Running Lights

[Jason Wood]

Hello all...I am stumped by the electrical gods once again. I have everything in my 1974 Red Dale running off the 7 pin connector. Previously I used the 7pin for the electric brake and I also used the 4 pin to run an after market trailer light kit. I want to get rid of the trailer light kit and use only the 7 pin. Everything works great...except the running lights. I've tested the power on my truck and all is good there. I tested the continuity from the tip of the camper plug to where the splice is for the trailer lights and that was good. I removed cleaned and slathered with dielectric grease the grounds to the trailer frame. However....before I undid the connection between the trailer plug amd the trailer I tested the continuity and it was continuous for the running lights and the constant 12v and the ground Pins in the plug. I checked for voltage at what I know as the the first light in the run and got nothing. What are my options at this point? I'm not going to rip all the siding off. Is there a way to fix this from the inside? Advice would be much appreciated. Thanks and happy camping!

Jason

[Lakota Wolf]

Did you happen to check the 12 V fuses in the cabin, (near the power inverter) (or 12 V fuse box).?

My skyline 5th wheel has a glass tube (old style) fuse for clearance lights and tail lights.

[Jason Wood]

I looked at them...I have the same glass tube style ones. None were blown but I didn't test the connections or anything. I'll have to take a closer look at those when I get home tonight. I'm not even sure what those fuses go to but maybe there's some corrosion etc. in there. Thanks for the reply.

[John "T" Nordhoff]

These kind of questions are hard for me to diagnose over the net. If there with a jumper wire and a test light it wouldn't be too bad. I would have a 12 volt battery with jumpers handy and jump to the trailers frame or ground wire then 12 volts to the trailer plug that feeds lights and see if they light up. If not look for fuses etc inside. When you install grounds, you wire clean shiny connections FIRST then once all tight you can grease to keep dirt or water out but DO NOT put grease on first or where the actual metal to metal contact is made as its an insulator......... \

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 A 12 volt source and a 12 volt test lamp and some jumper wires can easily diagnose it if I were there

John T

[Jason Wood]

Well...learn something new everyday. I've always thought that dielectric grease helped with conduction. I'll have to crawl under there tonight and clean all of that up and redo it. What's the best way to get that stuff off...brake cleaner? I know the 7 pin on my truck is good. I've also tested the trailer plug to the pigtail and that was good. Maybe it's still just a bad ground. Why are there so many wires going to the running lights? I would have thought that one 12v lead and one ground to each light would suffice. I have three of each color wire (6 total) and then the mounting screw grounds it to the aluminum siding.  

[John "T" Nordhoff]

 A  "dielectric" is a NON conductor. Its fine to coat and cover and protect and keep dirt or moisture off a connection ONCE MADE as it does NOT conduct and short the electricity elsewhere. If you put it on plug wire boots it keeps them from sticking to the plugs but since its an insulator (dielectric) it does NOT provide a conductive shorting path. You would not place  rubber (an insulator) between wires to connect right??? nor would you want a non conductive insulating grease or coating between them. I wire brush and shine connections and bond them AND THEN cover it all with silicone etc to keep dirt and moisture off. That red battery terminal spray is good to coat connections AFTER made.

 A running wire circuit as you know requires a hot and a ground. Perhaps many are wired in parallel back to one single connection point. Bad grounds are soooooooo often the cause of lighting problems. Id unhook all that rats nest and start one at a time to trace out lights and circuits and grounds to see whats there.

 John T  

[John "T" Nordhoff]

  Here's some info describing dielectric grease uses, it describes how its NON conductive.

http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-dielectric-grease.htm

John T

[Jason Wood]

Okay...thanks to the advice I got from you guys and also some help from my father in law today the running lights mystery has been solved. The light I had opened up was the first light in the series so there were more wires there than any other light. Also what I didn't know was that this trailer does NOT use the aluminum siding for ground and actually has a ground wire going to each light. I powered the hot side under the camper with my battery and was able to find the hot wire in the running light circuit. Now my issue is the running light circuit in my truck is dead. Probably because the new running light I hooked up is different than the originals and actually had the hot wire and ground wire connected together shorting the circuit and frying something in my truck. Now I need to figure out how to fix that. Thanks again for the help. Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there.

[Jason Wood]

Just a 20A fuse...thank God something was easy!