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word's avatar
word
Explorer
Apr 16, 2014

Trailer lights have me baffled?????

Hoping someone can help
me out here. I have a 1988 Skyline Nomad..24ft. Just bought this not quite a month ago. Had to add a 7 way receptacle to my 05 Ford Expedition to hook up the camper. The trailer was missing the tailights, so I purchased new one. Hooked them up yesterday...and here is my issue. I have brake lights and both turn signals. I have the running lights on the drivers side of the trailer, but I have no tail lights? No running lights on the passenger side of the trailer either? Not sure if the bulbs even work on the passenger side ( I have new ones coming), but I can't figure out why no tail lights? I do not know much about wiring, but from what I gather, the brown wire works the tail/running lights. The fun part is when I disconnected the brown wires at the front of the trailer, I still had my drivers side running lights. I still had my drivers side brake lights, however, now I did not have my passenger side brake lights? Any thoughts?

Thanks for your help
  • jimw606's avatar
    jimw606
    Explorer
    Apr 17, 2014
    When something crazy happens to me on 12v, the first thing I do is check the grounds.
  • diazr2's avatar
    diazr2
    Explorer
    Apr 17, 2014
    Its always a ground wire some place that's the problem. So check all grounds then when you done check them again. :)
  • Dog_Folks's avatar
    Dog_Folks
    Explorer
    Apr 17, 2014
    opnspaces wrote:
    Almost invariably when the exterior lights start acting up it's a grounding problem. Usually the lights gain a ground through a different lights. This can cause weird behavior like when yuo step on the brakes one taillight goes out.

    But, I would first check though that the lights have the correct bulbs in them. Pull the bulbs and look in the sockets. If the socket has two contacts, make sure the bulb base has two contacts.


    Agree 100%
  • othertonka's avatar
    othertonka
    Explorer
    Apr 17, 2014
    Since you installed new tail lights, do they have a separate ground wire?
    Some tail lights just depend on the mounting bolts to establish a ground contact with the skin/siding of the RV. If you have no separate ground wire and your RV skin is non metallic, then the mounting bolts `will not make a ground. To test this theory, attach a jumper wire to a frame/ground point and touch the other end of the wire to an exposed metal part on the inside of the tail light thus making a ground connection and see if the lights come ON. give it a try.

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