OK I just bought a 2008 Lance 830 camper. Everything except the running lights work fine. So I accessed the battery box where the leads from the plug come in and thought I could just check for continuity by putting one lead on the correct terminal on the plug and then check each wire back at the battery box until I got continuity, but all the wires at the battery box show continuity except the power lead. This is the case for the other terminals on the plug.So much for my basic electricity skills. I did check my truck and the marker terminal is producing power, so I know the truck is good. Anyone know which color lead is the one for the marker lights, and if there's perhaps a fuse somewhere on board that I should check? Also wondering if there is a better way I should be troubleshooting this.Thanks for your help!

Check to make sure you have a very good ground

The more modern trailers like your '08 Lance are usually equipped with a good set of wires and lamp fixtures. Also there probably isn't a lot of oxidation.Here's how I would troubleshoot the issues: Determine that the truck's harness has power at all the terminals and that the harness has continuity to ground. Here is a page of the different trailer electrical schedules----Harness schematics and wire color conventions. Next determine that the trailer's harness has all of the wires connected and in the right locations on the umbilical plug. PLug in trailer harness and observe for power at any of the unlit light fixtures. If you have power, there is a ground issue. If no power at the fixture, there is an open in the circuit. I'd venture a guess that 9 times out of ten, marker light issues are related to a faulty ground. Check real good for the ground wiring to the front fixtures and the first going back along the driver's side. That is where the chain wiring usually begins. Good luck with the lights. Lance makes a fairly stout trailer so it is probably a minor issue.

my ford had a seprate fuse for the trailer running lites on the passenger side theres a fuse box number ten on my 2005 ford.

it *should* be green for marker lights, white for ground, black for +12, red for left turn, brown for right turn.

First off, using standard colour codes, the brown wire is running lights. Before you get much further though, your profile doesn't show what truck you have, Ford uses a double fuse setup. There's a second fuse box that has seep rate fuses for the trailer harness. If you have a dually, the marker lights on the rear fender flares are connected to the trailer harness so you can easily see that the trailer has no marker lights if you blow a fuse. I'd start by testing that there's power coming out of the plug you're connecting the camper to.

Running Lights Won't Work - Wiring Help Needed Please

16 Replies

PaulJ2
Explorer
Jun 09, 2015
X2
The wrong different lights coming on is nearly always a grounding problem.
TracksideNW
Explorer
Jun 09, 2015
OK I'm going to focus on a possible grounding issue. I sat down with the previous owner this morning and he said he had issues with the lights back feeding into his truck to where it turned on his reverse lights on the truck when he turned the marker lights on.

So he replaced the Lance plug in with a common 7 way and still had the reverse light issue until he played with the wires in the battery box of the camper.

Thanks for everyone's help it's appreciated.
Chris_Bryant
Explorer II
Jun 09, 2015
One thing I do to troubleshoot is to take a jumper cable, hook it to the truck frame, and hook the other end to the first light fixture ground (usually a tail light).
TracksideNW
Explorer
Jun 09, 2015
I think Chris is right. I work with the previous owner and he's bringing in the info he has on the 7 way he replaced the original with, but he also said he thought the markers were the green lead. I understand Lance has a custom 7 way plug, but I don't know exactly what that entails.

I know what comes out of my truck is of course standard throughout the industry and I appreciated the wire call outs on the cover at my tailgate.

I suppose to be sure I can always cut the green and brown wires at the battery box and do a continuity check from the end of the plug, I'm just trying to minimize how bad of a mess I make. Looking at the wires in the camper, they're solidly connected, and I don't see anything obvious. So once I find the correct wire I'm not sure where to go from there besides checking every light bulb.
Chris_Bryant
Explorer II
Jun 09, 2015
Hornnumb2 wrote:
Chris Bryant wrote:
JaxDad wrote:
First off, using standard colour codes, the brown wire is running lights.

That's not the standard for RVs- it is the standard for semi trailers. There is a ton of misinformation out there now.

That said- it could have been wired by someone who didn't know what they were doing, or Lance could be going non-standard.

I'd start by testing that there's power coming out of the plug you're connecting the camper to.

He did that- the truck is fine.

Haven't worked on any semi's but have worked on alot of trailer lights and brown is you marker/taillight wire.

I really don't want to fight about this- but FOR RV USE, GREEN IS RUNNING LIGHTS.
If you have ever wired a 7 way plug, you will see the colors molded in to the body, and they are as I have stated.

Now, if the OP had come and asked about a boat trailer, a cargo trailer, or any trailer other than an RV, I wouldn't care, and you would be correct. But because THIS IS RV.NET, NOT BOATTRAILER.NET or CARGOTRAILER.NET, I will continue to give recommendation based on RVs.
RoyB
Explorer II
Jun 09, 2015
Both my RV trailers here at the house use this standard 7-way Connector color scheme. ETRAILER say to hook up the new replacement 7-way cable leads color for color so there must be following some sort of regulated color scheme. I am just assuming that if it is a 7-way connector/plug it probably uses this color scheme.... I had to replace a cut into 7-way cable a few years back and ordered it from ETRAILER. Had no problem with different color schemes.

The replacement 7-way cable and plug looked something like this GOOGLE Image

This is from ETRAILER.com for the 7-WAY trailer connectors.

The blades positions also agrees to what is printed on the truck side by FORD.

I really haven't looked at any other trailers to see what they are using...

Roy Ken
Hornnumb2
Explorer
Jun 09, 2015
Chris Bryant wrote:
JaxDad wrote:
First off, using standard colour codes, the brown wire is running lights.

That's not the standard for RVs- it is the standard for semi trailers. There is a ton of misinformation out there now.

That said- it could have been wired by someone who didn't know what they were doing, or Lance could be going non-standard.

I'd start by testing that there's power coming out of the plug you're connecting the camper to.

He did that- the truck is fine.

Haven't worked on any semi's but have worked on alot of trailer lights and brown is you marker/taillight wire.
TracksideNW
Explorer
Jun 09, 2015
Thanks for the help guys.

Truck is a 2012 GMC Sierra 2500HD. I used a 7 to 4 way adapter I have that has LED's that light up for each channel and it shows power for the marker lights. I also tow another trailer and last time (about a month ago) the marker lights on the trailer worked fine.

When I'm plugged into the camper the brake lights are nice and bright, same with the reverse, and the turns signals work and are also nice and bright, but nothing for the running lights.

I talked to the previous owner last night and he did recently replace the plug to the truck because he had an issue that sounds like a bad ground (wrong lights came on at certain times).

So when I'm checking for a good ground were talking to my truck right, not a grounding plate I haven't found yet on the camper?

Thanks again for all the help!
magic43
Explorer
Jun 09, 2015
Thanks for that RoyB.
Chris_Bryant
Explorer II
Jun 09, 2015
JaxDad wrote:
First off, using standard colour codes, the brown wire is running lights.

That's not the standard for RVs- it is the standard for semi trailers. There is a ton of misinformation out there now.

That said- it could have been wired by someone who didn't know what they were doing, or Lance could be going non-standard.

I'd start by testing that there's power coming out of the plug you're connecting the camper to.

He did that- the truck is fine.