Interestingly enough my 7 way plug works for the brakes and signals but not the taillights. I have cleaned all the contacts on both the tow vehicle and plug to no avail. I also took the round black cover off and all the wires are connected to the terminals. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks
Your tow vehicle may have separate fuses for the trailer connector. I know that my F-350 does.
Check your vehicle owner's manual.
Good luck.
Are the tail lights working on the TV?? If they aren't, it's the fuse in the TV. If the TV tail lights are working, it's in your trailer wiring (either TV or trailer)..
If you have a test light, check to see if you have power at the TV plug. If you do, you just eliminated the TV from the equation and the problem is in the trailer wiring.
No camper owner should ever be without a test light. They are about $3 at any auto parts, h/w or tool store.
Well, knowing the brake lights and signal lights work I am assuming the TV is working fine and it is the trailer wiring. I will tinker with it to see if I can get them going.
Quote from: curryp;208697Well, knowing the brake lights and signal lights work I am assuming the TV is working fine and it is the trailer wiring. I will tinker with it to see if I can get them going.
Not a fair assumption;). That just tells you that the fuses are OK. You should take a test light and see if the plug on the TV side is putting out before moving on to the trailer.
If your turn signals
and tail lights are inop....90% chance that it's a bad ground either on the trailer or the TV wiring. However, you say that it's just the T/L.........that tells me that it's probably a loose connection inside either the TV or trailer plug. If you're convinced that they are OK........you should check the connection from the TV harness to the TV wiring. Is it a factory connector or did someone wire the trailer harness for you?
Quote from: wavery;208698Not a fair assumption;). That just tells you that the fuses are OK. You should take a test light and see if the plug on the TV side is putting out before moving on to the trailer.
If your turn signals
and tail lights are inop....90% chance that it's a bad ground either on the trailer or the TV wiring.
Quote from: curryp;208697Well, knowing the brake lights and signal lights work I am assuming the TV is working fine and it is the trailer wiring. I will tinker with it to see if I can get them going.
You've got that backwards!
Knowing that the trailer brake and turn signal lights works (same wire(s)), you can assume the trailer is working just fine! :yikes:
Start at the TV connector and TEST for voltage.
The wiring is a genuine plug in Toyota part. I probably should check to be sure the plug ins are secure and clean. I had to replace it this past winter because the bracket was broken. Thanks for all the advice. I need to get a tester.
Quote from: coach;208700You've got that backwards!
Knowing that the trailer brake and turn signal lights works (same wire(s)), you can assume the trailer is working just fine! :yikes:
Start at the TV connector and TEST for voltage.
I will do so, but how do I do that? Where do I get a tester?
12v circuit tester (//%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002SQV3A%22) any auto parts store
I use a volt meter, same concept.
Knowing the pin layout, you probe the different pins to determine if voltage is making its way to the tail light pin, brake, left, right, etc.
7 pin wiring diagrahm (//%22http://www.etrailer.com/faq-wiring.aspx%22)
*View of the connectors is from the inside of the plug.
troubleshooting (//%22http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/03/r/excerpts/maib/08/december.htm%22)
When you figure this out let me know, I have the same problem.
We just got back from a week long trip. Started off with no driving lights, so only drove during the day. Haven't had a chance to track down the issue yet...
The TV, a Toyota Tundra with tow package, had a blown fuse. I checked the ones inside the vehicle but none of those were labeled for tow lights. I then hooked up the truck to our boat which when towed with our Toyota 4Runner had all working lights. When hooked up to the Tundra there were no taillights. Conclusion - problem with the TV. So, I took the truck over to the local mechanic and he had a 7 way plug tester that fits right in where the camper would plug in. The tester light for tail lights didn't light up. The fuse that needed replacing was a 30 amp one that was in one of the three fuse boxes under the hood. On the underside of the cover there is a diagram that tells what each fuse runs. The mechanic had a tester to touch each fuse and sure enough that didn't light his tester was "Tow taillights" on the diagram. When asked how much I owed him, the mechanic said "a couple of bucks." I gave him $4 (all I had besides 20's) and was on my way. He also gave me an extra fuse that goes right inside a holder in the fuse box. Sometimes living in a small town has its advantages.
Quote from: curryp;208953The fuse that needed replacing was a 30 amp one that was in one of the three fuse boxes under the hood.
A fuse like that should only blow if you have a short bad enough to start a fire (in fact, it's possible to have a short bad enough to start a fire without blowing that fuse). It is possible the original fuse was defective, but if you ever blow another one,
please get the vehicle wiring checked.
Austin
I agree........I don't think that I've ever seen a 30A fuse for T/L. I realize that the trailer lights will have a lot more demand than the TV lights but 30A seems pretty extreme. I hope that it was just a fluke that it blew.
Your trailer probably has 4 clearance lights @.5A each and 2 T/L @ 2A each. That's a draw of ~6A.
Could it be that you unplugged your trailer harness with the lights on?? That may cause a fuse to blow.
Quote from: dkutz;208792When you figure this out let me know, I have the same problem.
We just got back from a week long trip. Started off with no driving lights, so only drove during the day. Haven't had a chance to track down the issue yet...
Your issues were more likely caused by Wayne putting a hex on you after all the harassing you gave him on the Smithwoods thread.
Wish you had said something about lighting problems at Smithwoods. We may have been able to track down the issue over a brown pop or two.
Quote from: Hoagie;209016Your issues were more likely caused by Wayne putting a hex on you after all the harassing you gave him on the Smithwoods thread.
Wish you had said something about lighting problems at Smithwoods. We may have been able to track down the issue over a brown pop or two.
I told a few people the story just didn't get to you I guess....
Quote from: dkutz;209018I told a few people the story just didn't get to you I guess....
Ya!!! well.......you told me but I wasn't there to help.
Your problem is probably in the trailer plug. There is 1 (maybe 2) little screws in the side of the plug housing. Take those screws out and push the inside of the plug out through the front of the casing (the casing will slide down the wires).
The klutz that installed the wires may not have tightened the wire connector screws properly. I can't remember if
he (eh-hem) soldered the wire ends but if he didn't, shame on him......You may want to solder the ends of the wires then put them back in their respective holes (don't mix 'em up) and tighten the screws.
Quote from: wavery;209009Could it be that you unplugged your trailer harness with the lights on?? That may cause a fuse to blow.
It is very possible that I unplugged the trailer lights with the truck lights on as the lights are on pretty much all the time when the engine is running.
Also, in the same box with the fuses are relays. I am assuming the fuse runs the relay.
Quote from: wavery;209020Ya!!! well.......you told me but I wasn't there to help.
Your problem is probably in the trailer plug. There is 1 (maybe 2) little screws in the side of the plug housing. Take those screws out and push the inside of the plug out through the front of the casing (the casing will slide down the wires).
The klutz that installed the wires may not have tightened the wire connector screws properly. I can't remember if he (eh-hem) soldered the wire ends but if he didn't, shame on him......You may want to solder the ends of the wires then put them back in their respective holes (don't mix 'em up) and tighten the screws.
I did that at 5am, but wasn't very thourough, it may be that. But I also used a volt meter to check the fuses in the TV and one of them wasn't sending, although its supposed to be autoreset, so maybe a bad fuse.
Funny I haven't had time to check it out again.
I like those circuit breaker style fuses for stuff like this.
Quote from: curryp;209023It is very possible that I unplugged the trailer lights with the truck lights on as the lights are on pretty much all the time when the engine is running.
Also, in the same box with the fuses are relays. I am assuming the fuse runs the relay.
When you unplug, you can get some arcing. The arcing occurs as the electricity tries to keep the circuit intact by jumping across to the other side as the plugs separate. This can cause a tremendous increase in the amperage for a milli-second and that's all it takes sometimes. Although I'm still surprised at blowing a 30A fuse :eyecrazy:. That sounds like it could be a dead short from a wire that is touching ground momentarily.
I thank that I would look in your owners manual or the fuse panel cover to see what that fuse is supposed to be. I'd be surprised if it calls for over 15A.
Tracking down these types of electrical problems just requires one to be methodical about it. As Wavery and others have stated, start at the TV plug and work back towards the trailer.
When we got ready to move from one CG to another on our mid-June trip, our left brake light/turn signal wasn't working on the PUP. All of our driving was in the daytime, so I elected to wait until we got home to chase down the problem. My parents were with us, and they followed us for a few miles after we left the CG, and they reported to us that the left side was working intermittently. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. We had the one brake light that worked, so I just was very careful on the remainder of that trip when signaling a left turn.
Fast forward to this past Saturday. I hadn't looked at the problem until then (no we haven't camped since mid-June :( ). By being methodical, I found out the TV plug was working properly. I then moved to the trailer plug. It had all connections tight and snug. I was hoping the problem was in the harness. It was. I had to lengthen the harness a couple of years ago when we traded TV. With the new hitch and TV plug layout, the harness was just too stretched out to my liking, so I extended every wire and put one of those plastic flex conduits around it. I used butt connectors that you crimp. When I pulled the conduit off, the left brake/signal wire pulled right out of the connector without me even trying. I guess I didn't crimp it good enough!
I soldered the connection back together, and gave a good tug on all the other connections. I soldered one more that wasn't to my liking. Two coats of liquid electrical tape, some real electrical tape around that, and I was back in business. If any other circuits give me a problem in the future, I will start with the butt connections.
Quote from: wavery;209028I thank that I would look in your owners manual or the fuse panel cover to see what that fuse is supposed to be. I'd be surprised if it calls for over 15A.
The underside of the fuse box cover does show 30A. Maybe Toyota is different than many vehicles. I also think that fuse works the relay.
Quote from: curryp;209536The underside of the fuse box cover does show 30A. Maybe Toyota is different than many vehicles. I also think that fuse works the relay.
It must be wired accordingly then and shouldn't be an issue. They probably made provisions for those trailers that have 4 tail lights and a gillion marker lights.