FIX YOUR TRAILER LIGHTS (2) - How The Circuit Works
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- Опубліковано 4 жов 2024
- How does a trailer light circuit work? What's the difference between a "Short Circuit" and an "Open Circuit"? Why is the white wire attached to the trailer frame? Watch this video!
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4yr old video and still helping people. Great job eh. A giant thank ya from the U.P.
Glad to help
HANDS DOWN , the easiest most comprehensive explanation/tutorial I have ever seen regarding Trailer Lights on UA-cam. And a fantastic 101 for how a basic "circuit" works. Well done sir!
Thanks for that very kind comment and you are welcome!
Bless your heart!! The best 20 minutes I could have spent to get a basic understanding of short vs open circuits! You are a fabulous teacher.
thanks!
The second video of yours I have watched as I try to trouble shoot my trailer lights. Amazing videos, very clearly explained and understandable.
Thank you
You are very welcome!
Awesome video! Thank you for making this so easy to understand, even for someone who has no background whatsoever with this!
Glad it was helpful!
Great job explaining circuits and how they are implemented with vehicles, trailers, and why the circuit might be opened through the frame or other connections. Just what i needed to learn
Glad it helped.
Thanks you thank you thank you!!!! I have had an issue for a long time...rewired my whole trailer, lights didn’t work, popped fuses, etc. I watched so many other videos without success. Watched 3 of theses series and finally fixed!!! Your simple explanation of how the trailer becomes the white wire did it!
That is awesome to hear! So glad the video helped! KPO
Retired high school electronics teacher here.... nice job with your visuals, video inserts, and explanations!
Awesome, thank you! KPO
So here’s the deal …. I know you did this video five years ago but I just viewed it because I am having some trailer wiring issues. Your video helped me to understand that I personally have had an “open circuit / burnt bulb” for 69 years. It has originated in my brain. Lol. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR LAYMAN EXPLANATION OF TRAILER WIRING. IT IS GREATLY APPRECIATED.
Glad I could help
This series is fantastic! You are a wonderful teacher, all concepts are presented in an easy to understand format. I just built my kayak trailer and something went wrong with the wiring. I am a novice and a wildly independent woman, determined to complete my build. Now with all this knowledge, I can easily address and fix! Thank you and God Bless!
You're very welcome! Thanks for that comment.
you're a great teacher. Very clearly explained for someone (me) who is a newbie! Thanks
You're very welcome! KPO
Thank you!! I was planning on taking a couple of calves to the sale barn next week so decided to check out my livestock trailer today. It'd been working perfectly, but today I found no lights at all, so I did the obligatory walk around looking for broken wires or any other clues. Even connected the pickup to another trailer to make sure the problem wasn't with the truck. The other trailer worked fine so it wasn't the pickup. I then decided to get some guidance from UA-cam and kind of randomly picked this one. Glad I did. The infamous "white wire" you mentioned being the ground running from the plug (mine is a 7 point, but grounds the same) appeared to be connected to the trailer (but with a pop rivet, no less!?!?) and the wire was unbroken. The pop riveted connection, which was to the underside of the trailer, did look a little flaky. I cut the factory white ground wire and using a crush connector, I attached a piece of solid copper wire to the end of the braided copper trailer ground wire, drilled a guide hole in the frame, then using a self-tapping metal screw, attached the solid copper wire. Immediately, problem solved, saving hours of time not to mention the frustration! Thanks again!
I'm so glad this video helped you out. Also check out this playlist I made with several other trailer light videos I did. LINK - ua-cam.com/play/PLksX0m4wrQHxmTQj8rk3Sazefa3uITFe4.html I think you'll find more helpful stuff in these vids also. Thanks so much for the comment, KPO.
A absolute must! Trailer wiring 101! This is video has an excellent drawing with clear teaching of the trailer light circuitry.
Thanks Jamie, KPO.
Great video! I spent the afternoon troubleshooting my trailer lights. Almost every problem I've had in the past have been due to grounding problems. I couldn't understand why my brake lights and turn signals worked perfectly, but I had no running lights and no side marker lights. After checking everything I could think of, I found that if I moved the swing arm of the trailer I got the lights to flicker on and off. It appears that corrosion was the problem and cleaning the area around where the pin secures the arm was the fix. Also one thing that I do before backing the trailer into the water is to disconnect the wiring harness in order to not blow the fuse in the truck.
glad this helped
Thank you for this. Getting ready to rewire my old vintage trailer camper and didn’t have a clue how to do it. You are a good teacher.
Ann, also check out this video - ua-cam.com/video/-14kh2DYdOo/v-deo.html It will help with rewiring also. Thanks for the kind words, KPO.
Great overview making everything simple to understand. You have a gift for teaching!
I appreciate that!
Thanks Dave! After trying all of your recommendations, I should’ve started with the easiest one first. Just because my truck is a 2021, does not mean that the trailer parking lamp fuse is not blown! I’ve never had a trailer hooked up since I bought the truck, but low and behold, that fuse was causing my running lights not to work on the trailer. Brake and turn signals worked, just not the running lights. On the bright side now I have a wire wheel and a multimeter for my tool shed.
Glad you got it squared away
Just bought a used boat w trailer. Lights didn't work. This video gave me lots of info to troubleshoot the problem. FIXED! Thanks.
Awesome, KPO.
I just wanted to tell you thank you so much for making your videos because they help out a lot. Have a great day thank you Janine from California
You are so welcome!
Great presentation that clarifies basic concepts
Man, you have a knack for teaching. I learned a lot.
I appreciate that! KPO.
Excellent Instructor. Thanks Dave. You help me clearance lights on a mini Bus. The principles still apply.
welcome
Unbelievably helpful! Thank you for the in-depth break down!
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for a very informative video. I had a u built trailer that had some challenging wiring that needed to be troubleshooted. With the knowledge gained in your video I was able to fix my trailer lights myself. Thanks for going full geek and showing the wiring diagrams on a whiteboard!
You are welcome Mike! Thanks for the comment, KPO.
Best description of a trailer circuit I've seen. Tank you!
Thanks Kelly! KPO.
Excellent Video! Never really understood trailer wiring until now. Thank You.
Great to hear!
Great video! Taking the time to explain the flow, or lack there of, for electricity and how both the truck and the trailer frames play a vital role was perfect. Thanks for going into such detail, now it’s time to apply the new knowledge! 🙏🏻
Thanks so much for the feedback. I hope it helps, KPO.
You made it so simple, that I got it in one shot, thanks a lot pale, you are the best!
Great to hear!
I really appreciate you for taking the time to make this video and providing such a thorough explanation.
You're welcome.
Great video, easy to understand. I wish you were my neighbor. Thanks. Wish me luck getting my rear submersible lights working on my trailer. 👍
Thanks for that comment. Be sure to check out my full trailer light playlist, LINK - ua-cam.com/play/PLksX0m4wrQHxmTQj8rk3Sazefa3uITFe4.html It might help you with your lights, KPO.
Finally I come across someone who explains it just right.. Thank You.
thanks
I've watched tow of you video's so far, both on trailer lights and issues and you really helped me...Thank you
You are welcome, thanks for watching, KPO.
Amazing video and great explanation on how the trailer lights work! Thank you so much!
You are very welcome!
Great presentation,best one I've seen on this subject.
Thank you for that comment, KPO.
Something that is so obvious that it seems like it doesn't need to be said was stumping me with my trailer light installation. That was that the GROUND of the taillight is being created by BOLTING the light onto the metal FRAME of the trailer. I had mounted my lights on a piece of wood that I was bolting in place on the trailer. Result - no lights - I hadn't realized that the bolts on the back of the lights are what is creating the ground in the circuit and closing it. Once I added a wire from the bolt on the back and attached it to the frame of the trailer the problem was solved. Thanks for the video it helped me figure this out as it made me think about where the circuit was on the lights and where the ground was - the bolts!
Thanks for the feedback, KPO.
Had my lights all hooked up and I got nothing. You reminded me to connect the ground wire,which I had forgotten.
Thank you!
Tasha Lynn, you are very welcome. Thanks for watching and thanks for the feed back, KPO.
thanks for the information! i have running lights that won’t work on a trailer, even though the brake and signal lights do work. i should have a short circuit, i’ll check if i have any blown fuses to confirm!
Or your brown (running lights) wire has a bad connection, and definitely clean the plug too.
OMG, thank you!!!!!! You are truly the wiring/circuit whisperer.
You're welcome Laura! KPO.
I've been searching for a good explanation to my potential trailer light problem. This was awesome!! I pretty sure I just have an "open" circuit. I just need to find it now. Unfortunately, it's not my bulb. :(
Thanks for watching!
Thank you. You know your wiring and how to explain it simply. Great video.
Glad it was helpful!
Great video. If they did make the white wire as long as the rest of the harness it would basically eliminate the ground issue.Its more work but in my opinion saved my customers $ and me time when diagnosing.
very true
Great video, thanks for taking your time to explain all. I have an issue after new LED light installed. only when turn on the right turn signal, all trailer lights blinks (other side turn signal and brake light blinks). But if I turn on the left turn signal, works perfect. Thanks again.
It sounds like that right fixture isn't grounded properly and it is back feeding through the other fixtures. Check for a loose or corroded ground (white) at that right fixture. Let me know how it turns out, KPO.
@@KnettersPracticalOutdoors thanks for your reply. After searching for the problem checking the trailer wiring harness, trailer plug and the car itself with a multimiter I found the problem, was the cambus box that cames with the trailer hitch. Only the internal circuit in the box of the right turn signal light have a shortcut and bridged to the brake lights . So in the mean time I disconnected the right turn signal from the box and wiring directly (car-trailer). Now all lights works perfect.
Awesome, thank you! Full-geeking out on this so I can fix my trailer lights!
Glad I could help!
You just saved me a headache brother! Thanks for the explanation of trailering and short vs open circuits. Thank you!!!
You are very welcome my friend, KPO.
Greetings from the Adirondack mountains of upstate NY. Really enjoy watching your hunting/fishing vid's, please keep them coming. (would love to see a tour and/or hear the story of your camp sometime) Also nice to see someone sharing practical info in a world where so many people can't be bothered to fix simple things and many dude's don't even know how to change a tire!!
Jonathan, great minds think alike. I've been jotting down a few things about our camp history. Hopefully I can get this together for a video soon. Thanks for the support, KPO.
Very good lesson. This was very helpful for me.
Glad to hear it!
Sucess my friend I discovered that with the factory installed hitch there is a converter and four fuses under a panel behind my drivers seat. They are labeled stop, left, right, and tail all 5 amp fuses the stop one was broken switched with another one and BINGO! Thanks for all your attention and I look forward to learning more from your vids.👍🏽
Awesome! I bet it blew when that broken trailer was plugged in. Glad I was able to help. KPO
Knetters Practical Outdoors Thanks again!👍🏽
You are welcome! KPO
Thank you, man. This is very helpful to me as I troubleshoot my faulty trailer lights this winter. Also, your "TRAILER" has no wheels 😜
Excellent! Thank you. Now I can understand much better how that works. 👍🏻
Glad it helped!
awesome practical advice - thanks. It made it all much simpler to understand
Thanks for that comment, KPO.
Good job on explaining the concept.
Thank you, KPO.
👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 Master teacher that makes it all clear to understand. I'm ready to go for it.
Great to hear! Thanks for that comment, KPO.
You are an awesome teacher! fantastic video! Well done Sir.
Thanks a lot for that comment. I hope the vid helps out, KPO.
Excellent video. Well explained. Thank you!
You are welcome!
The best explanation ever! Thank you Bro….
Glad it was helpful!
very great stuff. my professor would call this a home run presentation
Wow, thanks!
I have to say you are very very good I appreciate the way you explained it and very simple way I totally agree with you you are really good
Thanks so much Pino, KPO.
Excellent work on explaining. Thanks
You are welcome, KPO.
Mind blown that the circuit comes through the frame... whaaat, wow...
Another moment for me was realizing that a short circuit... is actually a shorter circuit!
Loving this video series.
Thanks for the support, glad to help.
Thanks, this was fantastic and very helpful.
You're welcome! KPO
great video thanks man, easy to understand for dummies like me hahah, appreciate these videos man!
Glad you like them!
Best explanation I have heard to-date. Well done!! Subscribed.
Welcome aboard!
Have a blessed day, thanks for the information. 🙏❤
Welcome!
Great video right side of my trailer wasn’t working until I grounded it like you said 👍🏻.
Glad it helped
Excellent presentation.
Thank you kindly!
Great tutorial mate. I really enjoyed it. Thanks Mate
Thanks for a very clear presentation.
You are welcome! KPO
You are a very good teacher! Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
You are welcome, KPO.
Excellent presentation...thanks for the step by step👍
You are welcome. If interested I have several other trailer light vids at my channel ua-cam.com/play/PLksX0m4wrQHxmTQj8rk3Sazefa3uITFe4.html Thanks for watching, KPO.
Absolutely a fantastic explanation. Nice. 🇨🇦👍🏼
Glad you liked it!
Thanks. I’m going out to look at my trailer wiring now!
I hope it helps, KPO.
great presentation, I enjoyed
Glad to hear it Jose, KPO.
Thank you sir for your step by step teaching. How do I get your other videos? Do you have an electrical course you teach? Good job .
Here are some of my other videos on trailer lights LINK - ua-cam.com/play/PLksX0m4wrQHxmTQj8rk3Sazefa3uITFe4.html I have worked in the electrical field for 30 years but I do not teach professionally. Only a little home schooling with my kids. Thanks for the comment, KPO.
Thank you for posting this. Helped tremendously. However my problem still exists. Hoping you can help. The problem is on my camper. When I have the headlights off on my towing vehicle the blinkers work perfectly. When I turn the headlights on on the TV the blinkers on the camper don't work and all I get is solid break light. Someone mentioned it may be a bad ground in the TV. I tried connecting the ground on the bargman to different connection points even directly to the Trailer and still same. Nothing blinks with headlights on. Any suggestions?
It does sound like a bad ground, but it could be on the camper. Sounds like it is back feeding through the running lights because a fixture isn't grounded good. Double check these camper fixtures.
Very Well Presented!
Thank You
Captain Carpman
Hope it helps, KPO.
Great explanation. Thank you
Welcome! KPO.
Very informative video. I learned quite a bit especially the importance of the ground wire. I am in the process of re-wiring my small utility trailer and was thinking of using old three wire (black, white and ground) from an extension cord. Use the white to green on the left side, white to yellow on the right, use the black to replace the brown and have it joined together and use the entire ground system. I would obviously run two parallel wire on each side. I think it may be better for the ground to have a complete circuit instead of using the trailer frame as a ground. What are your thoughts on this set-up.?
Well, I hate to stray from the correct colors, but using a wire for the ground instead of relying on trailer continuity is a good practice. Just make sure to ground the trailer too.
Thank you! Trying to trouble shoot flickering running lights on our horse trailer - they are on when we excelerate and flick / go off if we take foot off gas - it’s a goose neck so I’m chasing a loose ground or …? We will see tomorrow 😂
Check this video out also - ua-cam.com/video/LaUj7ZIrwAk/v-deo.html and ua-cam.com/video/GolYLizOcow/v-deo.html if you have any other questions. These should get you fixed! Let me know!
Wonderful and insightful overview... Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Perfect instruction!
Bloody brilliantly explained. Well done.
Thanks for the comment and thanks for watching, KPO.
Thanks for taking the time to put this video together, very helpful. I have a question regarding a a trailer harness with two white (ground) wires on it. Each side will have its own ground wire running the entire length of my trailer. Even though each light will be grounded by this wire will I still need to have a ground wire attached to the trailer? Thanks for your time.
No you won't need to ground the fixtures to the trailer if they each have their own white wire. But it's not a bad idea to make sure the trailer is grounded too. That will help anytime a hot wire comes loose and touches the trailer frame to cause a short circuit and blow a fuse. Which is what you want to have happen in that situation.
@@KnettersPracticalOutdoors thank you, very helpful!
Excellent video and series
thanks
The grounding on a white wire on a body of a truck, reminds me of the shock I sometime get when I touch the door of my car. This must be the result of the grounding. Pls take note, I do not find anything wrong here though. I am just interested to hear if there's any connection betw the 2.
I think the shock from the car door is mostly static electricity. It runs to ground through your body. Don't quote me. Every situation could be different, but I think that's what's going on.
Dude, this was super helpful! Thank you so much!
Glad to hear it!
Excellent explanation. Even a fifth grader would understand
thanks
Great demonstration on how the electrical circuit works on a trailer. I have a couple of questions. My left running light (brown wire) does not turn on when I turn on the lights. If I signal left, it does work. My right lights are okay and work like they're intended. . If my left turn signal light activates when I put the blinker on, doesn't that indicate that the bulb is okay? Are there separate LED lights inside of the housing or are there separate bulbs? I have LED lights but I notice that there are no screws to remove the lens like the one that you're using. They appear complete sealed! Is there a way to check inside of the LED housing without breaking it if I need to replace a bulb?
LED fixtures really don't have bulbs. It's actually a diode that lights up and often these are not replaceable (sometimes you might find LED bulbs in the older style fixtures, but it should be obvious how to open if that were the case). Anytime the wrong lights light up I usually find it is a grounding problem and current is back feeding to places it shouldn't go. Make sure all the fixtures are grounded correctly, KPO.
I have a very simple trailer wiring system with an interesting problem.....all of my lights work except for the yellow running lights at the front of the trailer. The brake lights work, the turn signals work, the red running lights at the back work, but the yellows at the front don't. I would think that the red and yellow running lights are wired together, aren't they? I suppose it's possible that both bulbs could be burned out together, but it would seem strange that it would happen at the same time?
Check each fixture and make sure it is grounded good.
Great explanation and very informative. The only question I have is wondering if the + & - side of the battery should be another way around? Are the electrons traveling from - side of battery to the positive side?
Yes electron flow would be the way you stated from neg to pos. But the circuit is correct to show the fuse on the positive side and then the controls and loads down stream.
Thanks very much for your time 🙏🏽
My pleasure!
Great explanation. I learned more about circuits here than I did in college physics.
Hey thanks for that comment! KPO
Great video! Thank you.
Glad you liked it!
Very detailed great video !!!
Thank you! I hope it helps, KPO.
Super helpful, thank you
Glad it was helpful!
All about the ground. Grinder to clean the metal on the trailer and good ground at your lights. As well as up front where the plug is. I also clean the hitch of rust and grind it to bare metal.
You know it!
Very helpful!! Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Perfect. Great explanation. Many thanks. 🇦🇺👍🍺
Glad it was helpful!
I bought a horse trailer and noticed there was no white wire connected to the trailer frame, I've been having issues with the lights so I called the seller and asked him about this and he said when you hook the trailer up to your truck that will be the ground. Does that sound right? Thanks for the videos!
That does work...………….sometimes. You can imagine that that's not going to be a good, dependable electrical connection. I cover this in another vid, link - ua-cam.com/video/LaUj7ZIrwAk/v-deo.html If the plug on your truck has a white wire I would put a new plug on the trailer to include the white ground. Thanks for watching, KPO.
Can you take the trailer lights and test them by touching the wire to the ground and positive posts of a battery to determine what they are wired ro? I don't think the trailer is wired to follow standard colors
Yes you can do that, check this vid out ua-cam.com/video/INI5bZkoEVw/v-deo.html.