Need help - ground wire on trailer switched polarity?
#1
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Jackson, New Jersey
Posts: 4,872
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Need help - ground wire on trailer switched polarity?
A couple of months ago, I accidentally ripped out the wires from the plug on my stock trailer. Its a 7 slot receptacle with the usual red, black, brown, yellow, green and blue wires. When I wire it up according to the diagram I found here: http://www.etrailer.com/faq_wiring.aspx nothing works correctly.
BY THE WAY, THE TRUCK I AM WORKING WITH IS THE BRONCO.
After a bit of playing around with the wires, I found that the green and yellow wires needed to be switched around. Now the driver's side is working fine, however the passenger's side of the trailer is not. After trying to work out the problem, I dragged a wire grounded to my truck to the passenger's side ground on the trailer, and found that the light works fine if I replace the ground.
Here's the odd part, when I touched the ground wire I created off my truck to the ground wire on my trailer, it sparked every time.
[//b]Sorry for all the blabbering, now for the questions[/b], how the hell can a ground, directly on the trailer turn positive? And how can I reverse it back to being a ground again so I can get the light to start working correctly again?
BY THE WAY, THE TRUCK I AM WORKING WITH IS THE BRONCO.
After a bit of playing around with the wires, I found that the green and yellow wires needed to be switched around. Now the driver's side is working fine, however the passenger's side of the trailer is not. After trying to work out the problem, I dragged a wire grounded to my truck to the passenger's side ground on the trailer, and found that the light works fine if I replace the ground.
Here's the odd part, when I touched the ground wire I created off my truck to the ground wire on my trailer, it sparked every time.
[//b]Sorry for all the blabbering, now for the questions[/b], how the hell can a ground, directly on the trailer turn positive? And how can I reverse it back to being a ground again so I can get the light to start working correctly again?
Last edited by winks; 12-08-2007 at 01:36 PM.
#2
According to that diagram and what wires you listed your missing the white wire for ground since you only listed 6 wires unless its using the black wire for ground.
Term. 1 should be ground (white wire)
Term. 2 should be trailer brakes if used (blue wire)
Term. 3 should be trailer tail lights (brown wire)
Term. 4 should be 12V Aux power if used (red/black wire)
Term. 5 should be left turn (yellow wire)
Term. 6 should be right turn (green wire)
Term. 7 should be Aux Power if used (orange wire)
I would back prob the vehicles receptacle making sure all wiring has the proper feeds plus ground and is on the correct term. If that checks out, then I would run a temp ground to the trailer from the vehicle (jumper cable etc.) and then run a temp fused power feed from the battery and touch it to the brown then yellow and then green wires on the trailer to verifiy that the park and turn signal bulbs light up and are wired correctly. All of these should ground through the trailers frame.
If all checks ok then its just a matter of properly wiring the trailer plug to match the vehicles receptacle.
Note, if the trailer is missing a ground and you have power going to the lights and then connect a ground from your vehicle to the trailer frame it may spark. This is because the lamps are not loading the circuit and the frame is hot, i.e., 12 V before and after the bulb. Once you complete the circuit to ground the bulb becomes the load and drops the voltage potential to 0 after the bulb.
Term. 1 should be ground (white wire)
Term. 2 should be trailer brakes if used (blue wire)
Term. 3 should be trailer tail lights (brown wire)
Term. 4 should be 12V Aux power if used (red/black wire)
Term. 5 should be left turn (yellow wire)
Term. 6 should be right turn (green wire)
Term. 7 should be Aux Power if used (orange wire)
I would back prob the vehicles receptacle making sure all wiring has the proper feeds plus ground and is on the correct term. If that checks out, then I would run a temp ground to the trailer from the vehicle (jumper cable etc.) and then run a temp fused power feed from the battery and touch it to the brown then yellow and then green wires on the trailer to verifiy that the park and turn signal bulbs light up and are wired correctly. All of these should ground through the trailers frame.
If all checks ok then its just a matter of properly wiring the trailer plug to match the vehicles receptacle.
Note, if the trailer is missing a ground and you have power going to the lights and then connect a ground from your vehicle to the trailer frame it may spark. This is because the lamps are not loading the circuit and the frame is hot, i.e., 12 V before and after the bulb. Once you complete the circuit to ground the bulb becomes the load and drops the voltage potential to 0 after the bulb.
#3
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Jackson, New Jersey
Posts: 4,872
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Rev, the white wire is actually the black wire in my setup. The only wire I don't have is an orange wire, which is for the axillary lights. My trailer doesn't have any connections for that.
As for your ground idea, I did that as well, and found that all my grounds coming off the truck are fine, as well as all of the grounds that go to my trailer plug are fine. The one ground that is not fine is the one coming off the trailer to the light.
As for your ground idea, I did that as well, and found that all my grounds coming off the truck are fine, as well as all of the grounds that go to my trailer plug are fine. The one ground that is not fine is the one coming off the trailer to the light.
#4
however the passenger's side of the trailer is not. After trying to work out the problem, I dragged a wire grounded to my truck to the passenger's side ground on the trailer, and found that the light works fine if I replace the ground
#5
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Jackson, New Jersey
Posts: 4,872
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
#7
The ground is simply a 6" wire riveted to the frame
there are no cuts in the wire for it to connect to anything hot
Last edited by Rev; 12-09-2007 at 12:27 AM.
#8
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Jackson, New Jersey
Posts: 4,872
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by 5speedin2.3
so, are the lights on when your hooking the ground up?
lol...
lol...
Rev, thanks for the info. I don't plan on getting back to working on the trailer for a while, but that is some good info I'll put to use when I go at it again.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Type_Ranger
Interior, Exterior, & Electrical
0
02-09-2006 03:04 PM