7 way plug - no tail lights????

[wavery]

I 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.

[curryp]

Could 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.

[dkutz]

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.

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.

[austinado16]

I like those circuit breaker style fuses for stuff like this.

[wavery]

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.

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.

[fallsrider]

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.

[curryp]

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.

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.

[wavery]

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.

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.