Just thought I'd share some wisdom

[crkdltr]

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[fender66]

Great advice and glad you figured it out. Thanks for sharing.

 

[richg99]

Never had a tilting trailer....but....I've extended a couple. Now I know to add or check the extended ground wire. Thanks for posting. I learn something on here every day. regards, Rich

 

[lckstckn2smknbrls]

I run the ground wire to every light on my trailers and when I rewired my brother utility trailer.

 

[screwballl]

That is why even on solid trailers (but especially on tilt trailers), you have 3 ground points: 1 close to each light, and another on the tongue.

 

[BassBlaster]

I also ran a ground wire to all my lights. Its simple to do and you can pull them through while your pulling in the new harness. Only takes a couple extra minutes and will save a lot of headache down the road trying to diagnose ground problems. I also did it for the simple fact that when I rebuilt my trailer, I painted EVERYTHING so there was no way I was getting ground through the trailer without grinding new paint off and I didnt wanna do that!!

 

[itmustbeslim]

I am having a ground issue, I think. I was wondering if any of you could help.

I finished the harness and converter on my car this morning (instead of studying for my employment law final) and using a circuit tester all of the poles lit up.

When I hooked it up to the trailer I am not getting any lights. I have diagnosed the problem to this point:

When using the circuit tester and connecting the checker to the ground spot on the car I am getting continuity from the trailer harness back but no lights. When I hook the checker to the ground wire on the trailer harness I am getting continuity back (ground not connected to trailer) and still no lights. Then when I hook the ground to the trailer and hook the tester to the trailer frame I am getting no continuity and still no lights, the trailer is painted all the way around. I don't think I have a tilt trailer (This is my first boat) so the problem must be elsewhere. The spot where he had the ground wire connected when I got it was to one of the U bolts on the tongue.

My tail lights are raised on metal posts but have no ground wires coming from the light itself which seems kind of weird. What would you guys do next? The wiring itself is pretty old so I may just spend the 15 bucks and put it new wiring, besides the guy jury rigged the connections using spliced connections instead of just butt connectors which is something I want to change.

So should I figure out putting a ground on each tail light even though there is no ground wire coming out? What else should I check or should I just replace the wiring?

Thanks for your help.

 

[crkdltr]

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[truckhuntfish]

another thing about L.E.D. lights too , they have to have a VERY good ground to work right. I re-wired my trailer 2 times trying to figure out my problem #-o , thought grounds were all good but found a tiny bit of rust at ground points , sanded down and now they work good. simple rule for LED lights is , what was good enough for incadescent lights , is nowhere good enough for LEDs.

 

[rusty.hook]

Below is a trailer light diagram.