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 Born not Made
Posts: 2937
   
Location: North Dakota | My trailer has been in the shop 3 different times (one was at a different place) and no one can seem to figure this out. It's also happened with two different pickups so it can't be the pickup.
I have a 2003 Exiss gooseneck trailer, with a dressing room in front and 3 horse slant in back. There is a light switch for a flood light and my dressing room lights, and then there is a light switch for the flood light in the back and the inside of the horse's area.
Sometimes, I have my trailer unhooked from the pickup. For example, this weekend I was at a large barrel race where I unhooked the trailer so my horse's could stay in their electric fence and I could drive the pickup to my hotel room (my dressing room is NOT living quarters). But I had to run my second horse after it was dark out, so I simply plugged the 7-way cord into the pickup so I can still use my flood lights to see what I am doing.
Worked fine while I saddled him up. Turned off my light switches and did my run. I did not touch the 7-way cord.
Came back and my horse trailer lights won't turn on. I even turned on the pickup (thinking I somehow had drained the battery or blown a fuse) and nothing would light up. My pickup (2014 GMC) also said "check trailer wiring" on the display.
This has happened before; where sometimes my lights will work (if the trailer itself is not actually hooked up to the gooseneck ball) and sometimes they won't. I can understand that if the lighting is not grounded properly, the lights won't work.
But why does it sometimes work, and sometimes not?
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 Expert
Posts: 1857
| When it has happened, have you unplugged it and felt the adapter/plug in? check for excessive heat? frayed wires inside the plug? Grounding out some where in the tack room when you open and shut the door or rock the trailer. |
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Location: Texas | I would check all your grounds and connectors. That's usually the problem when the don't work half the time, it is also the cheapest and easiest fix.  |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | Could be bad wireing are a bare spot in the wireing and it touches against something and will lose ground when the trailer rocks/moves alittle. |
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Expert
Posts: 1561
| You need to have the trailer and truck connected, the hitch acts as a ground. |
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 Expert
Posts: 4625
Location: Desert Land | I was having issues like that but it ended up being because the cord for the trailer had be re-done by someone at some point and it was a shotty job. |
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  Witty Enough
Posts: 2954
Location: CTX | Try to open you connector. We had a similair issue and it turned out that over time the wires in the plug where not connected properly anymore. They where still touching so sometimes everything would work, and sometimes not.... |
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A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | Or could be a loose plug end, mine got loose at one point and I always had to wiggle it to get it to connect sometimes, so had the plug replaced. But I would be checking for bare wires. |
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Born not Made
Posts: 2937
Location: North Dakota | Itsme - 2015-04-20 2:11 PM You need to have the trailer and truck connected, the hitch acts as a ground.
If that's the case, then why does it sometimes work when its unhooked?
It seems to me that then my trailer lights should consistently NOT work every single time .... and not sometimes work in that situation when it's not hooked up.
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Born not Made
Posts: 2937
Location: North Dakota | I've had the trailer 7-say plug redone TWICE. One was just a few months ago. I tried a different place.
I had a new outlet put on my hubbys pickup last year that I was using (still had the same problem) and then our new pickup I'm driving now has a brand new one, not even a month old.
At the place I took it to this spring, I told them what was going on and they said they checked all the electrical. Apparently they must not have???
So there's probably a wire shorting out somewhere?
Edited by r_beau 2015-04-20 3:15 PM
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Expert
Posts: 1561
| r_beau - 2015-04-20 3:11 PM
Itsme - 2015-04-20 2:11 PM You need to have the trailer and truck connected, the hitch acts as a ground.
If that's the case, then why does it sometimes work when its unhooked?
It seems to me that then my trailer lights should consistently NOT work every single time .... and not sometimes work in that situation when it's not hooked up.
So when you are at a race and they quit working how do you get home?
Do you just hook up and they magically start working again?
Go out to your truck and trailer and repeat the process until they dont work, then create a solid connection between truck and trailer and see if it works...
It will. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 974
Location: USA | Mine would do the same thing. Drove me absolutely NUTS. I put a new fuse in but I also changed out the automatic braking system. When I bought my trailer, the little cable that connects to your trailer brake box that activates if your trailer comes off your hitch, well, it was disconnected to begin with. I had a new electric brake box installed along with a new plug and ever since then, all lights have worked. Good luck, it's a pain in the butt when they don't work. |
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Born not Made
Posts: 2937
Location: North Dakota | Itsme - 2015-04-20 3:23 PM r_beau - 2015-04-20 3:11 PM Itsme - 2015-04-20 2:11 PM You need to have the trailer and truck connected, the hitch acts as a ground. If that's the case, then why does it sometimes work when its unhooked?
It seems to me that then my trailer lights should consistently NOT work every single time .... and not sometimes work in that situation when it's not hooked up.
So when you are at a race and they quit working how do you get home? Do you just hook up and they magically start working again? Go out to your truck and trailer and repeat the process until they dont work, then create a solid connection between truck and trailer and see if it works... It will.
Maybe I didn't clarify well enough.
When my trailer gooseneck is hooked up to the pickup, and the 7-way is plugged into the outlet, everything works fine.
When my trailer is sitting by itself, and I simply try to ONLY plug the 7-way into the outlet on the pickup, then my flood lights on the trailer sometimes work but sometimes not.
There is no battery on my trailer. Hence why I need to plug the 7-way into the pickup outlet so that I can access the battery power there.
I am wondering HOW I can get my trailer lights to work, even if I don't have the gooseneck hooked up.
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Veteran
Posts: 160
| Check your fuses. One might need replaced. Cheap fix |
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Expert
Posts: 1561
| r_beau - 2015-04-20 5:50 PM
Itsme - 2015-04-20 3:23 PM r_beau - 2015-04-20 3:11 PM Itsme - 2015-04-20 2:11 PM You need to have the trailer and truck connected, the hitch acts as a ground. If that's the case, then why does it sometimes work when its unhooked?
It seems to me that then my trailer lights should consistently NOT work every single time .... and not sometimes work in that situation when it's not hooked up.
So when you are at a race and they quit working how do you get home? Do you just hook up and they magically start working again? Go out to your truck and trailer and repeat the process until they dont work, then create a solid connection between truck and trailer and see if it works... It will.
When my trailer gooseneck is hooked up to the pickup, and the 7-way is plugged into the outlet, everything works fine.
When my trailer is sitting by itself, and I simply try to ONLY plug the 7-way into the outlet on the pickup, then my flood lights on the trailer sometimes work but sometimes not.
There is no battery on my trailer. Hence why I need to plug the 7-way into the pickup outlet so that I can access the battery power there.
I am wondering HOW I can get my trailer lights to work, even if I don't have the gooseneck hooked up.
Im very positive im correct on this issue but not 100%...95%
You need metal to metal connection from the trailer to the truck, either it needs contact through the hitch or maybe a jumper cable type connection from the hitch to bare metal on the trailer. It needs that connection to work properly, Ive went through the same thing as you are now but with a boat and it postponed my trip to Canada a day... |
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A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | Are you talking about running off the truck or electrical plug in like for over night camping? |
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Expert
Posts: 1561
| Southtxponygirl - 2015-04-20 6:07 PM
Are you talking about running off the truck or electrical plug in like for over night camping?
Truck only, hooked to 120 it works fine. |
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A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | Itsme - 2015-04-20 6:10 PM Southtxponygirl - 2015-04-20 6:07 PM Are you talking about running off the truck or electrical plug in like for over night camping? Truck only, hooked to 120 it works fine.
Well heck if its to the truck I would check to see how its grounding to the truck. Got to have good ground for the lights to work if hooked up to truck. And my trailer has to be hooked up for my lights to be working, but I also have the electrical hook up for over night stays.  |
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 Proud to be Deplorable
Posts: 1929
| Do you carry jumper cables with you? If so the next time it happens connect one line of the jumper cable to your bumper our the frame of the truck. Connect the other end to the goose neck on the trailer. If the lights work doing this you have a bad ground. If this does not work you have a short some where you well need to find. |
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Fire Ant Peddler
Posts: 2881
| It is caused by a poor ground. The trailer has to be grounded to the truck. There is a ground wire in your plug . The trailer being hooked up MAY ground it BUT that is not the way the trailer is supposed to be grounded. I keep grease on my ball most of the time but have a good ground in my plug. Check the ground wire in your plug. |
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Born not Made
Posts: 2937
Location: North Dakota | Okay, so then the consensus is that the ground wire in my 7-way plug (on the trailer) must be faulty? It must be something deeper in the wiring, because the plug was just redone a couple months ago.
Because hypothetically, it SHOULD work all the time? (When the trailer is sitting by itself, and I try to plug the 7-way from the trailer, into the power outlet on my pickup.)
I know I'm not a mechanic, but logically, if I have a toaster and I plug it into the wall, it works.
So why can't I "plug in" my trailer to a power source (the pickup) and have my flood lights and interior lights work?
I can try some jumper cables to "ground" the trailer to the pickup and see if that works.
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| r_beau - 2015-04-21 10:38 AM
Okay, so then the consensus is that the ground wire in my 7-way plug (on the trailer) must be faulty? It must be something deeper in the wiring, because the plug was just redone a couple months ago.
Because hypothetically, it SHOULD work all the time? (When the trailer is sitting by itself, and I try to plug the 7-way from the trailer, into the power outlet on my pickup.)
I know I'm not a mechanic, but logically, if I have a toaster and I plug it into the wall, it works.
So why can't I "plug in" my trailer to a power source (the pickup) and have my flood lights and interior lights work?
I can try some jumper cables to "ground" the trailer to the pickup and see if that works.
If the ground is not grounding, then the lights won't turn on.
It could be the wire in the plug is loose and when you move it will rattle into "place" where it is grounding.
First thing I would do is plug the trailer into a different truck and see if the lights work, this will tell you if the problem is in the trailer or in the truck.
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 Take a Picture
Posts: 12841
| r_beau - 2015-04-21 10:38 AM
Okay, so then the consensus is that the ground wire in my 7-way plug (on the trailer) must be faulty? It must be something deeper in the wiring, because the plug was just redone a couple months ago.
Because hypothetically, it SHOULD work all the time? (When the trailer is sitting by itself, and I try to plug the 7-way from the trailer, into the power outlet on my pickup.)
I know I'm not a mechanic, but logically, if I have a toaster and I plug it into the wall, it works.
So why can't I "plug in" my trailer to a power source (the pickup) and have my flood lights and interior lights work?
I can try some jumper cables to "ground" the trailer to the pickup and see if that works.
Silly question, but were the lights working the way that you wanted them to before the plug was redone? Also just because there is a ground wire going into your plug, does not meant that it is hooked up properly.
Little wiring lesson here---
Electricity has to have a path that leaves the source (battery) and goes to each light and returns to the source. Wires carry the electricity to the light and the frame of the vehicle is the return path (your ground). If your actual problem is with your plug your tail lights will flicker as you go down the road. This is kind of hard to tell if you are driving!!! Possibly the ground at each light (where it attaches to the frame) is faulty. One of my interior lights refused to come on and the dealership drilled out the rivet and put a new one in. Viola--lights. I have since learned that pinching the rivet with a big pair of pliers works well too. |
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Born not Made
Posts: 2937
Location: North Dakota | cheryl makofka - 2015-04-21 10:42 AM r_beau - 2015-04-21 10:38 AM Okay, so then the consensus is that the ground wire in my 7-way plug (on the trailer) must be faulty? It must be something deeper in the wiring, because the plug was just redone a couple months ago.
Because hypothetically, it SHOULD work all the time? (When the trailer is sitting by itself, and I try to plug the 7-way from the trailer, into the power outlet on my pickup.)
I know I'm not a mechanic, but logically, if I have a toaster and I plug it into the wall, it works.
So why can't I "plug in" my trailer to a power source (the pickup) and have my flood lights and interior lights work?
I can try some jumper cables to "ground" the trailer to the pickup and see if that works.
If the ground is not grounding, then the lights won't turn on. It could be the wire in the plug is loose and when you move it will rattle into "place" where it is grounding. First thing I would do is plug the trailer into a different truck and see if the lights work, this will tell you if the problem is in the trailer or in the truck.
As I have already stated, I have had this problem with TWO different trucks. So I know it's the trailer. |
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Born not Made
Posts: 2937
Location: North Dakota | streakysox - 2015-04-21 10:54 AM r_beau - 2015-04-21 10:38 AM Okay, so then the consensus is that the ground wire in my 7-way plug (on the trailer) must be faulty? It must be something deeper in the wiring, because the plug was just redone a couple months ago.
Because hypothetically, it SHOULD work all the time? (When the trailer is sitting by itself, and I try to plug the 7-way from the trailer, into the power outlet on my pickup.)
I know I'm not a mechanic, but logically, if I have a toaster and I plug it into the wall, it works.
So why can't I "plug in" my trailer to a power source (the pickup) and have my flood lights and interior lights work?
I can try some jumper cables to "ground" the trailer to the pickup and see if that works.
Silly question, but were the lights working the way that you wanted them to before the plug was redone? Also just because there is a ground wire going into your plug, does not meant that it is hooked up properly. Little wiring lesson here--- Electricity has to have a path that leaves the source (battery ) and goes to each light and returns to the source. Wires carry the electricity to the light and the frame of the vehicle is the return path (your ground ). If your actual problem is with your plug your tail lights will flicker as you go down the road. This is kind of hard to tell if you are driving!!! Possibly the ground at each light (where it attaches to the frame ) is faulty. One of my interior lights refused to come on and the dealership drilled out the rivet and put a new one in. Viola--lights. I have since learned that pinching the rivet with a big pair of pliers works well too.
The plug was redone because I took it to the shop and told them about this problem. And that was their "answer" to it, as they really couldn't find anything wrong. Of course, it didn't fix it.
I kinda am now wondering if they had it hooked up to a pickup the whole time they were checking it, which of course, would ground it and make it work just fine.
Are you saying that one single light could be faulty, which "ruins" the whole system? I guess its not impossible, but I would have a hard time believing ALL my individual lights have a faulty ground connection. I feel like I'd be having more problems if that were the case???
To me, it makes sense that there may be a problem with a ground wire in the plug or in the box where the plug connects. When that "goes out" it would then make sense that it affects ALL the lights on the trailer at once.
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Regular
Posts: 71
Location: Some where | Check your wirers for any pinched areas or evidence where they were smashed between the bumper and trailer hitch., one could be pinched ( hot or ground) and it would cause them to flicker off and on or not work at all. |
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Take a Picture
Posts: 12841
| r_beau - 2015-04-22 9:37 AM
streakysox - 2015-04-21 10:54 AM r_beau - 2015-04-21 10:38 AM Okay, so then the consensus is that the ground wire in my 7-way plug (on the trailer) must be faulty? It must be something deeper in the wiring, because the plug was just redone a couple months ago.
Because hypothetically, it SHOULD work all the time? (When the trailer is sitting by itself, and I try to plug the 7-way from the trailer, into the power outlet on my pickup.)
I know I'm not a mechanic, but logically, if I have a toaster and I plug it into the wall, it works.
So why can't I "plug in" my trailer to a power source (the pickup) and have my flood lights and interior lights work?
I can try some jumper cables to "ground" the trailer to the pickup and see if that works.
Silly question, but were the lights working the way that you wanted them to before the plug was redone? Also just because there is a ground wire going into your plug, does not meant that it is hooked up properly. Little wiring lesson here--- Electricity has to have a path that leaves the source (battery ) and goes to each light and returns to the source. Wires carry the electricity to the light and the frame of the vehicle is the return path (your ground ). If your actual problem is with your plug your tail lights will flicker as you go down the road. This is kind of hard to tell if you are driving!!! Possibly the ground at each light (where it attaches to the frame ) is faulty. One of my interior lights refused to come on and the dealership drilled out the rivet and put a new one in. Viola--lights. I have since learned that pinching the rivet with a big pair of pliers works well too.
I kinda am now wondering if they had it hooked up to a pickup the whole time they were checking it, which of course, would ground it and make it work just fine.
Are you saying that one single light could be faulty, which "ruins" the whole system? I guess its not impossible, but I would have a hard time believing ALL my individual lights have a faulty ground connection. I feel like I'd be having more problems if that were the case???
To me, it makes sense that there may be a problem with a ground wire in the plug or in the box where the plug connects. When that "goes out" it would then make sense that it affects ALL the lights on the trailer at once.
If ALL the lights flicker or do not come on then it is probably the plug. If a spotlight or one light inside the trailer does not come on or flickers it is the ground on THAT light. I keep grease on the ball on my hitch so my trailer does not ground on the hitch. There is a schematic somewhere on the internet which shows which wire goes where in the plug. I will try to find a link for you and you can check it yourself. |
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Expert
Posts: 4625
Location: Desert Land | Why don't you get a battery installed in the trailer so you can ALWAYS have power on you trailer even when unattached to the truck? That was one of the best things I have ever done. I love being able to use all the lights even when my truck isn't around. |
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Expert
Posts: 4625
Location: Desert Land | Also, the trailer I had that was having problems with wiring was also an Exiss - I have heard lots of people complain about the quality of the Exiss trailers expeciall the elctrical & wiring. I did a google search and found tons of threads on different forums with people complaining about it. I unfortunately didn't know Exiss had such a stigma attached to it when I bought the trailer (lots of consumer complaints). |
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Take a Picture
Posts: 12841
| You need to check the plug in your truck because most often the RV plugs are molded to the cord. Here is a schmatic.
http://www.listatrailer.com/help/7wire.html
Did not think about this but if you took your trailer and dropped it off and they found nothing it probably is your truck plug if ALL lights flicker.
Edited by streakysox 2015-04-22 10:53 AM
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Born not Made
Posts: 2937
Location: North Dakota | Streakysox - I've never noticed the lights flickering. They just either work or they don't. And its ALL of them at once; it's never a single light.
I just have a hard time believing its the truck, because it's happened with 2 different trucks.
I printed out the schematic. Thanks!
TheOldGrayMare - I may have to look into that. That would be nice to have access to my lights, because I board my horses and keep everything in my horse trailer. Most nights, I have my SUV that doesn't have an outlet on it, and so I just make do with headlamps and flashlights if I happen to ride when it's dark.
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My horse trailer lights sometimes don't work? Ideas?