Where to start????

[sundawg]

was going to check out and close up dutchmen last night , We backed the truck up to it and plugged it in, NO lights...then all the sudden there were very dim lights....brake lights and turn signals dont work,Just a soft glow... could this be just a ground or a short(bad wire).Not sure how to test this all . any help would be great!!! want to get it home and start fixing and cleaning and camping!!!!

[Hoagie]

First two things I'd recommend you check would be the actual connection between the TV and trailer, and the trailer ground.

The connections in the trailer plug could be dirty, corroded, or have a nice spider web built into them. Stop by a Radio Shack or other electronics parts store and get yourself an aerosol can of electrical contact cleaner.

Check the ground wire to the trailer. This might be up near the tongue and be a single wire that terminates to a screw or bolt into the trailer frame. It is loose? Broken? Frayed? Missing?

Barring either of these two issues, I'm not sure where you'd check next.

[sundawg]

First two things I'd recommend you check would be the actual connection between the TV and trailer, and the trailer ground.

The connections in the trailer plug could be dirty, corroded, or have a nice spider web built into them. Stop by a Radio Shack or other electronics parts store and get yourself an aerosol can of electrical contact cleaner.

Check the ground wire to the trailer. This might be up near the tongue and be a single wire that terminates to a screw or bolt into the trailer frame. It is loose? Broken? Frayed? Missing?

Barring either of these two issues, I'm not sure where you'd check next.

ok great thanks...will clean the ground and wire connecters....newbie here does it have to have a battery hooked up? and do i need to have it hooked to the hitch?

[wavery]

Hoagie had some good suggestions. Most common problem is grounding.

If you don't find a ground problem, get yourself a "test light" (any hardware or auto parts store). Go to the following diagram and find your trailer connector. Check each connection at the TV (tow vehicle) socket:
http://www.accessconnect.com/trailer_wiring_diagram.htm

Just put the clip of the test light to a good ground on the TV then touch the pointed end to the terminal that goes to each function (Tail/Lt, rt T/S, lt T/S, brakes etc), one at a time to see if the test light lights. Have someone in the TV activate that function. That way, you will be able to tell if the TV socket is wired correctly and everything is functioning.

Then, make yourself a "Jumper" wire. That's just a piece of wire that you can touch to a connector on the TV socket and touch the other end of the jumper wire to the corresponding terminal on the trailer plug. Have the person activate the corresponding function and see if that light (and only that light) is working properly on the trailer. When you are doing this test, you may have to run a separate ground wire from the TV to the trailer (as your ground in the socket will be unplugged). Don't forget to check the ground wire in the socket .

[sundawg]

Hoagie had some good suggestions. Most common problem is grounding.

If you don't find a ground problem, get yourself a "test light" (any hardware or auto parts store). Go to the following diagram and find your trailer connector. Check each connection at the TV (tow vehicle) socket:
http://www.accessconnect.com/trailer_wiring_diagram.htm

Just put the clip of the test light to a good ground on the TV then touch the pointed end to the terminal that goes to each function (Tail/Lt, rt T/S, lt T/S, brakes etc), one at a time to see if the test light lights. Have someone in the TV activate that function. That way, you will be able to tell if the TV socket is wired correctly and everything is functioning.

Then, make yourself a "Jumper" wire. That's just a piece of wire that you can touch to a connector on the TV socket and touch the other end of the jumper wire to the corresponding terminal on the trailer plug. Have the person activate the corresponding function and see if that light (and only that light) is working properly on the trailer. When you are doing this test, you may have to run a separate ground wire from the TV to the trailer (as your ground in the socket will be unplugged). Don't forget to check the ground wire in the socket .

You have obviously done that before...will do that as soon as possible! and can i assume if say the tail light works and the side doesnt then the problem is is that line?

[wavery]

You have obviously done that before...will do that as soon as possible! and can i assume if say the tail light works and the side doesnt then the problem is is that line?

Not necessarily. It could again be a ground or bulb problem to any specific lamp or series of lamps. Don't discount the fact that several bulbs could be bad or bulb sockets corroded. The slightest bit of corrosion on a bulb base or the socket can cause low to no voltage and result in dim to no lights and/or flickering.

Often times, when people wire up the TV trailer harness, they neglect proper attention to the ground wire. They sometimes (incorrectly) assume that grounding will take place through the trailer hitch ball. That's a poor assumption.

I would start with checking the ground wire connection inside the TV socket.

How many prongs does your socket have?

[sundawg]

believe the trailer has 7 pin on the tounge connection(factory)

[Hoagie]

Along with everything Wayne suggested, you may also have a frayed wire in one of the runs from the trailer plug to the trailer lights. If the inner conductor is shorting out to the trailer frame that could cause this sort of problem too.

As you can see, electrical problems of this sort can be a real bear to troubleshoot. The cause of the problem can sometimes only be found by going through each and every connector, wire run, socket, feed through, etc. Now when you finally narrow down the cause and get it fixed, remember to do some basic maintenance on the electrical going forward and (hopefully) you'll never have an issue like this again.

Periodically check all wire runs to make sure they aren't dragging or chafing. When we picked up our brand new Starcraft, the main wiring harness was tie-wrapped to one of the axles in only two places! The wires all hung down to less than 8 inches above the ground!!
Use an electrical contact cleaner on the plugs and bulb sockets. Then use a corrosion prevention spray. Your trailer is exposed to the weather and moisture will get into these areas. One more level of protection will help things last longer.

Good luck.

[wavery]

believe the trailer has 7 pin on the tounge connection(factory)

I would start with the TV socket. Make sure that everything (especially the ground connection) is good there before trying to diagnose the trailer.

If you start with the trailer, you could spend many frustrating hours chasing your tail, just to find the problem is in the TV.

I'd pull the socket out of the TV. Most sockets are made in 2 pieces. The inner piece, that holds all of the connectors and an outer piece that just acts as a housing for the inner piece.

You may find 1 or 2 small screws on the outside of the socket housing. Unscrew that screw(s). Then push the inside of the socket out the front of the housing by grasping the wires and pushing them into and through the housing. This will expose all of the wire ends and connectors. Be sure that there is no corrosion on the wires or connectors. If it all looks clean, tighten all of the connector screws, then use your test light to check the connector. Check carefully (with a magnifying glass) to be sure that none of the tiny wire strands are lose and touching other wires.

It there is corrosion, I would suggest cutting an inch or 2 off of every wire. To do the job properly, I would strip off about 3/16" of insulation and solder the bare ends of the wires (to avoid lose strands and prevent corrosion) before re-inserting those wires back into the correct connectors. Be sure to clean the connectors with a small wire brush and some electrical cleaner (WD-40 will do). Never try to "Clean" stranded wire. It's a waist of time and energy. There is no way to get all of the corrosion and in 90% of cases, it will just come back.

To reassemble the plug, just reverse the directions above, lining up the raised area on the inner part with the slot on the outer part. Then move on to the trailer plug and do the same thing.

NOW!!!.....having said all that.....some harness plugs are sealed at the factory. If you have one of those, these instructions won't work. Corrosion is less likely to occur in a sealed unit but it does happen. If you trace the problem to a sealed trailer plug, you have no choice but to cut the plug off and replace it with a new one. They are available at most auto parts stores.

Everybody should know how to complete this proceedure because you may have to do it on the road at some point. That's not the place to learn. If you do it at home, it will give you the confidence to be able to do it in an emergency road repair.....(always in the middle of the night).

[austinado16]

I'm not a fan of doing electrical diagnostics with one of those 12v light-up style testers.  I like to use a digital voltage/ohm meter (VOM).

If you don't have a VOM, you can pick up inexpensive ones at most autoparts supplies, and Sears, etc.  Nice tool to have in the quiver, so consider spending up a bit and buy a nice one.  The best one at Sears used to be about $55 and for an additional $11 you could buy the tempurature probe for it, and have a digital thermometer too.

If this were my TV, I'd just do a pin test at the 7 pin connector under the bumper.  I'd do it as-is, in order to see if the fault was there.  Set the meter to it's "ohm" reading setting, and then touch the ground pin in the connector with one meter lead and touch the other meter lead to a screw or bolt that you see going into the frame of the TV.  The meter should read very low resistance....for example, you might get a reading of .024ohms.   That would tell you the ground pin in your connector, is in fact connected to the frame of the TV.  If you got a reading of something in the thousands or millions, or the "OL" (open loop=open circuit) symbol, that would tell you there's super high resistance to ground and that you don't have a good ground connection.

Once you confirm what your ground is doing, you can switch the meter to read 12v DC and then the black meter lead still grabs a bolt on the frame, and you tough the read meter lead to individual pins in the connector one at a time in order to see that power is getting to the pins under conditions like, "the brake lights are on"........"the parking lights are on"........."the left turn is on"......"the right turn is on"....."12v is present for charging the battery in the camper"......"the brakes to the camper are being applied."  During this test, you'd start the TV, and then have a partner turn each thing on, one at a time while you check for voltage at the appropriate pin.

Once you confirm the TV connector is working correctly, you move on to the camper.  As already mentioned, that white ground lead that is screwed to the front A frame on the camper is the first check.  Again, your ohm meter is handy here.  You're going to go through the same checks as you did on the TV.

Also, I've seen where the connection between the ball on the TV and the receiver on the camper/trailer weren't good......some rust on areas inside the receiver, and that caused the lights on the camper/trailer to be dim because they weren't being grounded to the TV frame adiquately.

Have fun!

[sundawg]

will be going later today and try to get it home.

[sundawg]

only hitch was a rip in my shorts....Had to splice wires back togather where he had cut them during trouble shooting...Cleaned all the bulb contacts and the ground wire and connectors to the tv. Plugged in and yippy i had lights...Guess the next step is the cable replacement when it arrives. Thanks to all for the info.

[Old Starcraft]

Just remember one thing when working on anything electrical. I learned this in an electronics class years ago. As my instructor told us that all wire / anything  that uses electictricity is based on smoke. Once the smoke goes out of it "it ain't no good" .
 
P.S. This post comes at a perfect time. I have to trouble shoot my own wiring. I went ahead and bought all new wiring for mine.

[sundawg]

Just remember one thing when working on anything electrical. I learned this in an electronics class years ago. As my instructor told us that all wire / anything  that uses electictricity is based on smoke. Once the smoke goes out of it "it ain't no good" .
 
P.S. This post comes at a perfect time. I have to trouble shoot my own wiring. I went ahead and bought all new wiring for mine.

What Does it mean if i have lights when im hooked up to the ball and then when hitch is raised lights go out?  Is that normal?

[xjcrawler]

What Does it mean if i have lights when im hooked up to the ball and then when hitch is raised lights go out?  Is that normal?

Sounds like they have the trailer ground through the hitch. I would run a seperate ground wire.