TrailManor Owner's Forum - View Single Post

**Bill** · 05-22-2003, 01:49 AM

I doubt that the problem is a short, or you'd be blowing fuses.  It sounds to me like you have a high-resistance connection somewhere between the terminal block and the tow-vehicle's light switch.  When you remove the load (i.e., disconnect the lights or remove the bulbs), your multimeter can see the 12 volt source even through the high resistance connection.  However, when you hook up the bulbs and start to draw current, virtually all of the 12 volts is dropped across the high-resistance connection.

The most likely place for a high-resistance connection to develop (though not the only one) is in the 7-pin connectors between the tow vehicle and the trailer.  It happens because water gets into the connector and causes corrosion, and it can happen in either half of the connector.  I suggest you open up these connectors until you can see the physical connection point of each wire.  I bet you will find that one of them is corroded almost all the way through.

Let us know the result.

Bill

05-22-2003, 01:49 AM	#2
Bill Site Team Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: The mountains of Scottsdale, AZ, and the beaches of Maine Posts: 10,105	Re: No Tail/running lights I doubt that the problem is a short, or you'd be blowing fuses.  It sounds to me like you have a high-resistance connection somewhere between the terminal block and the tow-vehicle's light switch.  When you remove the load (i.e., disconnect the lights or remove the bulbs), your multimeter can see the 12 volt source even through the high resistance connection.  However, when you hook up the bulbs and start to draw current, virtually all of the 12 volts is dropped across the high-resistance connection. The most likely place for a high-resistance connection to develop (though not the only one) is in the 7-pin connectors between the tow vehicle and the trailer.  It happens because water gets into the connector and causes corrosion, and it can happen in either half of the connector.  I suggest you open up these connectors until you can see the physical connection point of each wire.  I bet you will find that one of them is corroded almost all the way through. Let us know the result. Bill