Electrical Connection Issue

[golfknut]

When driving home from Florida over the past three days we had an issue with maintaining electrical connectivity between our motorhome and toad. We have a four pin cable setup powering separately installed rear bulbs in the toad.

We could not keep the running lights (rear lights) lit on the back of the toad. The turn signals worked as well as the brake lights but the running lights or regular rear lights would not stay lit. It started out when we reached Georgia and by repositioning the connection plug a little I was able to get it to light. The third day of driving we started out with lights but when I stopped and checked them a couple hours later they weren't working and I could never get them to light again.

We've experienced this issue before but were always able to maneuver the plug a bit and get them to work. It normally seems to be an issue when there are lower air temperatures.

The pins on the receptacle plug on the car are clean and shiny as are the holes in the cable-end plug.

Any ideas of how to restore a good reliable electrical connection?

[tenbear]

Since only the running lights were affected I would suspect the wire or connecter pin that feeds the running lights. This is usually the Brown wire, the contact nearest the ground connector which is the pin different than the other three. The problem could be the ground but I suspect that the turn and brake use the same ground as the running lights.

It could be in the MH or in the car. You may be able to isolate it by using a voltmeter or test light to monitor the voltage in various places while wiggling the wire and connector.

Edit:
OOPS! I thought you had a 4 pin flat connector.

[golfknut]

ronfisherman: when you mentioned the arching to the metal case of the socket it reminded me of an issue I experience when trying to regain connection with our round 4-pin metal connectors.
I'm certain my issue is with the socket at the front of the toad. When I grab a hold of the metal plug to try and push it into the socket further, reposition, etc, I feel prickly electrical shocks in my fingers. So I assume electricity is getting to the metal case of the socket.

Could this be the same issue you had.....and is the cause of my issue?

[ronfisherman]

I had a 4 pin connector that worked very well when I had connectors disassembled. Put it back together and it worked ok for awhile. When I checked lights. They were not working right again. Found that pin on car side were arcing to metal case of connector. Replaced connector with plastic. Have not had a problem since. I still do not understand how it could arc on steel connector when properly assembled.

[justlou]

intermittent lighting issues are usually ground related. Disassemble the connectors, clean the connection points and add some dielectric grease to keep moisture from getting into the connections.

[tenbear]

Electrical connectors don't last forever. I had to replace my flat 4 wire connector last year. They last pretty good while plugged in, but in my case, it is unplugged a lot of the time and moisture gets into it and corrosion takes it's toll.

Of course, it could be many other things. Any connections can fail.

[richnorsworthy]

Check your ground wire on each side. That is normally the problem when it is intermittent or a bad wire since it make connection when moving it around.