jjrbus

I bought some cheap LED trailer lights that have 5 wires. I have a flat 4 connector plug. I wired as instructed and running and turn worked but no brake light. I was told to add the brake light to the wire on the LED and it trips a circuit breaker in my Toy. I tried these on my 08 Ford Ranger and worked fine.

Someone picked on me for going for the cheap lights so I ran over to NOrthern tool and bought a 3 wire led tail light's and plugged it in, same thing tripped a breaker in the Toy and same thing works fine on the 08 Ranger.

This is a 93 Toyota cab and chassis with a motorhome on the back so anything ready made for a Toyota will not work. The camper has the
Bargman lights with 5 wires, I tried the 5 wires from the camper to the trailer lights and still tripped a breaker.


I am clueless here and do not even know the right questions to ask. Searches do not seem to cover me on this.
Any direction would be greatly appreciated... Jim

Charchee

What in the world are the five wires for? Got a diagram for the lights? I know what you have coming out of your four wire connector from your truck but every trailer light I have ever used had either two or three wires. It sounds like you are sending voltage from your truck straight to ground some way or another. Try and describe how you wired the four wires of your truck connector to the five wires on the lights. Take a picture and post it if you can.

scope103

It takes a minimum of 4 wires for a trailer (grnd, taillight, left turn/brake, right turn/brake). Usually, a 5-wire connector includes a line for brakes (or battery charging, etc.). https://www.etrailer.com/faq-wiring.aspx

But you don't have a stock truck, yours has a motorhome. So the wiring is something YOU will have to figure out. Once you do that, you need to look at the wiring diagram for the trailer lights you purchased. Then you can wire up an adapter that will work with YOUR rig.

This isn't hard; use your multimeter on each pin of your plug, until you figure out its purpose.

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

I wonder does this have the dreaded converter box for the 4 pin plug??

That would be my first place to look for a short.

Charchee

I'm sure it is a converter box setup.

I looked back and saw that the new lights were LEDs. On some of my big trucks with LED back lights, there is a second group of LEDs in each light assembly that only light up with brake signal. That's what the fifth wire is going to be for and I bet it's a blue wire. That's likely where the issue is.

jjrbus

Thanks for the responses, greatly appreciated, the one about a short got me thinking and decided I must have touched something to ground. I went out this morning and started rechecking things, the blinker worked for a few seconds and then shut off. Hmmmm I had not done anything yet. Now electrical and mechanical are not my thing, I am much more comfortable with a saw and glue.
I had a moment of clarity and decided to check the voltage. 5.5 volts!, can't be right so I checked my meter, it is fine, I have no voltage.

Hook up a charger and the LED's while needing a bit more wiring work.

So here I sit with egg on my face and hope I have given everyone a good laugh. Jim

Charchee

Hey, just glad you got it figured out. It happens to all of us from time to time. Might want to have that battery load tested to make sure it's still in good condition after you get it charged up though. I did learn something from your situation. Next time I buy some new LED trailer lights, I will check and make sure they are compatible with my 4 wire connector on my vehicles. I wouldn't have ever thought about that without reading your post.