Wheel Fish House Tail Lights - Help Please.

[Vickie]

I need some help from you guys. The tail lights on my fish house work fine when the headlights are not on - blinkers and brake lights. However, when I turn the headlights on, the tail lights and blinkers work fine BUT when I hit the brake pedal the tail lights go completely out.

Any ideas?

Thanks -- Vickie

[Bryce]

I've found over the years that when in doubt, check the ground wiring ( usually white ).

[Jeremy airjer W]

I agree, it sounds like a ground issue!

[crappace]

If there is rust in the connection between the ball and the coupler can be a problem too. I have had to take trailers around the block for them to start working properly.

[WaveWacker]

I would say definately a grounding problem. I'm guessint that the lights are actually mounted to the house and not the metal fram of the house. If so you can test this out by taking the cover off of the light and clipping a section of wire from the light down to the metal trailer and see how they work. My guess is that your going to have to run a ground wire (white) from the connector that plugs into your vehicle back to both lights or you can run a wire from the lights down to the frame.

[Surface Tension]

A dirty of broken ground wire can do some very strange things.

The grounding strap broke on a car I was driving once. The headlights wouldn't work unless I had the dome light on.

[Jeremy airjer W]

Not to get off topic but bulbs can do some wierd things also.

I had a 90's dodge shadow that everytime you stopped on the brakes the radio would shut off or turn on (I dont remeber exactly). After tearing up the inside off the car I found out that one of the dual fillament bulbs had a cracked insulator in between the two lead buttons on the bottom. Replaced the bulb and the problem was solved.

This was back in my rookie years of wrenchin' so the fact that I actually figured it out was pure luck.

[Sheephead Slayer]

If your tail lights work but break lights don't, couldn't it be bad bulbs? I thought their were two filaments in the bulbs, one for tail lights and one for the break lights.

maybe the filaments are burned out for the break lights, but the tail light ones are fine, I dunno

[Vickie]

Thanks for the ideas. I didn't use the house last year but pulling it home from Brainerd the winter before that was when the problem was noticed, I guess it could have been that way from when I bought it? (Usually check the lights in the day time) Anyway, Last week I thought I'd check to see if the problem was still there or somehow magically fixed itself. It's still a problem as far as I can tell. But to check I just backed the truck up to the tongue, close enought to connect the wires - I didn't actually have it hooked on. Is that really dumb?

To Sheephead Slayer - the brake lights work when the headlights are not on, everthing on the trailer goes out when the headlights are on and you step on the brakes. So I'm guessing the bulbs are OK - but?

I didn't get a chance to look at them tonight - I'll let you know when/if I get them working.

Thanks again. Vickie

[Whoaru99]

Quote:

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Thanks for the ideas. I didn't use the house last year but pulling it home from Brainerd the winter before that was when the problem was noticed, I guess it could have been that way from when I bought it? (Usually check the lights in the day time) Anyway, Last week I thought I'd check to see if the problem was still there or somehow magically fixed itself. It's still a problem as far as I can tell. But to check I just backed the truck up to the tongue, close enought to connect the wires - I didn't actually have it hooked on.

Is that really dumb?

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I shouldn't be dumb...

There is supposed to be a ground wire (white, I believe) in the vehicle harness and the trailer harness so physically putting the hitch coupler on the ball should not be necessary to check the trailer lights.

But, as others have mentioned, it does sound like a grounding issue.

[PierBridge]

Quote:

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But to check I just backed the truck up to the tongue, close enought to connect the wires - I didn't actually have it hooked on.

Is that really dumb?

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Vickie you'll have to hook up the trailer you need a Good connection between the trailer hitch ball and the receiver of the trailer for the lights to work properly if the hitch or receiver are rusty you may have to clean them up in order to get a good connection.

[Jeremy airjer W]

Actually, if your trailer is wired properly as mentioned previously, you do not have to have your trailer hooked up to the vehicle.

If your trailer requires the physical attatchment to the ball in order for the lights to work I would suggest checking your ground wire also.

[Vickie]

Thanks for all the help from everyone.! WaveWacker wins, though. The lights are mounted right to the fish house and apparently were not grounded to the frame. Ran a wire from the lights to the frame and all is GREAT.

Thanks again. I really appreciate it.

Vickie