Trailer Light Wiring

[Double]

Having issues trying to install new trailer lights on EZ loader trailer. There are three wires coming out of the trailer -brown, yellow/black on the left and brown, green/black on the right. However, on the new lights I purchased there are only two wires for each light- brown and yellow for the left, brown and green for the right. What do I do with the extra black wire on each side?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

[sparcebag]

Yellow & green signals! Brown I'll guess running Black stop,your light bulbs have 2 filliments only one is running the other two are stop & signal,Use a elec.Tester to determine what is what

[Jeremy airjer W]

Black is typically a ground. I don't completely understand what you are typing. The way you have it down explains two wires on each side. I am guessing that you are trying to say that there is a brown, yellow, and black wire on the left (yellow/black implies that you are talking about a yellow wire with a black tracer or a black stripe on it) and a brown, green and black wire on the right. If this is correct than the black wires are indeed the grounds.

The turn signal and brake are run through the same wire whether it be the yellow or the green. The controller or the turn signal switch will control whether or not it is on steady or flashing.

The brown wire will always be the running lights.

[Double]

Thanks for the replies.

Airjer, you are interpreting my message correctly. So what do I connect the grounds to? Obviously, I am less than a novice at this.

Thanks,

Double

[pfluemis]

Left turn is Yellow, this goes to the yellow wire coming out of the left tail light.

Right turn is Green, this goes to the green wire coming out of the right tail light.

Brown goes to the night time/running light. Should be one for each side, or you might have one. In this case you have to run a wire from one tail light to the other.

Ground is typically WHITE!!!!

If you are replacing the light housings, make sure you put them on the correct sides. This is important. The light with the white light under it is the left light. It is for illuminating the plate, if you have one.

Standard colors are as follows:

Ground=white.

Brake=blue.

Battery=red or black depending on a 6 or 7 wire plug (red for 6, black for 7).

Back up=purple.

Yellow=left turn.

Green=right turn.

Brown=night/running light.

If, for some reason, you don't have standard colors for your wire harness here is how you figure out what is what (Guessing you have a 4 way flat).

The female is ground. From there, the first pin is night/running lights, then left turn, and right turn is on the opposite side of the plug as ground.

Now, looking at your first post, you are saying the housings have three wires.

one brown wire, one yellow wire, and one black wire on the left housing.

On the right housing there is one brown wire, one green wire, and one black wire.

The black wires were most likely run up to the connector and hooked to the ground connector. Some light makers don't use the trailer chassis as a ground, they run wires all the way up to the connector. It's up to you if you want to just connect the wires to the trailer chassis then ground the connector to the tongue, or run the ground wires directly to the connector. The lights will give you a lot less problems running the ground directly to the connector, but it is easier to use the chassis. I would first check continuity of the black wire and make sure it is ground. For them to not use the standard color of white, it does leave some question as to what the wire really is.

[hanson]

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So what do I connect the grounds to?

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Trailer wiring... Grrrrrr!!!!

These guys have some great information posted above. I just completely rewired my trailer this weekend complete with LED lights everywhere. Hopefully, no more trailer light problems for me.

As to your question about the ground, the short white wire at the truck/trailer connection end should be attached to your trailer. Some lights have a white wire that is supposed to connect to the trailer. Some tail lights use the mounting bolts as the ground connection to the trailer. So the trailer itself becomes part of the circuit, and actually causes a lot of lighting problems. Rust will eventually cause faulty ground connections.

What I did when I rewired was run an extra white wire down each side to connect the ground wires off my lights to. That completely removes the trailer ground issue from the system. And like I said, hopefully no more problems.

[Jeremy airjer W]

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Ground is typically WHITE!!!!

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I probably should have included that as well. generally speaking if you find a black wire in a 12 volt system it is usually a ground. You won't find a whole lot of them with power running through them.

[vikingmeatwad]

Good post guys, I have a light out too and it's getting me mad now. I tried to replace bulb, nothing, Replaced the light...nothing. Now I tested to the Y on the trailer and both are working with the tester. Went to test at the back light and nothing. Could it be grounded in the tube and cause the issue?

Maybe I should just rewire the dang thing but what wire do you use and what to run it with?

Thanks!

[Whoaru99]

I'd recommend that you just get a kit. Has the lights, wires, connectors, etc. all in one package.

If you don't want to get the kit, then there is multi-conductor trailer wiring at auto parts stores, farm/home stores, some department stores, and probably even the home improvment stores.

Often, you can use the old wires to pull the new wires into place. So, don't get ahead of yourself by pulling out all the old wiring just yet...

[hanson]

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Often, you can use the old wires to pull the new wires into place. So, don't get ahead of yourself by pulling out all the old wiring just yet...

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Yes! Yes! Yes!

I soldered my new & old wires together at the trailer tongue and then fished them through by pulling the old wires out through the back.

[berfish]

Hanson

This is a little off the topic of the main post but...

I bought a used boat this spring and the guy put brand new sealed LED trailer lights on the back of the trailer last fall. After the first time out this season half of the left side bulbs went out (7-8 of the 15 total LED bulbs on the left side). Oh well, they are still brighter than most trailer lights out there, right? Now in mid July I only have three LED bulbs going on the left side and 7 LED bulbs going on the right side. HMMMM. I took the red covers off to look at them and they are all sealed in good so I know no water damaged them (or so I think). Nothing looks wrong. So don't think LED's will solve the boat trailer light problem. Is there a way to fix them or do I have to buy a whole new set of lights? I hope yours work better than mine.

bf

[Mossy19]

I have a problem, that last night we hooked up to my brothers truck(1990 Chevy 2500) and it would keep blowing the fuses in the truck as soon as you plugged the lights in.

So then we tried to hook it up to my truck (2002 Chevy 1500) and it would blow the fuse. The trailer had no running lights, but if you stepped on the brake, you got brake lights on the trailer and when you used the turn signals they worked also on the trailer.

Can anyone help me on where to start looking for the problem of no running lights and why it keeps blowing fuses on the trucks?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[eurolarva]

Remove all the light bulbs and disconnect the trailer harness from the truck. Use an ohm meter on the end of each wire while touching the other lead of the meter to a metal screw on the trailer. When you find the short trace that wire back. The bummer is it can be just a hair of the wire touching the ground or trailer metal or it could be the insulation is stripped inside the trailer from it being pulled through.

[hanson]

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Is there a way to fix them or do I have to buy a whole new set of lights? I hope yours work better than mine.

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#1- Sure hope mine hang together for awhile, they don't give 'em away!

#2- I bet you're going to need to replace yours. I was inspecting my LED side markers to see how things work and the LED bulbs are soldered to a small circuit board behind the reflector. It looks like the LED bulbs are then sealed in with a clear, hard epoxy. Guess I don't know if LED's can "burn out", but if you take a look at how those things are assembled, it looks easier to just drop 20 some bucks on a new one.

[Scott K]

I know alot of the led lights out there have a warranty!

[Jeremy airjer W]

I wonder if the solder joints or the leads are breaking from fatigue caused by the vibrations from the trailer?

[PierBridge]

That sure is strange LEDS last for ever supposedly.....

I suppose with the growing rage of LED's overall there could be some quality control issues with some manufactures.