Help - I hate electricity

[Bigfishhunter]

So I have been having trailer troubles year in and year out. I was able to fix a problem I had with blowing fuses by re-wiring the trailer last year. Now this year I have had the boat out a few times. The first time out I went to check my lights, nothing on the right side and fine on the left. So, I took my wrench to the ground connection near the light, and tightened it, and got it to work.
THen the next time I went out, everything was fine at home and at the boat dock backing in. then after fishing when I went to go home, nothing was working. I jiggled the connection at the truck and got it to work. O.k. so maybe a bad connection.
So, the next thing that I do is get some dielectric grease and grease up the connection.
I headed out tonight, everything fine at home. THen when I am done fishing, I can't get the trailer lights to do anything, checked connections, and fuses etc. seems fine.
When I get home, everthing is working.... WHAT GIVES.....

I am thinking maybe it is a bad ground completion through the trailer frame. It is a painted trailer ( and a pos I may add) and where all the ground screws are connected to the trailer, it is no scraped down to bare metal, so I think I am going to start there. Any other ideas.?????

[beeman]

I run 2 white wires down each side trailer plus ground them to metal. So if one fails the other should work. I don't even need to attach ball trailer for lights to work. Another thing I dont like white wire with new harness drilling into front of trailer is stupid. Connect this to one long wire and do ushape down each side. I used liquid tape on all scotch locks and twist connectors. So far it's water tight, even did new water proof lights makes all difference. Expect my job to last 20 year's. Make sure you grab scotch lock wires and wiggle it when crimping down plyer's. I should explain connection more throughly. Get 50 feet wire run it down each side trailer, then connect the center to your white wire. Now your grounding twice hook up white wire coming off each light/trailer hookup, to new wire First thing I did to my new to me boat was lights/wiring. Even though they were fine, good winter project. Also do not forget back light so go 21 feet on one side and rest down other. Put ring on end and undo one bolts securing and grounding back center lights. Only reason I think factory does not do it like this is heat buildup in ground wire but your spliting it up to trailer.

[Hot Runr Guy]

What socket does your primary tow vehicle have? If the round 7-pin RV style, whack the 4 or 5 flat connector off the trailer harness, and use a good screw-connection 7-pin plug instead, eliminating the 7 to flat adator. Then, like Beeman explained, it is easy to run (3) ground wires, 1 down each side directly to the tail/stop/turn lights (preferably LED units) and 1 to the trailer frame, behind the swing tongue if you have one. Use a good, tinned-copper wire, & heat-shrink over all your connections.

HRG

[ankorklankor]

Originally Posted by Bigfishhunter

So I have been having trailer troubles year in and year out. I was able to fix a problem I had with blowing fuses by re-wiring the trailer last year. Now this year I have had the boat out a few times. The first time out I went to check my lights, nothing on the right side and fine on the left. So, I took my wrench to the ground connection near the light, and tightened it, and got it to work.
THen the next time I went out, everything was fine at home and at the boat dock backing in. then after fishing when I went to go home, nothing was working. I jiggled the connection at the truck and got it to work. O.k. so maybe a bad connection.
So, the next thing that I do is get some dielectric grease and grease up the connection.
I headed out tonight, everything fine at home. THen when I am done fishing, I can't get the trailer lights to do anything, checked connections, and fuses etc. seems fine.
When I get home, everthing is working.... WHAT GIVES.....

I am thinking maybe it is a bad ground completion through the trailer frame. It is a painted trailer ( and a pos I may add) and where all the ground screws are connected to the trailer, it is no scraped down to bare metal, so I think I am going to start there. Any other ideas.?????

As part of my preventive maintenance I will clean every connection and then apply a coat of dielectric grease to every connection before reassembly. Most of the problems are at the grounding points, a little rust and corrosion and you have a bad connection, the dielectric grease will prevent this.

David.

[Fishoil]

Another thing I've run into several times is the connection from the front frame of the trailer to the back half. If you have an adjustable tongue (for length) or a tilt-bed trailer the ground is lost over time at the pivot or slide point as the components get rusty. I always run a jumper wire to connect the front and rear sections. It usually only has to be 6-12" long. Just attach it to both halfs with a self-tapping screw in an area that you have cleaned the paint off of so that you get a good ground.

[beeman]

If you re wire like I suggested do not fasten until after the swing connection, electric tape wrap around works. Seriously delete ground screw at front bad design.

[Fishoil]

Beeman, I think your idea about running a groundwire all the way back is overkill....and I like it!! Next time I have to rewire a trailer I'm running one all the way back. I hate having trailer light problems almost as much as having to re-do a job I already did once before.

[REW]

1. If you don't have LED lights on your trailer, take off your current lights and wiring and throw them away.

2. Buy a good LED set of lights for the trailer and install them.

3. When you string the wires, be sure to also string a separate ground wire for the lights along with the rest of the wires. If you can, enclose the wiring in a piece of pvc pipe or similar to protect the wiring and make it a long lasting job.

4. At the vehicle end, enclose the pigtain into a piece of rubber hose. This will make a very long lasting connection and strain relief for your rig.

5. When you install the new wiring and lights, also take an extra vehicle end socket and mount it to the trailer near the hitch. When you are not using the trailer, plug the trailer socket into the unused vehicle socket on the trailer to keep the ends of the sockets from getting dirty and corroded.
Also keep the wiring connectors well greased to inhibit corrosion.

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One of the biggest reasons that I suggest changing to LED lights is their much lower current draw. The up side of this is that you get very bright lights for very little current draw, and this gives you fewer wiring issues. If you do have a ground or similar issue, the use of the lower current draw lights still allow the lights to work well since there is not as big a voltage drop across some poor wiring and especially if the trailer is towed behind diffferent vehicles that may not always have the best wiring, you have a better chance of having working lighting.

Take car e
REW

[ffishman]

A bad ground creates the majority of electrical problems.

[Bigfishhunter]

well I have fixed the problem, it was the ground conection. I agree with beeman and plan on utilizing his suggestion in the future, but for now I have it working.
I do have LED lights, I put them on last year when I rewired.
What I did, was where all the grounds contacted the trailer they were contacting paint, and not metal, so I scraped the paint down to metal, put dielectric grease on the connections and that seems to have done the trick.
I know that adding the extra ground would work, but I am in the middle of a huge house and yard reno, so adding another project, even an hour long one, is not very appealing to me. Any time that I take away from work at home is going to be on the water. And as long as the thing is working, I am fine. Winter time, will be the time that I do this sort of preventative maintenance.

Thanks