Check Those Trailer Lights
Posted: Sun May 16, 2010 3:47 am
http://www.kdfwr.state.ky.us/050205b.as ... 05C122C437
Don’t Let Faulty Trailer Lights
Ruin Your Lake Boating Trip
Press Release
May 2, 2005 Contact: Lee McClellan
(800) 852-0942 ext. 330
Frankfort, KY - It is a Thursday night in May and you are wearing shorts in the evening without discomfort for the first time of the year. Your family is excitedly packing up fishing poles, tackle boxes, floating rafts, water skis, sunscreen and making sandwiches for the first lake weekend trip of the year.
You charged the batteries on the boat, filled the tank with gas and hooked up the "rabbit ears" to see if the engine would fire. It did on the third crank. The hard part is over now, you just have to check the trailer lights and all systems are go.
You back up the truck to the boat trailer, put the trailer tongue on the towing ball and plug in the lights. You open the door and turn on your truck lights to see if the running lights are working on the trailer. Nothing happens. You hit the brakes and one red brake light works. You start your truck and check the turn signals. One works, the other doesn’t.
"It is probably a ground problem," said Benjy Kinman, director of fisheries for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, who’s fixed a myriad of boat and horse trailer problems through the years. "Many problems with trailer lights come from a poor ground."
Check the white wire coming from the wiring harness off your boat trailer and to see if it is snugly ground to the trailer. Make sure the screw or bolt that holds the ground to the trailer hasn’t fallen out or broken off. Check for rust and corrosion between the ground and trailer. Rub the ground area with sand paper or coarse steel wool and reattach the ground wire to the trailer. This often fixes the problem.
Make sure the trunk connector (the trailer plug coming from the towing vehicle) is ground properly to your towing vehicle. This ground can corrode, get knocked loose or get torn off when off-roading during hunting season.
Many don’t realize the connection from the towing ball to the trailer tongue also makes a ground for the trailer. Clean any rust or grime from under the cup on the trailer tongue where the towing ball connects. If the chrome is worn off the trailer ball and it is rusty, it may need to be replaced to make a good ground.
Check the trailer bulbs to see if they are blown. Often, small bulbs won’t make any noise when you shake them or it doesn’t look like the filament is burned through, but they are still blown.
"Bulbs for your trailer lights are inexpensive," Kinman explained. "If you are having problems with any of your lights, replace the bulbs. That may be the fix you need."
It is a good idea to always unplug your trailer before launching your boat so the cool water doesn’t blow your warm trailer light bulbs. Do this even if the manufacturer of your trailer lights say they are submersible. The temperature change may cause them to blow and the submersible trailer lights often allow water into the light assembly, regardless of their claims.
If none of these fixes works, then test the plug coming from the tow vehicle. There is an inexpensive plug tester available at auto parts stores that you insert into the plug coming from your tow vehicle. Lights on the plug tester glow for towing lights, each turn signal and brake lights. If the lights on the tester don’t flash for one or more of these functions, there is a problem with the plug coming from the tow vehicle.
Often, a fuse has blown. Check the fuses on your tow vehicle (your vehicle owners manual should indicate which fuse covers each electrical function). Modern vehicles not only possess a fuse box under the dash, but they have another one under the hood in the engine compartment. Check the fuses in both fuse boxes. Replace the blown fuses.
If your plug works fine, you replaced the bulbs on the trailer lights and checked all of your grounds, their may be a cut, nick, short or other problem in the trailer’s wiring itself. If the wiring for your trailer runs along the outside, inspect to make sure the wiring isn’t cut or torn or the insulation is worn through and showing bare wires. You can patch cuts, tears or worn spots with shrink-wrap electrical connectors.
If the wiring runs through the trailer, you may need to rewire it. Many boat owners who use their boats regularly rewire their trailer every few seasons. Most trailer rewiring kits are under $20.
This sounds like an intimidating job, but it is relatively easy. Read the instructions for the rewiring kit and make sure to line up the correct set of wires for each side of the trailer. Then, cut off the plug that attaches to the tow vehicle and strip off an inch of insulation of the trailer wires.
Take the stripped off old trailer wires and wrap them tightly around the new trailer wires (they are usually pre-stripped). Make sure to match the correct old trailer wires with the correct new wires from the rewiring kit (for example, make sure to attach the brown/yellow wires off the trailer with the brown/yellow wires from the rewiring kit). Tightly wrap black electrical tape around these connections to make sure they don’t snag on anything inside the trailer.
Go to the back of the trailer and cut the old wires that lead to the lights. Also cut off the wires leading to the yellow clearance lights along the side of the trailer. Gently pull the wires you just cut to pull the new wires through the trailer. Make sure the new wires you just attached are pulling through cleanly. Continue to pull out the old wires until you get to the black electrical tape of the connection you made from the old trailer wires to the new wires from the rewiring kit. Unwrap this connection. Connect the new wires to the lights with shrink-wrap electrical connectors.
Do the same procedure to the other side of the trailer. Splice in the yellow courtesy lights to the brown wire of the wiring harness you just installed (the shrink wrap electrical connectors and wire splicers usually come with the rewiring kit). That is it, you’ve now rewired your trailer.
Don’t Let Faulty Trailer Lights
Ruin Your Lake Boating Trip
Press Release
May 2, 2005 Contact: Lee McClellan
(800) 852-0942 ext. 330
Frankfort, KY - It is a Thursday night in May and you are wearing shorts in the evening without discomfort for the first time of the year. Your family is excitedly packing up fishing poles, tackle boxes, floating rafts, water skis, sunscreen and making sandwiches for the first lake weekend trip of the year.
You charged the batteries on the boat, filled the tank with gas and hooked up the "rabbit ears" to see if the engine would fire. It did on the third crank. The hard part is over now, you just have to check the trailer lights and all systems are go.
You back up the truck to the boat trailer, put the trailer tongue on the towing ball and plug in the lights. You open the door and turn on your truck lights to see if the running lights are working on the trailer. Nothing happens. You hit the brakes and one red brake light works. You start your truck and check the turn signals. One works, the other doesn’t.
"It is probably a ground problem," said Benjy Kinman, director of fisheries for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, who’s fixed a myriad of boat and horse trailer problems through the years. "Many problems with trailer lights come from a poor ground."
Check the white wire coming from the wiring harness off your boat trailer and to see if it is snugly ground to the trailer. Make sure the screw or bolt that holds the ground to the trailer hasn’t fallen out or broken off. Check for rust and corrosion between the ground and trailer. Rub the ground area with sand paper or coarse steel wool and reattach the ground wire to the trailer. This often fixes the problem.
Make sure the trunk connector (the trailer plug coming from the towing vehicle) is ground properly to your towing vehicle. This ground can corrode, get knocked loose or get torn off when off-roading during hunting season.
Many don’t realize the connection from the towing ball to the trailer tongue also makes a ground for the trailer. Clean any rust or grime from under the cup on the trailer tongue where the towing ball connects. If the chrome is worn off the trailer ball and it is rusty, it may need to be replaced to make a good ground.
Check the trailer bulbs to see if they are blown. Often, small bulbs won’t make any noise when you shake them or it doesn’t look like the filament is burned through, but they are still blown.
"Bulbs for your trailer lights are inexpensive," Kinman explained. "If you are having problems with any of your lights, replace the bulbs. That may be the fix you need."
It is a good idea to always unplug your trailer before launching your boat so the cool water doesn’t blow your warm trailer light bulbs. Do this even if the manufacturer of your trailer lights say they are submersible. The temperature change may cause them to blow and the submersible trailer lights often allow water into the light assembly, regardless of their claims.
If none of these fixes works, then test the plug coming from the tow vehicle. There is an inexpensive plug tester available at auto parts stores that you insert into the plug coming from your tow vehicle. Lights on the plug tester glow for towing lights, each turn signal and brake lights. If the lights on the tester don’t flash for one or more of these functions, there is a problem with the plug coming from the tow vehicle.
Often, a fuse has blown. Check the fuses on your tow vehicle (your vehicle owners manual should indicate which fuse covers each electrical function). Modern vehicles not only possess a fuse box under the dash, but they have another one under the hood in the engine compartment. Check the fuses in both fuse boxes. Replace the blown fuses.
If your plug works fine, you replaced the bulbs on the trailer lights and checked all of your grounds, their may be a cut, nick, short or other problem in the trailer’s wiring itself. If the wiring for your trailer runs along the outside, inspect to make sure the wiring isn’t cut or torn or the insulation is worn through and showing bare wires. You can patch cuts, tears or worn spots with shrink-wrap electrical connectors.
If the wiring runs through the trailer, you may need to rewire it. Many boat owners who use their boats regularly rewire their trailer every few seasons. Most trailer rewiring kits are under $20.
This sounds like an intimidating job, but it is relatively easy. Read the instructions for the rewiring kit and make sure to line up the correct set of wires for each side of the trailer. Then, cut off the plug that attaches to the tow vehicle and strip off an inch of insulation of the trailer wires.
Take the stripped off old trailer wires and wrap them tightly around the new trailer wires (they are usually pre-stripped). Make sure to match the correct old trailer wires with the correct new wires from the rewiring kit (for example, make sure to attach the brown/yellow wires off the trailer with the brown/yellow wires from the rewiring kit). Tightly wrap black electrical tape around these connections to make sure they don’t snag on anything inside the trailer.
Go to the back of the trailer and cut the old wires that lead to the lights. Also cut off the wires leading to the yellow clearance lights along the side of the trailer. Gently pull the wires you just cut to pull the new wires through the trailer. Make sure the new wires you just attached are pulling through cleanly. Continue to pull out the old wires until you get to the black electrical tape of the connection you made from the old trailer wires to the new wires from the rewiring kit. Unwrap this connection. Connect the new wires to the lights with shrink-wrap electrical connectors.
Do the same procedure to the other side of the trailer. Splice in the yellow courtesy lights to the brown wire of the wiring harness you just installed (the shrink wrap electrical connectors and wire splicers usually come with the rewiring kit). That is it, you’ve now rewired your trailer.
I'd say somethin' 'bout swallerin' my store-boughten teef over that but don't wanna get no snippy messages about poutin' or needin' to see a priest! 
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