Grounding Problem

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

I have one pesky marker light that won't work. Marina tells me it is a ground problem but they were testing it with the trailer un hooked. Does the trailer have an independent ground or does it ground through the truck??



TOXIC

 

[Carlos Hathcock III]

Tox,

I have a seperate ground wire that is attached to the trailer wire harness. I have the 5 flat style harness. Also, I think they get some ground from the hitch, but that is sporadic as the connection can come and go.



Carlos

 

[Steve Rizza]

They SHOULD have an independant ground,but it could very well be grounded to the truck.

It may be the marker light that isn't getting good ground to the trailer.If it screws to the trailer,take the screws out and run them back in to clean out any rust that may be in the hole.

 

[gone bye bye]

Yes, the white wire.

Mini

 

[William H. (Bill) Barham]

Tox, in my last rig I grounded that darn trailer every which way I knew and also every way everyone I knew knew.

The short of this is (pun intended) was ALL of my lights on the trailer worked only when I had it on the ball of the truck.



Bill

 

[Bruce Freeman]

Like Mini said it grounds to the truck through the white wire. Like Steve R said it could the the gorund from the light to the trailer (Most likely since it is just 1 light) But either or can be tested with out your truck. With an ohm meter you can test the gound from the light to the trailer. With volt meter or test light you can check the light for voltage.



BF

 

[TROY WAINRIGHT]

hey toxic i ran across this same problem with mine.check where the hot wire behind the light goes in.mine had rubbed against the mounting bolt and grounded the wire causeing all kinds of light problems.hope this helps.

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Funny thing is that they fiddled around with the harness till none of the marker lights worked (just the marker lights) and then said to just go get the boat out of the lake and leave it. I dunk it in the lake and all of the marker lights come on....except that 1 pesky one. My taillights and the red markers always worked. I found the white ground on the trailer and it looks good.



I hate electrical gremlins.



TOXIC

 

[Staci Matheis]

No, TOX, not gremlins - corrosion.



I had the same sorts of problems with the lights on the trailer for my old Nitro 180 constantly. I ended up simply taking a couple of hours to rewire the thing.



Besides the corrosion between the screw and the trailer frame that Steve mentioned, the crimp connectors used to attach all the lights to the harness quickly corrode inside the frame of the trailer.



I ran the wires outside the frame. I used the plastic, adhesive-backed channel that you can get at Home Depot to keep the wires safe; it's normally used to run wires for hanging lamps down the walls of rooms in your house. Stuck it on the outside walls of the frame facing the inside of the trailer. I just ran the wires exposed when I came to a cross-member.



I also ran an additional ground wire to all the lights rather than have them grounded by the screw to the trailer. All connections were coated in di-electric gel.



Never had a problem after that!



me!

 

[John Watts]

I had a tough one - the trailer was constantly blowing fuses in my truck and one of the tail lights finally went out. I took it to BPS who tested it every way they could and found nothing. I finally tracked it down to the plug adapter (7 round to 4 flat) needed to get from my truck's wiring harness to the trailer plug. One of the terminals inside of the adapter had come loose allowing a wire inside there to flop around. The hint finally came when I blew the fuse while the lights were unplugged to retrieve my boat at the ramp.