trouble shoot my TM's brake lights, turn signal lights

Hello Fellow TM Owners,

I got my first trip under my belt this weekend, had a great time and came back alive. I have an electrical issue to solve, though. My external TM lights went out after dark on I-95 in heavy traffic, yikes. I made it to my CG without any crashes and the next morning I found a blown towing fuse under my TV hood. I replaced that and had lights again, but when I put the right turn signal on, all the lights on the back of the TM blink erratically. I couldn't find any loose or frayed wires, the connection was seated properly, there wasn't any water in the light itself.... Is there anything else I can do myself before I break down and take both my TV and TM into a shop and pay the big bucks for someone to find the problem?

Thank you,
trudy

[rvcycleguy]

You've got a grounding issue. Check the 7 way plug wires for corrosion or the TM plug. Get a test light and check individual points on the trailer plugs.

[HIKERZ]

id also make sure that the TV side of the connector is fully seated - from the rear of the connector push til it clicks-on my ford anyways

[tentcamper]

A bad ground issue should not be blowing a fuse. I think I would check at the connector on the TV with an light to see if the problem is on the TV side.

If it on the trailer side I think I would check with an ohm meter my right turn single to the other circuits. If it's on the TV side it could be with the all the lights turning on when turning right the 5 to 4 wire converter in the TV. This converter has some simple circuits that converts the TV from having independent filaments for the brakes and turn single to sharing the same filaments on the trailer. Its a small box that has 5 wires on one side and 4 wires on the other side.

[mjlaupp]

Trudy,

If all of the back lights are flashing only when the right turn signal is on, then the problem is no ground or poor ground at the right hand tail light. One of the wires from the lamp socket should go to a screw into the aluminum skin of the TM. Clean the dirt and corrosion from the screw connection. This problem can also be caused by a corroded tail lamp / turn signal socket. Clean or replace the lamp socket.

When a ground is missing in one of the tail lamps, the current flows through the turn signal filament and then back feeds through the tail light filament and then to all of the other lamp bulbs looking for a ground.