Clearance lights not working

[Jeepboy71]

Hi all,
I have a 1986 Cascade TC. Trying to figure out the wiring on this guy. Pretty sure I have everything figured out except the lack if clearance lights working. I have zero power to any of them. Camper only has a flat 4 plug on it. I've founded and run power to each lug. The brown wire, which is clearance lights on my truck, is 12v power in the camper. No luck on any of the other lugs. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[enblethen]

Run a jumper from a good ground on truck to a clearance light shell. Turn on lights to see if that one works.
If not run the jumper from a good 12 volt power source to the center contact of socket. Check again

[Jeepboy71]

Bulbs seam to be good. The search continues lol!

[opnspaces]

Awesome, now it sounds like you might be having a grounding problem. or hopefully only some burned out bulbs.

[Jeepboy71]

Figured it out. Seems I didnt have a good connection on my jumper. Green wire on the camper runs to the clearance lights. Now, trying to get them all powered up. Only have power to the top left front side light. May be time to run a inconspicuous trim piece on the outside with new wire.

[opnspaces]

Jeepboy71 wrote:

Quick reply to above. This camper is not equipped with it's own battery. I used a jumper pigtail to be able to switch wires around. Left the ground alone. Ran known power to brown. All 12v functions inside the camper would work. Known power to yellow or green, no operating functions were found. Going to try locating some sort of harness again today.

Just the 4 wires coming out of the camper. 8' camper, so no tail, stop, or turn signals on it.

Okay so the camper is too small to have tail or stop lights, but there are marker lights. Sounds like the PO just used the brown wire from a 4 pin to power the interior.

when you said you used a spare plug as a jumper and left the ground alone did you make sure the ground on the 4 pin is actually grounded? It seems to me that if the interior lights are working then it shows a good ground. But maybe the clearance lights are grounded separately through a different pin.

wait, light bulb......try adding power to the green wire and ground to the yellow wire and see if the lights come on.

[enblethen]

Do you have an Ohm meter?
Check between the metal skin and each of the wires to see which one is ground

[Jeepboy71]

Just the 4 wires coming out of the camper. 8' camper, so no tail, stop, or turn signals on it.

[enblethen]

Sounds like the brown which should be tailights is spliced to the 12 volt functions inside the camper.
How may wires come out of the camper?
Yellow and green should be for turn isgnals, green should be tight and yellow should be left.

[Jeepboy71]

Quick reply to above. This camper is not equipped with it's own battery. I used a jumper pigtail to be able to switch wires around. Left the ground alone. Ran known power to brown. All 12v functions inside the camper would work. Known power to yellow or green, no operating functions were found. Going to try locating some sort of harness again today.

[enblethen]

You said clearance lights, do you have tailights and do they work?

[opnspaces]

Jeepboy71 wrote:
Hi all,
I have a 1986 Cascade TC. Trying to figure out the wiring on this guy. Pretty sure I have everything figured out except the lack if clearance lights working. I have zero power to any of them. Camper only has a flat 4 plug on it. I've founded and run power to each lug. The brown wire, which is clearance lights on my truck, is 12v power in the camper. No luck on any of the other lugs. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

What do you mean by no luck on any of the other lugs? Are you saying the other lugs seem to go nowhere when you apply power? Or do the other lugs light the appropriate lights?

When you were running power to the lugs did you also run a separate ground wire to the plug at the same time?

How are you confirming that the brown wire is trying to charge the battery? Is this being verified by a hum from a charger, an LED illuminating, a multimeter reading?

Maybe the previous owner wired the ground terminal of the plug to be used for clearance lights. This is a difficult test to perform because you really don't want to accidentally send 12v volts up the ground wire. But if you have a multimeter you can try running continuity checks between the positive side of the clearance lights and the ground pin on the connector. Alternatively try using a 3 or 5 amp fuse on your substitute power wire to the alleged ground pin. If the pin is wired to the clearance lights they will at come on or at least flash. But if the pin is truly a ground pin as it should be, then the 3 or 5 amp fuse should blow before causing any damage.

If the brown wire is truly charging the battery I would probably start near the battery looking for where the previous owner cut and spliced.

[enblethen]

Look inside one of the lights to see if there is a wire for the bround.
Splices for wiring could be in cabinet or compartment on outside.

[Jeepboy71]

Yes, everything is covered. Can't get a visual on any of the wiring.

[enblethen]

Have you looked inthe inside of the camper around where the wires enter for splices?
That vintae with metal siding used the skin as the ground path.