bad ground in Boler? - Fiberglass RV
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Old 06-18-2003, 04:12 PM   #1
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bad ground in Boler?

I hooked up the wiring harness to my truck and tested the running lights, flickers, etc.

As soon as it's hooked up the truck flickers go about 1/2 as bright and flick twice as slowly. Also, the Boler lights (flickers, running, etc.) are a joke - you can hardly see them.

The truck has no problem with other trailers (ie: a car trailer I have).

Is this a bad ground on the Boler or what? If so, what can I do to correct? Also, the battery in the Boler is not hooked up, but I assume this wouldn't make a difference.

Thx. as usual.



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Old 06-19-2003, 07:31 AM   #2
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I think you're on the right track. Bad ground. It can do crazy things. I rented a uHaul trailer once (they only use three wires, and ground through the hitch ball). When I started out, turning on the left turn signal made the right light flash, and turning on the right turn signal did nothing, and putting on the brakes made all the lights go out. Five miles down the road, after the hitch ball had seated to the coupler, the lights all worked correctly. Weird.



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Old 06-26-2003, 10:54 PM   #3
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Quote:
Orginally posted by rproudman

I hooked up the wiring harness to my truck and tested the running lights, flickers, etc.

As soon as it's hooked up the truck flickers go about 1/2 as bright and flick twice as slowly. Also, the Boler lights (flickers, running, etc.) are a joke - you can hardly see them.

Thx. as usual.
Howdy, Ran into this problem on my last trip with my left turn signal....I found what was supposed to be my ground wire at the lite assembly and jumpered another wire to a ground point that I had near my inverter as a quick fix and no problem after that till I got back home today...Benny



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Old 06-26-2003, 11:12 PM   #4
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fibreglass trailer grounds

Hi:

I had intermittent troubles with grounding lamps until I installed a buss bar in the trailer, ran a direct wire to the trailer frame, then grounded the lamps to the common ground of the buss bar. It is often difficult to find sufficient metal on fibreglass trailers, so this process worked well for me.

Rick B



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Old 06-27-2003, 10:36 PM   #5
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Buss bar

Howdy Rick, Right on about the buss bar. This is what I put near my inverter so I could have an accessible ground if required for more grounds...Came in handy this time...Benny



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Old 06-27-2003, 11:15 PM   #6
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Quote:
Orginally posted by Rick B

Hi:

I had intermittent troubles with grounding lamps until I installed a buss bar in the trailer, ran a direct wire to the trailer frame, then grounded the lamps to the common ground of the buss bar. It is often difficult to find sufficient metal on fibreglass trailers, so this process worked well for me.

Rick B
Hi Rick

Good idea--I will do same thing.:wave



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Old 06-28-2003, 06:59 AM   #7
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What is a buss bar?



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Old 06-28-2003, 12:26 PM   #8
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Isn't that a saloon frequented by bees?:chin

Sorry, I just had to.:chased

Dina (& Jim) Schulz



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Old 06-28-2003, 01:56 PM   #9
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Quote:
Orginally posted by Jim Schulz

Isn't that a saloon frequented by bees?:chin

Sorry, I just had to.:chased

Dina (& Jim) Schulz
I'm with you. :yep



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Old 06-29-2003, 10:48 AM   #10
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ground

Sometimes a trailer will be wired with each stop/tail/clearance light having it's own 'pigtail' to the frame for the only 'ground'. Then uses the trailer frame connection thru the ball coupler for a 'ground' to the vehicle. No separate 'ground wire' connecting em all to a 'ground terminal'. Not so good! Works OK til things get rusty or loose. Then the lights can do funny things and tracing the problem (or problems) can take a while.

That, and crimp connectors can make a poor electrical connection while looking 'OK'.

The bulb sockets may be rusty. A little tube of grease (made especially for electrical connections) is best, but even WD-40 helps. :)

If ya wanted to go to the trouble of removing each ground terminal, cleaning/sanding the frame area, screw it back tight, daub some grease over it......might help?!



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Old 06-29-2003, 09:00 PM   #11
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Quote:
Orginally posted by Maggie O.

What is a buss bar?
Howdy, Usually a buss bar is a strip of a conductor metal, usually copper, that is drilled and tapped with a series of threaded holes. Either a ground wire from a good ground or a hot wire is attached to one of the screws and and then you can attach a number of different ground wires or hot wires to the rest of the screws in the holes. A different bar is used for the grounds and a different one for the hot wires and the mounting of the bar for hot wires is insulated from the body of the vehicle unless it is mounted on the fiberglass trailer body which is an insulator....Benny



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Old 07-01-2003, 06:06 AM   #12
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Thanks Benny!



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Old 07-01-2003, 10:28 PM   #13
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Orginally posted by Maggie O.

Thanks Benny!
Hi again, Hope that you were able to picture it...Benny



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Old 07-08-2003, 02:45 PM   #14
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where to get busbar?

Sounds like a great idea.

1. Where can you get a simple one from (ie: Canadian Tire, etc?).

2. Where did you decide on a good ground to wire the busbar to (ie: if on the frame at the front isn't it still a crummy ground as there's no ground strap on a Boler)?

Thx.



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Old 07-08-2003, 03:44 PM   #15
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buss bars are pretty common

Home depot has them even look where they have Circut breakers and boxes . it look like a bar 3 to 6 inches long lots of hole s in the sides for wire and screw to tighten them in the bar is about a 1/4 inch square or rectangular in shape . bars are sold in napa westmarine . the wire wire in your wire harness to the car should be the ground bond (run wire to and connect) to the buss bar then run to wire harness. try not to depend on the metal frame of your trailer for a ground. for reasons to long and complex to be explained here not to be snooty of any thing but it has to do with dissimilar metals and corrosion creating weak points in the frame and inconsistant ground.:cheers



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Old 07-08-2003, 06:00 PM   #16
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busbar

Thanks.

I'll go that route and get a good ground via a busbar via the cable to the truck.



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Old 07-08-2003, 10:53 PM   #17
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Quote:
Orginally posted by rproudman

Thanks.

I'll go that route and get a good ground via a busbar via the cable to the truck.
Howdy, I`m assuming that you have a battery in your trailer and there must be a ground wire from the battery terminating somewhere and that would be a take off point or a mounting point for your central ground which should also be already connected to the ground from your tow vehicle...Benny



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Old 07-09-2003, 06:02 AM   #18
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Benny K

the ground to tow vehicle is the problem . I agree taping into the battery ground is a good idea if there is an installed battey. That way you have a good ground for chargeing battery on the road.



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