trailer light problem

I’m having problems with the running lights on my trailer. Turn signals and brakes work fine. Last fall, I put load guides on and managed to pinch a wire in the bracket when I mounted them. As soon as I plugged in the trailer lights, I blew the fuse in my truck. I found where the wire was cut and spliced it back together using a butt connector with the heat shrink tubing. Worked fine all last fall and this spring. Then it started periodically blowing the fuse again. I coated the splices with liquid electrical tape figuring maybe they were getting wet and shorting. That didn’t do anything, and now it is blowing the fuse pretty much every time I turn the lights on.

So, anyone have any suggestions? I’m wondering if there isn’t another spot in the wires somewhere that has bare wire. I would like to avoid pulling all new wire if possible. I’m not too good with wiring.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

The repair you made is failing….. If you take the repair apart I bet it’ll be all corroded. You’ll need to cut the wire back on each side afew inches and splice in a new piece. Use solder and heat shrink tubing then liquid electrical tape.

It sounds like there’s another bare spot in the wiring. Water isn’t conductive enough to blow the fuse in your truck so my guess is that your first repair is probably OK. The problem is probably some where else. Pulling new wire sounds tough but isn’t terrible, I did it with my old boat trailer and it went better than I thought it would.

Rootski

It sounds like you have a ground wire problem. Try cutting the ground where you know it is good and re-ground it to the frame.

How old is the trailer? A lot of trailers are wired using the blue connectors that splice wires together. These are not waterproof and and after a few years you can have corrosion spreading underneath the insulation a foot from each splice.

I am going to say you have developed a new ‘rub’ some where and hence a ‘new’ short.

First recheck your old repair job as mentioned above.
If your ground is bad, you would have no lights at all. So that’s not going to be it. To blow a fuse, you have a ‘hot or live’ wire finding ground in the wrong place.

First look at everywhere you put in your on guides.
Then where ever the wiring harness goes through a hole in the frame or up near the hitch where it starts down the frame. These are obvious places where a wire could wear through. Also check right in the back by your wiring on your vehicle. (I doubt this as you mention it’s only when you plug in your trailer)But worth the look.

Changing the wiring harness is not that tough of a job. Good luck with everything.

Thanks for the suggestions. Just for clarification, my truck is only a month old, and I had it blow fuses on my previous one as well. The trailer is only 2 years old. It’s supposed to rain tonight so it looks like a good night to spend some time under the trailer going over all the wiring.

I think it is your ground. Easy to knock that off first and see if that nips it. If it doesn’t we’ll put in a service call. I know someone that can pull wire in his sleep and he works for free. All you have to do is not ridicule him when he has fake bites.

I believe you need to look for a short. Do you have any of the smaller side marker lights that are not working? If so pull the assemply out of the trailer and check if the hot wire is still plugged into the socket on the back of the light assembly. On mine the hot wire for the marker lights are male plugs with the female socket on the light assemblies. If the wire pulls out of the socket the exposed male end will short out against the trailer frame. Mine did this and I burned out a half dozen fuses until I found it. Usually blew the fuse when I went over a bump. I’d like to have a discussion with the person who designed the system to ask why they would use a male end on a hot wire.

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If it doesn’t we’ll put in a service call. I know someone that can pull wire in his sleep and he works for free. All you have to do is not ridicule him when he has fake bites.

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That seems like a long drive for Rootski

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If it doesn’t we’ll put in a service call. I know someone that can pull wire in his sleep and he works for free. All you have to do is not ridicule him when he has fake bites.

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That seems like a long drive for Rootski

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