LED boat trailer lights

[Fishdoc]

I just had a trailer LED light go out one side, my running lights on that side are OK. What is the more likely problem with the LED light, the light gone bad or the wiring to it gone bad. Thanks

[JiMinneye]

Make sure your ground is good. A few years ago, I had the same problem. I thought is could not be the ground because one side worked. Turns out it was where my wiring on my tow vehicle is grounded. Cleaned it up, reattached and took care of the problem. I learned to always try that first. Jim

[Fishdoc]

if the running light works on the side the brake light is out would it still be a possible ground issue. Is there any easy way to tell other than replacing the light.

[JAK]

Fishdoc,

The brown wire is the running lights. The green wire is the right turn and brake, the yellow wire is left turn and brake.

It is not likley that it is a ground issue if the running lights work. If you have a test light or a DVOM, simply unhook the light and see if there is power going into the light.

Have you checked the tow vehicle? Do the turn signals and brake lights work on both sides? If not, be sure to check all the vehicle fuses.

Normally the trailer lights are easy to remove. If this is the case, swap out the known good side to the side with the problem and see if it works. If it does, then the light is the problem. If not, them there is no power for the brake/signal portion on that side of the trailer.

Originally Posted by Fishdoc

if the running light works on the side the brake light is out would it still be a possible ground issue. Is there any easy way to tell other than replacing the light.

[bobo4030]

I think I might be jumping this post a little bit. But. I had screwed-up trailer lights since I picked it up a month ago. I expected LED's to be trouble-free. What they were doing made no sense at all. My car has the seven pin recepacle. I used two different adapters-one with the LED test lights imbedded in the adapter and one without. The lights acted differently depending on the adapter I used. With one I had no running lights and very dim taillights. With the other, I had bright taillights, but the running lights flashed rapidly until I braked. Then they were normal.
The first trip to the car dealer baffled them. Unfortunately, not an uncommon thing. They told me it was most likely the trailer and to bring it with me on my next appointment. I went back a week later. Eight hours later they told me I probably needed a special 7 to 4 adapter.
My car has a system that recognizes burned-out bulbs by measuring changes in electrical resistance. The adapted contains a resistor and is for cars with this system pulling LED-equipped trailers. Never heard of such a thing. The dealer didn't have one. Had never seen one. But they found one at E-trailer.com on-line.
Sceptical, I ordered one. It arrived and I tried it today. Son of a gun. It works. I tell this story because it will happen more and more with LED's becoming more commonplace.

[3M TA3]

Originally Posted by Fishdoc

I just had a trailer LED light go out one side, my running lights on that side are OK. What is the more likely problem with the LED light, the light gone bad or the wiring to it gone bad. Thanks

Most likely it's not the light. There are many LED's in the assembly and not all of them would burn out at the same time. Look for trouble elsewhere.

[REW]

Fish,
This is a very simple issue.
Don't make it too hard.
Take a spare battery or a set of jumper cables from your vehicle. Disconnect the three wires that are connected to to your led light.

Use a pair of wires from your 12 volt source to go to the light ground, and one wire at a time. First to your brown wire for the running lights and then to your green or yellow light for your brake/turn light.

If you get good light at that point from both the tail and turn lights in your led assembly, your led assembly is fine.

Now, just find the wiring issue.
Since you indicated that your running light is fine - that means that you are getting good tail light voltage to your trailer.

So, about the only thing that is left that would affect both the tail light and brake circuit of your led light would be the ground for the led light.

Normally, the ground for the led assemblies, come from a white wire that is grounded when the led assembly is mounted. If that is the case, remove the led light assembly from your trailer and check to see that the white ground wire is intact and then use a grinder or file to insure that all paint and rust is removed from the mounting area of the led light to be sure to have a good ground connection to the light when you hook up the light.
I like to smear a good amount of wheel bearing grease in the area that I have cleaned up to bare metal to avoid future rusting. Then, when connecting the led light assembly, when the nut is tightened, the grease will squeeze out to insure a good electrical contact but the residue will insure that you have a good gas tight connection at the connection.

Good luck
REW

Summary -
Remove the led light assembly,
Clean up the rust and paint in the area where the light is mounted to insure a good ground for the led assembly.
When the led light assembly is off of the trailer, you can take it to a voltage source to check that the tail light lights and brake lights are functional in the assembly.
Bolt back on and you will be good to go.

[Fishdoc]

Went to take the light off the trailer to evaluate the ground, noticed that the bolt was loose to the ground wire, took the light off and ground was clean, tightened everything up and now works, thanks for all your suggestions.
Fishdoc

[T Mac]

Originally Posted by Fishdoc

Went to take the light off the trailer to evaluate the ground, noticed that the bolt was loose to the ground wire, took the light off and ground was clean, tightened everything up and now works, thanks for all your suggestions.
Fishdoc

Those G.R. boys are pretty sharp on avg ...(eh, JiMinneye)?

Thanks for the results Footdoc. Good deal!

[bobo4030]

Happy endings always make me cry.