Just wondering if anyone can shed any light on my problem. My trailer is one year old and as far as I knew it would fly through a wof. Sorry no brake lights?
So I have a voltage indicator and have found the following ---
--- Car plug / points all show power on the correct pin for it's function. --- All Trailer connections front & back seem sound and firm. --- Cable from front to back is visible for most of it's route and is in excellent order. --- Indicators and Tail lights work fine. --- No Brake lights as mentioned. --- But the real weird one is that when turning on the hazard blinker switch, the trailer Tail lights flash while the car indicator lights are flashing as they should ! Any ideas ?
skiff1,
Feb 14, 5:16am
Bad earth
skin1235,
Feb 14, 5:22am
+1 check the actual light assemblies do earth to the chassis, and that the earth wire in the trailer end of the plug is also linked to the chassis, then check that the earth wire in the car end of the plug actually runs to earth in the car
comadi,
Feb 14, 5:37am
Thanks, I wondered about earthing. I'll have another go tomorrow. Now that I think about it, the white earth wire looked to be just attached to a flimsy bit of tin plate within the light housings. So If I drill a hole through that flimsy steel and through the trailer chassis and run a bolt & nut through I might sort it ? The car should be good, it has towed plenty of other trailers in the past.
bowla3,
Feb 14, 6:36am
Had a similar problem. After a lot of looking , found the earth connection in the car taillight was faulty.
brapbrap8,
Feb 14, 6:37am
What is the car? You will get that kind of issue if you use a trailer on a newer vehicle without the correct adaptors.
kevymtnz,
Feb 14, 6:41am
sandpaper the points on the plug and something to get into the car plug as well, good thing to do everytime you connect is to wiggle the plug for a while to make a contact
cammey,
Feb 14, 6:49am
+2.
The indicators filaments are quite low resistance, maybe .5 ohms, as are the brake lights. The tail lights are quite high resistance, maybe 25 ohms. With a faulty earth the tail lights earth themselves via the brake or indicator lamps. So you see the tail light glow, but there is not enough current to make the brake or indicators lamps glow.
comadi,
Feb 14, 7:31am
Hi, I just went out and had another go. I did what I said and drilled and tapped a better (the only) fix to the trailer chassis on both sides. It fixed the indicator problem which is great, but still no brake lights. If I have power at the car female brake port, can it still be the cars earth ? the points and ports are all clean and good. The car is 2004 Ford Escape. When I picked up the trailer a year ago the guy who sold it to me checked all the lights and said yep all good; and I that is the last time anyone has looked at them :-/
heads1st,
Feb 14, 8:44am
My neighbor had the same problem recently. I found that it was the trailer plug. Each of the pins has a "split" ~ use a knife with a thin blade and open it a fraction.
jmma,
Feb 14, 8:54am
Check the bulbs!
comadi,
Feb 14, 8:56am
Pins and bulbs are good .
ceebee2,
Feb 14, 9:36am
Using a voltmeter check voltage at each terminal (Vehicle side) with the half cap removed and plugs disconnected will soon reveal the fault. Depress the brake pedal of course. An average of 11.5V - 12V should be evident. If voltages are correct then connect trailer to vehicle and recheck. Should read the same. If not then manually connect 12V power to the trailer brake circuit only (Disconnected from vehicle) and see if that works, If so then it requires a better earth. A bit long winded but should be easy to follow for the less Tech savvy.
comadi,
Feb 15, 4:40am
Hi, I acquired a volt meter and tried most of what you said. Car only ports --- Tail lights = 12.15 volts Brakes = 10.67 volts
Plugged in to trailer with half cap removed --- Tail lights = 11.85 volts Brakes = 8.92 volts
Then to confirm when I'm in Bunnings I plugged in one of their trailers in and confirmed it is my car. So not just dodgy earthing on the trailer, but now the car as well :-/
No time today, but will investigate the car wiring tomorrow.
merv4,
Feb 15, 4:48am
Try the trailer on another vehicle. I had a problem with the trailer on my Jeep. The earth wire on the Jeep was white as was the reverse wire, when I put the vehicle in reverse the lights came on, otherwise they worked OK, The Jeep garage told me it could not happen even after checking , but a double check proved the wiring problem was with the vehicle,
ceebee2,
Feb 15, 7:39am
I would say poor earth in the trailer bulb holders. with everything hooked up measure voltage at the brake bulb holder. should be 12v + or - 0.5v brake pedal depressed. Answer will be in this test. Low voltage = voltage drop in power side OR bad earth from the brake light bulb holder. To prove it is the earth simply have someone depress brake and touch the earth part of the bulb showing (outside) and the other to the actual earth wire to the holder (Brake lens off). Set the volt meter to 2 volts. this reading should NOT exceed 0.2v. If it does then earth there is faulty. Easy as.
Good luck.
comadi,
Feb 16, 6:24am
Hi, the poor earth from the trailer bulb holders were addressed in post 9. This fixed the hazard light problem. Today I confirmed the trailer was fixed by doing what you said earlier on. I hooked up the battery direct to the trailer and brake lights were all go.
Then I started at the car trailer plug before digging deeper behind the interior panels, and luckily found the tail light screw a little bit loose. Tightened it up and Bingo !
Thanks for everyone's help.
dublo,
Feb 18, 4:49am
After reading all of these replies, and the experts' advice on fault-finding I was very interested to learn what was the problem! Now to try to find a similar fault in one of our cars - it will probably be more difficult as it is a older English one, so the ghost of Joseph Lucas will have been up to his old tricks!
comadi,
Jun 11, 8:17pm
Just looked at my last reply. The brake light screw was loose, not tail light :-O
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