Trailer Lights!

I am really struggling with my trailer lights! Everything works fine until I turn on the headlights. When I turn on the headlights and step on the brake, the trailer lights go out. I thought it may have been bulbs since the driver side was working but it too has now done the same! Is this ground related? I have redone the ground wire but I am wondering if it could be on car side? HELP!!!!!

Sure sounds like a ground problem. Many times the ball and coupler will get a build up of rust that needs to be cleaned. A wire brush that fits in a drill will clean the coupler easy enough. I also made a 4 ft. jumper out of battery cable and alligator clamps to run from the trailer frame to the vehicle frame. I don’t use it myself but it comes in handy when helping others determine their light problems.
Another thing to be on the lookout for is a wire that may be bare that is touching the trailer frame somewhere.
Hope this helped

Make sure your white(ground) wire is making a good connection on both the tow vehicle and trailer. The best way to check your lights is with the emergency flasher and head lights on. A lot of times if you have a bad ground connection the side lites will blink with the flasher lights on. If you have one of those hinged trailers they can be a problem. If I’m having a light problem I work on it without the trailer on the ball. That way you are using just your ground wire to ground.

GOOD LUCK
JIM

Everyone with a trailer struggles with lighting problems at some point in their life. At least with new factory wired vehicles the color coding has become universal. Can’t remember how many times years ago helping people with home rigged wiring jobs that you never knew what wire was what.

That being said, everyone should buy a simple volt/ohm meter. You can get them for under $15. With this you can check DC and AC voltage as well as resistence or continuity. This will enable you to directly check the output from your vehicle connector and see if you have a problem there. With a battery charger and a couple nails or screws on the alligator clips you can connect to the trailer plug and see if the lights come on. None of this is rocket science. All you are doing is completing a simple circuit. A good ground is a must for anything electrical to work correctly. Give it a try and let us know what you find.

Well….I spent a pretty late night swatting mosquitoes and checking trailer lights to the point it got the best of me! Thankfully we have a 24 hour Super Walmart that had new wiring! Took me about 20 minutes to install new wiring and wallah, its back to working! I found that the old wiring had a place worn through under a clip and was bare.That had to have been the problem. So Im back to happy fisherman now! Thanks!