How do trailer lights work?

[JDMills]

I have been working on getting the trailer light connecter (truck side) hooked up and have gotten myself to a dead end.



I am trying to set up the truck to have a 4pin flat connecter. At the moment it has the square five pin block and a round 5pin farther at the rear of the cab.

What I cannot understand is how does a four wire connector (actually 3 because of the ground. ) run the brake lights, left, right turnsignals and tail lights.

my best guess so far when tested produces a left turn signal, right turn signal looks like blinking brake lights , and tail lights that seem to be as bright as the brake lights. (I am using a test light, not the actual trailer lights. .

any corrections will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

jason

 

[Jacobs]

You are on the right track. A four wire plug uses one wire for ground. One wire for taillights on both sides. One wire for right brake/turn signal and one wire for left brake/turn signal.



Go here for a pfd wiring diagram:

http://www.championtrailers.com/4 pole wiring dia.pdf



Good luck





Bruce

 

[ndurbin]

four pins are pretty easy to set-up once ya find the wires. Find the wires for the taillights, left turn sginal, and right turn signal. Tap one wire into the wire that runs for the taillights, tap the second into the left turn sginal wire, tap the third into the right turn signal, and ground the last one. With my flatbed it makes it real easy to access the wires running to the truck's taillights. Might not be as easy for you if ya have the reg. bed but the wiring harness on my truck runs along the inside of the drivers side frame rail and splits about the middle of the bed to run to each taillight. I've tapped into the harness where it spilts and at the drivers side taillight (had to run a wire across for the other turn signal).



Nathan

 

[JDMills]

Thank you bruce. That clears up the confusion. I am lucky that I have a flatbed, although some one else has allready tapped into the turn signals, and did a poor job of preventing corrosion. after playing with it before putting up the first post, I managed to get some Voodo electronics going. now the R rear brake light wont work. tomorow's project is to try and fix it correctly.



Nathan, would you use the butt connectors from an auto parts store, or a soddering gun with heat shrink tape? I just had to fix a corrosion induced short last week, I hope to get this all cleared up once, the first time.

well now I am feeling optomistic and ready to take on the project. (no confidence in my electronic abilites yet, but this is a beginning)

jason

 

[barbwire]

Jason, Soldering is most always the best, however, either method is good. IMO, the most important factor is to seal it from the elements that cause the corrosion. In a lot of my electrical connection projects, I use di-electric grease. Hope this helps.

 

[ndurbin]

Jason, soldering is the best way to go. But sometimes I use butt splices or side taps. There are 2 kinds of side taps that I have found, on type slips over the wire you want to tap and then the second wire slides in beside it, the other kinda slides over the wire and crimps down and then uses a female/male spade connection. I have found the second type works better. Also I wrap everything up good and tight with electrical tape and put wire loom over it when I am done.



Nathan

 

[JDMills]

Todays project, with di-electic grease, and butt connectors... I am under a bit of time a constraint . Thanks for taking the time to bring me up to speed with your responses.

Jason

 

[Prairie Dog]

Side taps work great and don't damage the wire itself. It's best to open it back up after you squeeze it together and apply a little silicone to seal it forever.

 

[SOLER]

I'm not sure if your truck has this, but in the back, inder the bed where all the wiring is, there should be a plug. The wires from the front go into a plug, and it's connected to a "T" for the right and left side. Autozone, WalMart, etc, will have a plug that goes in between this connection. Real simple, if your truck has this connection in the back. If you go to the parts store, and they have this plug, then your truck will have this connection.



The four wires are green, yellow, brown, and white.

Green: left trun, and brake

Yellow: right turn and brake

Brown: Tail lights

White: ground

I might have yellow and green mixed up, but it won't matter if you can find the plug I referred to.



SOLER

 

[JDMills]

All done, Thanks for the helpful guidance. Only took about 25 minutes once I got started. Now I am ready to start dragging stuff home on a trailer, may be that is not such a good thing. .

jason