boat trailer wiring

I need some help. My Shoreland’r boat trailer has five wires to it. One white, one green, one yellow and two brown. The new plug-in that i bought only has four wires. Do i splice the two brown wires together (trailer).. and then to the single brown wire on the plug-in?

I have been running a long patch between the boat and the trailer because the wiring from the trailer was to short. This created a ground problem and the lights flickering. I am attempting to remove the patch and lengthen the trailer wiring to reach the truck.

Any suggestions or advice?

yes, tie the (2) browns together, to attach to the single brown from the plug.

HRG

i did, and i got nothing. I have lights at the back of the truck but not at the trailer.

do the turn signals work on the trailer?

Not sure of your scenario but I’ve found that when I replace the plug it’s is beneficial to rewire the entire trailer. It’s about $25 and an hour of your time but then you know exactly the condition of the wire.

But with that said I’m a stickler for trailer maintenance so I mess with the bearings on a yearly basis as well.

Hilltopper wrote:

I need some help. My Shoreland’r boat trailer has five wires to it. One white, one green, one yellow and two brown. The new plug-in that i bought only has four wires. Do i splice the two brown wires together (trailer).. and then to the single brown wire on the plug-in?

Any suggestions or advice?

Brown = running lights yes the two brown can be spliced together.
Green = right turn and brake light
Yellow = left turn and brake light
White = ground This is probably the most important wire in the whole setup. Make sure the white wire on the tow vehicle is connected to a clean spot on the frame of the tow vehicle. Make sure the white wire on the trailer side of the plug, is run all the way back to EACH light and connected directly to the ground stud on each light. Do not depend on the trailer frame to serve as the ground connection.

If all other lights are working except running light’s and there is no other explination, be sure to check your vehicle also. Had it happen last year with my newly rewired trailer, everything worked when I re wired it, then I accidentally pinched the running light wire in the swing tougne, after splicing it I still didn’t get running lights. I had blown the fuse for the trailer running lights in the fusebox when they shorted on the trailer frame while picked in the tounge.

Don’t know enough about older vehicle wiring systems but I was suprised that the vehicle had I think 4 separate fuses just for the trailer wiring harness.

The Famous Grouse posted a thread regarding wiring. He used LED lights and as one would expect it sounded thorough and bullet proof.

Maybe he could re-post it?

Yellow and green are signal lights brown are tail lights, white is ground. Usually. This means a brown goes to each ficture. So like said tying the browns together what should be done.
Find a good clean location on vehicle to attatch a fresh ground for the trailer.
Also use a continuity tester to confirm the plug and circuits on the vehicle are working.
Sometimes it is easier to run new wire like wade mentions if the vehicle plug and circuits are gooppl.
We all have these trailer wiring issues and it can be a head scrather at times.

Hilltopper, check the tow vehicle for a blown fuse. It’s probably as simple as that. I have a 2002 Ford and it has separate fuses for the trailer wiring. I just rewired my entire trailer last fall. I was blowing fuses for the trailer wiring due to shorts, caused by the wires rubbing on the inside of the trailer frame exposing the copper and shorting out. Very frustrating to say the least. Everything working fine, then a couple miles down a bumpy road and ZAP!! Another blown fuse.

Good luck.
Nails

Nails has 5he first step. Check tow vehicle for blown fuse.

This exact thing happened to me. Turned out the TRAILER parking and turn sig are on a separate fuse. Took me an hour of pulling fuses 1at a time to find that out because the manual diagram used only 4 letter abbreviations. The bad one was trrl.

Either look for the blown fuse or test for power at the brown wire.

Grouse

Grouse

I have found that if you want to use the trailer for the ground its best to connect the ground wire behind the toung to the actual frame of the trailer. Because sometimes if its a tilt trailer or not a welded toung that can cause intermintent issues.

Got it fixed. With a lot of help from Hot Runner. I found a ground pulled apart under the trailer. My trailer lights have never been so bright.

Thx.

Hilltopper wrote:

Got it fixed. With a lot of help from Hot Runner. I found a ground pulled apart under the trailer. My trailer lights have never been so bright.

Thx.

Glad to help.

HRG

Glad you got it fixed, nothing more aggravating than trailer lights not working.

Brown = running lights yes the two brown can be spliced together.
Green = right turn and brake light
Yellow = left turn and brake light
White = ground This is probably the most important wire in the whole setup. Make sure the white wire on the tow vehicle is connected to a clean spot on the frame of the tow vehicle. Make sure the white wire on the trailer side of the plug, is run all the way back to EACH light and connected directly to the ground stud on each light. Do not depend on the trailer frame to serve as the ground connection.
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This is good input, However ultimately this is chassie ground that makes contact when the trailer is connected to the vehicles hitch. At least that was how my trailer came wired. Glad to hear it working! I’ve had issue and if it wasn’t a bad bulb it was a ground issue.

joc wrote:

This is good input, However ultimately this is chassie ground that makes contact when the trailer is connected to the vehicles hitch. At least that was how my trailer came wired. Glad to hear it working! I’ve had issue and if it wasn’t a bad bulb it was a ground issue.

I respectfully disagree with you on this. Between grease on the ball, and the loose fit of the ball mount insert into the receiver, relying on a ground path thru the ball is a poor practice. The vehicle-side should have a solid ground path from the socket to the vehicle frame, the trailer should have a good path from the plug to the trailer frame, BEHIND any swing tongue, and preferrably to the lights themselves.

Spend the time to create a good ground path without the trailer on the ball, and a lot of light issues go away.

HRG

Just in case – this may help too.

http://www.in-depthoutdoors.com/community/forums/topic/articles_412603/

I have a head scratcher? I plugged my 2002 Nissan Frontier to my boat trailer and nothing works. I than hooked it up to my 2 year old aluminum trailer and all the lights work. I than plug my 2013 Ford F150 to the boat trailer and all of the lights work? For some reason either the plug on the Nissan or the trailer does not make a connection. Should I replace the plug on the boat trailer?

4walleye wrote:

I have a head scratcher? I plugged my 2002 Nissan Frontier to my boat trailer and nothing works. I than hooked it up to my 2 year old aluminum trailer and all the lights work. I than plug my 2013 Ford F150 to the boat trailer and all of the lights work? For some reason either the plug on the Nissan or the trailer does not make a connection. Should I replace the plug on the boat trailer?

Start here: if you have a set of jumper cables, put 1 clamp somewhere steel on the truck, and the other end to a ground point (frame, bolt, coupler?) on the trailer, and see what works.

If we can establish that it’s a ground problem, it narrrows down where to look.

HRG

Thanks HRG, I will give that a try!

I respectfully disagree with you on this. Between grease on the ball, and the loose fit of the ball mount insert into the receiver, relying on a ground path thru the ball is a poor practice. The vehicle-side should have a solid ground path from the socket to the vehicle frame, the trailer should have a good path from the plug to the trailer frame, BEHIND any swing tongue, and preferrably to the lights themselves.

Spend the time to create a good ground path without the trailer on the ball, and a lot of light issues go away.

HRG
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What your saying makes good sense. It seems I’m the victim of poor tailor wiring. some of my lighting doesn’t work properly if the ball and hitch are not connected.

I found that using electronics contact cleaner on both the truck and trailer
connectors will “clean” up some issues.
If you use any additional adapters such as 7 to 4 pin
pull them apart and spray them as well.
Follow directions on can.

Hot Runner guy, you said; Start here: if you have a set of jumper cables, put 1 clamp somewhere steel on the truck, and the other end to a ground point (frame, bolt, coupler?) on the trailer, and see what works.

The cables have two sets of clamps. Do you put one set on the truck steel and the other set on the boat trailer frame? Or just one clamp from one set on truck and the other one on the trailer? I have a turn signal that works, but no running lights on the driver side. My ground is wired to the trailer at the y of the trailer. I only have the 4 prong wiring with brown, white, green and yellow. My bulb is corroded onto the plug in as well at the light. Any tips for getting that loose without wrecking the plug?

fish-them-all wrote:

Hot Runner guy, you said; Start here: if you have a set of jumper cables, put 1 clamp somewhere steel on the truck, and the other end to a ground point (frame, bolt, coupler?) on the trailer, and see what works.

The cables have two sets of clamps. Do you put one set on the truck steel and the other set on the boat trailer frame? Or just one clamp from one set on truck and the other one on the trailer? I have a turn signal that works, but no running lights on the driver side. My ground is wired to the trailer at the y of the trailer. I only have the 4 prong wiring with brown, white, green and yellow. My bulb is corroded onto the plug in as well at the light. Any tips for getting that loose without wrecking the plug?

As far as the jumper cables, just 1 from each end (both black for example). For the rusted bulb, try spraying WD-40 or some kind of rusted-bolt spray, and gently start moving the bulb in & out, and twisting slightly. If the bulb breaks, then take needle-nose pliers and collaspe the base to get it out of the socket.

HRG

After you get things cleaned up and derusted apply electric grease this will keep this from getting to where it won’t connect correctly.

Thanks for the replies fellas. Hey Aleb, I grew up in Butler county. Nice place to be.