HELP: Rewiring the trailer

[Benno75]

Hi guys - went out saturday morning early. Lights were working fine when I left home. Tide was low when I got to the ramp and trailer dropped off the end and I submerged the lights. I decided to check them before heading home and none of them worked.

I assumed I just blew the bulbs, but apparently not. Father in law suggested I had an earth problem?

I'm going to pull the lights appart tonight and check all the points and connections and try cleaning up any corrosion etc. If a wire or connection is obviously loose, I can re-attach it. But if the problem isn't quite so obvious then I'm probably going to struggle to diagnose and fix the problem as I have limited knowledge about electricity and circuits.

Just wondering if anybody could point me in the dirrection of some re-wiring info. Surely re-wiring a trailer isn't too hard . . . . is it?

[Owen]

G'day Benno.
It's unlikely you'll need to re-wire it.
More likely just an earth or corrosion problem.

That said, I had to replace the wiring on my trailer recently because the wiring was corroded.
If you can strip back a bit of wire and the copper is nice and shiny it's fine. This needs to be the case both ends.

To diagnose the problem, you'll need either a multimeter, continuity tester, or a test light.
Start at the car and make sure that the earth pin does indeed have a good connection to the vehicle earth.
Then make sure you have power going to all the right connections by running your test light or multimeter from each pion in turn to earth.
If that all checks out, go to the back and make sure you have power to the back end of the lights and that the earth has continuity.

A multimeter is best because you can measure resistance as well as voltage.
A continuity tester or test light will tell you if you power or no power, but won't tell you how good the connection is.

Also bear in mind that the pins and sockets are brass, so they wear in time which means they are less likely to have a good connection as they get older.
Replace them if wear is noticeable and lubricate them regularly.

Which pins are which will depend on the type of plug you have , but assuming it's a 7 pin it is


1 Left indicator Yellow
2 Auxiliary Blue
3 Earth White
4 Right indicator #Green
5 Auxiliary Black
6 Brake #Red
7 Tail/number plateBrown

The auxiliaries will be your brakes, reversing lights etc.
Not sure what the standard is as to which is which.

cheers,
Owen

[davo]

Most factory trailers have those open bottom style lights on them. The first thing to do is solder all the connections onto the lampholder and illiminate that crimp connector corrosion problem. Second use some grease or vasoline to lube up all of the lampends and fittings. The third is for the non ###### fitting use small cable ties to secure the lamp in place. Finally spray regularly with CRC or similar.

BUt if you can get Submerser lights then they as a lot better.

[gone_fishing]

gday Benno
owen is has the right idea
if all your lights stopped working sounds earth prob or plug
with out sounding silly make sure tha car lights work first dont laugh i work in the automotive industry and trailers short blow fuses in cars

then as owen suggested check your trailer plug on car now not all plugs are wired up with a earth wire relying on the metal to metal contact as cars are earthed through the body/chassis this can be over come by a jumper lead from trailer to car only for test purposes only
so you can connect the test lead to the tow bar if thats ok test the power to trailer
if still a prob check how your trialer is earthed for example mine trailer is old and the earth leads are pop rivited to the brakets 3 inchs from the lights and reqiure brakets to be tight or no lights

so in short make sure the trailer light globes are clean connections and globes are ok
check power at trailer
if no start at the car and work through every connction to the lights to get power there
if have power but no lights check the earth system from lights to car

pps if run a seprate earth lead to car for a guarented test system if you have to

hope my rambling makes sence

all the best mick

[Feral]

Cant go past a light board!

[kleyny]

i'm with feral go a light board and attach the no. plate on it and you should never have a light problem again

you could use plastic box section you buy from the hardware (nice and light)

neil

[woppa]

My Father in Law has me drilled in cleaning the lights after EVERY trip.

I always take em out, inspect & spray a little INOX on them. It only takes 5 minutes. It works a treat & they should last a fair while.

He also has a nasty habit of inspecting them every time he comes over.


So far, so good. I only hope he doesn't start inspecting my beer fridge as regularly.


Prevention is better than the cure by what I'm reading above.
Good luck mate

[Feral]

You need to move house woppa! Preferably a long way away from the in laws!


Most joints sell lightboards for around $70, easy to fit, easy to use. Just screw your number plate and rego onto it so the number plate is in the right place to be illuminated at night.

[Benno75]

Thanks for the help guys. I read Owen's response last night and pulled appart my lights. There is no real corrosions etc in there and all bulbs appear to be in good condition.

On closer inspection 1 wire had completely sheered through and another one was still attached, but only by the insulation around the wire. So I re-spliced both of them together and I got my tail and brake lights back.

Then I pulled the plug appart and found the green wire was detached from the connector, so I reattached that - right indicator working again. Ran out of time there, and the left blinker is still not working. But I am sure another good look at it tonight should reveal where my problems is.

Haven't bothered to solder the connections yet as I'm still contemplating a complete re-wire. All wiring seems to be fairly flimsy - not sure if its a result of exposure to the elements, or low grade wire.

Either way I'm hopeful I can fix the left blinker and all my other lights are now working. Thanks for all your responses - I love this site. Good on you guys, appreciated.

[Ally540]

Benno

Mate do I know what you are going through. Had the same problem, every time the lights got wet, they went nuts. So I fixed the earth problem, then installed LED's. Good bye bulbs and supposed submersible lights.