Trailer electrical connector – how to best clear out any corrosion

was out on the water late last night and when I pulled the boat out and headed home, my trailer lights weren’t on – had to jiggle the connection in order to get them to connect. I put some dielectric grease on the contacts over a month ago and that seemed to help initially. I got all lights to work except the running lights on the driver’s side.

It’s one of those round connectors (Eagle trailer plugged into a F150 pickup). Also, seems to be a bit loose, like it’s not snapping into place.

Any suggestions for getting the contacts cleaned up? I don’t usually stay out late but still want all the lights to be in proper working order.

Dielectric and some small wire brushes and a knife. Back and forth, repeat again and again.

Those round plugs are also fairly easy to pull apart, too. A wire brush on a Dremel and some dilectric grease should help, though if it has corroded, a replacement is probably the best solution.

Soak it in Coke. Just don’t drink it after.
DT

Thanks for the suggestions – I don’t think the corrosion is all that bad – the trailer is only a few years old. I looked up the diagram for those plugs and running lights are all on the same lead for the entire trailer. The Eagle trailer has a bunch of ‘button lights’ along the frame that turn on with the running lights, along with the two tail lights. What’s odd is that on the passenger side, all the lights work and on the driver’s side, only the button light closest to the hitch lights up. All of the button lights behind that and the tail light on that side doesn’t work. There are also 3 button lights on the very back, between the tail lights and under the guide-on roller. Those are not lighting up either. Are these wired like christmas lights – one goes out on the portion tied together and none of them work? Of course, all the wires are threaded through the frame so can’t really check to see if there are any breaks. Any suggestions?

G_Smitty wrote:

Thanks for the suggestions – I don’t think the corrosion is all that bad – the trailer is only a few years old. I looked up the diagram for those plugs and running lights are all on the same lead for the entire trailer. The Eagle trailer has a bunch of ‘button lights’ along the frame that turn on with the running lights, along with the two tail lights. What’s odd is that on the passenger side, all the lights work and on the driver’s side, only the button light closest to the hitch lights up. All of the button lights behind that and the tail light on that side doesn’t work. There are also 3 button lights on the very back, between the tail lights and under the guide-on roller. Those are not lighting up either. Are these wired like christmas lights – one goes out on the portion tied together and none of them work? Of course, all the wires are threaded through the frame so can’t really check to see if there are any breaks. Any suggestions?

Yes that should be how they are wired. Sounds to me like there is an obvious issue between that lone working button light and next one toward the back of the boat. First thing I’d do is to swap the first non-working button light with the lone working lignt. If it doesn’t light up you know the issue is that light and not the wiring. If it does, you know it’s the wiring. At that point I’d disconnect those two button lights, clip the wire and use old wire to fish a new length in. I’d systematically go down the line like that until power was getting through the whole series without interruption.

Yes that should be how they are wired. Sounds to me like there is an obvious issue between that lone working button light and next one toward the back of the boat. First thing I’d do is to swap the first non-working button light with the lone working lignt. If it doesn’t light up you know the issue is that light and not the wiring. If it does, you know it’s the wiring. At that point I’d disconnect those two button lights, clip the wire and use old wire to fish a new length in. I’d systematically go down the line like that until power was getting through the whole series without interruption.
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Excellent suggestion! I sure hope it is that button light and not the wiring!

Just for background dielectric grease isn’t really meant to be a cleaner. It’s a non-conductive grease that can be used to coat contacts to prevent moisture from causing corrosion.
A contact cleaner spray will flush out gunk on a connector and of course if contacts are corroded bad enough they’d need sanding or replacing.

Grounding at each of the light fixture. If you bump the non working one and it flickers, it is frame grounded through the mounting screws and they are failing.