REALLY frustrated with trailer lights

[DELETE-PLEASE]

Well, I rewired the trailer and put in LEDs (on the trailer...sorry about confusion to others), and have some funky results. The brake lights work, but the blinkers do NOT work. And when I try to put on the right blinker, it clicks ONCE and stays continuously on on the truck (doesn't even flash on the truck). Considering that the blinker and brake lights are supposed to be the same wire, it makes it dificult to believe that the wiring is the issue, but who the hell knows with trailer lights?!

SO ... has anyone else tried, or does anyone have any suggestions for just buying those magnetic tow lights and putting them on for each individual trip? This way I KNOW the wiring's good, it's much easier to troubleshoot, and I can take them off after EVERY trip and not worry about it being out in the elements all day every day. Especially when I use my trailer infrequently.

Thanks.

Alexi

 

[madmike2]

I think the turn signals require a resistor of some type. The LED bulbs do not have enough resistance, in some cases, to cause the flasher to read and react properly so it "thinks" there is a blosn bulb and doesn't flash.

Someplace on the forum is a discussion about wiring LEDs to the FJR. I know it affects the cruise control on the bike because there is an activation circuit to turn the CC off when the brake is applied.

I'm certain ofe of the forum "electronic gurus" will be along to give you the exaqct answer.

 

[DELETE-PLEASE]

pardon the confusion....the LEDs are on the TRAILER. Not the bike. My bad.

 

[CAJW]

Alexi, As Mike said, there will surely be some electorwizards along to help out, but I recently did some troubleshooting that might help. I was having intermittent success in keeping turn signals working, but tail light and brakes were fine. I ended up using a meter to ohm out the resistance in each wire and found that the previous owner's splice job had come apart inside of a electrical tape quagmire that I had to pull completely apart, replace the splices, put all inside of a new loom, which finally fixed the problem. Good luck!

 

[Tree Doc]

I'm FAR from an electro-wizard but I've dealt with this before.

You're probably dealing with a situation where the bike has a thermal flasher relay which requires the resistance of an incandescent bulb and the LED's do not have sufficient resistance to trigger the thermal flasher.

You can buy solid state flasher relay that will solve the problem. If the LED's you installed were "Bike Specific" they would have likely had resistors wired into them already. This is a daily issue with guys, usually sportbikers, that replace OEM lighting with fancy and non-DOT approved LED lighting. They either don't work or they have a very fast flash rate because the thermal flasher relay. Fast blink rates are also illegal by DOT standards.

It's a really easy fix with the right relay.

 

[Niehart]

Alexi, Try building a separate ground for that trailer light that your having trouble with. Bad grounds seem to be the cause of most trailer light problems.

 

[ionbeam]

Well, I rewired the trailer and put in LEDs (on the trailer...sorry about confusion to others)...it clicks ONCE and stays continuously on on the truck (doesn't even flash on the truck)...

pardon the confusion....the LEDs are on the TRAILER. Not the bike...

You're probably dealing with a situation where the bike has a thermal flasher relay which requires the resistance of an incandescent bulb and the LED's do not have sufficient resistance to trigger the thermal flasher...

Alexi, Try building a separate ground for that trailer light that your having trouble with. Bad grounds seem to be the cause of most trailer light problems.

To continue to clarify, you are pulling a trailer with your truck? You added LEDs to the trailer and now the truck no longer flashes its turn signals correctly when the trailer is plugged in and no longer flashes the trailer turn signals correctly? Did the truck and trailer ever work correctly together?

Some trucks require a signaling module to correctly drive trailer lights. A trailer shop will be able to tell you what your truck requires, if anything. Because the truck still retains the filament type bulbs it shouldn't matter to the truck's electrical system if the trailer has LEDs. Sometimes when a trailer's filament type bulbs are added to the truck's normal signaling system you have to add a heavy duty flasher unit. LEDs should draw way less current, making a heavy duty flasher unnecessary. (Are you sure the LEDs are wired correctly?) Again, a trailer shop or your truck dealer can tell you what you may need to be a first class flasher.

Much trailer light weirdness can be caused by a bad ground.

 

[Tree Doc]

Confused by that first post. I was under the impression it was a trailer being towed by his FJR.

Agree on the ground issue. Anytime I experience the weirdness with trailer lights, I always go to the ground.

Used to be for imports but US made are similar now. If your tow vehicle had yellow turn signal, separate from the other lights in the taillight group, you need a module that will mix the signals. I haven't seen this in a long time but I suppose this depends on what your tow rig is.

 

[not2shabby]

Another vote for ground problem. I had a hell of a time getting the lights to work on my Harbor Freight trailer after I put it all together. I ended up having to grind some paint/powdercoat off so the wires would ground. This was with regular lights though, so YMMV. Good luck, trailer lights can be a real PITA.

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

I think a lot depends on the new-ness of the tow vehicle...?

Newer CAN-bus electrical systems and (computerized) Powertrain Control Modules (PCM) don't look kindly upon folks adding new lights (or, other electrical loads) -- where's your engineering degree?

You may need to install a self-contained, battery-operated (you may be able to use the tow-vehicle's battery?) trailer wiring operator. It's a separate/isolated switch-box/circuit (usually) installed in the trunk to run the trailer lights on new vehicles (ordered w/o tow pkg.).

 

[Blind Squirrel]

I put this set of led lights from Harbor Freight on my trailor. They work great and are cheap. I pulled off all the other lights/wiring and went with the wiring in the kit. Make sure you have good grounding points (i.e. metal, not paint).

 

[Zorlac]

The reason people use the trailer body as the return path or ground instead of just bringing a ground wire from the lamps up to the connector is so that they can tear their hair out a few years later dicking with them. :dribble:

The initial fishing of the ground wire through the trailer sucks but it sucks far less later IMO.

I just rip out ALL the old splice ridden wires on a refurb & start fresh, works every time.

 

[dcarver]

1. Buy red transparent plastic film.

2. Buy flashlight with batteries.

3. Cut then tape red transparent plastic film to fit the light end of the flashlight.

4. Tape your new 'brakelight' to trailer.

5. Repeat steps 1 - 4 for other side!

You're welcome!

..oh, check your grounds, like the others have said!