definetly run dedicated grounds to each fixture......
madjack

[Miriam C.]

I'm sorry CL the second image I posted was the tag light. I have fixed it. Here it is again.


To ground the white wire I drilled a hole, cleaned it completely and put a screw in. You can carry this wire all the way up to the vehicle. Just get a disconnect and wire to the TV. The second white wire is the wire to the wiring harness.

I tested mine with some wire and gotor clips. Just run a clip from the mounting post to the trailer frame where it is clean of paint and rust.

[chesterlion]

Thanks everyone for all your help. Sometimes you find that it is just something minor, which in this case it was. The bolts holding the lights to the trailer weren't tight enough to get a good ground. So I tightened them and everything works fine. I feel so incompetent - sorry I bothered everyone. This was my first post and now all know how dumb I am.

[Miriam C.]

Thanks everyone for all your help. Sometimes you find that it is just something minor, which in this case it was. The bolts holding the lights to the trailer weren't tight enough to get a good ground. So I tightened them and everything works fine. I feel so incompetent - sorry I bothered everyone. This was my first post and now all know how dumb I am.

Happy to hear it worked out easy.

Now about the dumb part---you should have heard my incident with the airplane tires.

to the play ground.

[satch]

Think of it as a learning experience. Now you will know what to check for if it happens again. And don't call yourself dumb, everyone has a story to tell.

[madjack]

...just be glad it was a simple fix, electrical problems can be the devil to track down...and FYI...there just ain't no dumb questions!!!
madjack