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11-08-2012, 07:48 PM
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#1
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Senior Member
Name: William
Trailer: Scamp
Lakeville, CT
Posts: 123
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No running lights
Went to hook up my Scamp to store it for the winter. After hooking up I tested the exterior lights and found nothing working. No running lights, no blinkers, no brake lights. It has been sitting since August when I last towed it and the lights were fine. I use a standard four pin connector and checked that 14 V was coming from connector on the car side. I did put a solar panel on last July but doubt that is related since the lights worked after and the panel connects straight to the controller and on to the battery. Fuse on the wiring harness at the car battery is good. I haven't had a chance to get back out to troubleshoot but I thought I'd ask if anyone had a hunch.
Thanks for any ideas.
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11-08-2012, 07:51 PM
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#2
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Senior Member
Trailer: 92 16 ft Scamp
Posts: 11,756
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Have you checked the inline fuse near the battery and the one under the rat fur just after the wiring goes into the trailer?
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11-08-2012, 08:00 PM
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#3
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Senior Member
Name: William
Trailer: Scamp
Lakeville, CT
Posts: 123
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I have not . I looked quickly under the front bunk and didn't see any obvious fuse. Will this fuse under the fur be difficult to find?
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11-08-2012, 10:49 PM
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#4
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Senior Member
Trailer: 92 16 ft Scamp
Posts: 11,756
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William, which layout of trailer do you have? I have a side bath and on mine the fuse was inside the passenger side front hatch right up against the front wall - if you feel around on the rat fur you should be able to feel where all the wires enter the trailer - you may be able to pull open the rat fur to see them all. The inline fuse will be on one of the wires and its just a small glass fuse with tape wrapped around it on mine. Did you find one outside by the battery?
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11-09-2012, 12:13 AM
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#5
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Senior Member
Trailer: Scamp
Posts: 7,056
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Carol H
Have you checked the inline fuse near the battery and the one under the rat fur just after the wiring goes into the trailer?
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The house battery and associated fuses have nothing to do with the running, tail, and brake lights.
I would look at the negative (ground wire) coming from the tow to the trailer, that's about the only thing that is common with all the those lights. Sometimes in older(really older) trailers they used the frames and hitch to complete the negative side. If somebody rewired to get a charge line they might have substituted a charge line (a wire from the positive to house battery) for the negative wire in connecter and relied on the ball for the negative. Not a good practice.
__________________
Byron & Anne enjoying the everyday Saturday thing.
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11-09-2012, 12:15 AM
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#6
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Senior Member
Trailer: Scamp
Posts: 7,056
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The four pins should be:
left turn light
right turn light
tail light
Negative.
NOTE The turn signals are the same lights as the brake lights.
__________________
Byron & Anne enjoying the everyday Saturday thing.
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11-09-2012, 01:51 AM
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#7
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Senior Member
Trailer: 92 16 ft Scamp
Posts: 11,756
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William, sorry I miss read your original post and was thinking you had lost everything - Byron is correct. If Byron's suggestion doesnt work out, you may also want to take a look at your connections - corrosion on the plugs , can result in problems with your running lights although usually its just one set of lights that go. Also inside you car you may have a plug in connection with a small electrical modular attached to it. Sorry dont know what its actually called but I know mine had be be replaced after about 3 years - when my running lights stopped functioning, its buried in under all the carpeting in the back of the car.
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11-09-2012, 07:44 AM
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#8
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Senior Member
Trailer: No Trailer Yet
Posts: 5,112
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The most common problem is a poor ground. Try running a separate wire from the tow vehicle ground to the trailer frame.
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11-09-2012, 10:26 AM
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#9
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Senior Member
Name: Borden and Carole
Trailer: 1978 Earlton Ontario boler
Ontario
Posts: 1,506
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Thomas G. Think you are on to something as we had a ground wire problem on our trailer; ground went to the frame then frame to junction on our rig so ran a new dedicated line from frame attachment area all the way back to the main junction and that worked. We have 7 pin setup and a boler but principle should be the same?
__________________
Our postage stamp in heaven.
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11-09-2012, 10:43 AM
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#10
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Senior Member
Trailer: No Trailer Yet
Posts: 5,112
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Borden
Thomas G. Think you are on to something as we had a ground wire problem on our trailer; ground went to the frame then frame to junction on our rig so ran a new dedicated line from frame attachment area all the way back to the main junction and that worked. We have 7 pin setup and a boler but principle should be the same?
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Yes, the principle is the same. Using the frame as part of the circuit is one of my pet peeves. Corrosion at the junctions is inevitable, yet is so easily avoidable.
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11-09-2012, 11:28 AM
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#11
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Senior Member
Trailer: Toyota Sunrader and 16 ft Scamp
Posts: 975
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I had an intermittent problem with my left turn signal a couple of weeks ago.
It was driving me crazy as I couldn't find a problem anywhere.
As a last resort I doused both ends of the 7 prong connectors with spray contact cleaner, blew then out with my air compressor and have had no problems since then.
The recepticle has been on my truck for 5 years so I guess it was a little dirty.
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11-10-2012, 10:00 AM
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#12
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Senior Member
Name: William
Trailer: Scamp
Lakeville, CT
Posts: 123
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Thanks for all the thoughts and suggestions. I'll have time to get in there with a multimeter tomorrow.
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11-21-2012, 07:30 PM
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#13
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Junior Member
Name: Deb
Trailer: Scamp
Alaska
Posts: 3
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It might not be your trailer. I tow with a Volvo. The last service did a computer "upgrade" which wiped out all the talk between the car and the trailer. I am in the trailer full time so I was able to trouble shoot it easily. Volvo had to reset the computer and do all kinds of other work before the car and trailer were talking again. Do you have a friend with a tow vehicle? If so suggest you try hooking the trailer to their vechicle and see if you have the same problem.
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11-21-2012, 08:43 PM
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#14
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Senior Member
Name: Chuck
Trailer: tp
Washington
Posts: 649
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It might be the tow vehicle has a blown fuse. It happened to me this fall. Fuse was blown in tow rig as soon as I replaced it everything worked.
Chuck
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12-01-2012, 08:13 PM
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#15
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Senior Member
Name: William
Trailer: Scamp
Lakeville, CT
Posts: 123
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Thanks for all the replies. I haven't had much chance to work on but did spend some time with a multimeter checking connections without luck. Though the four-pin connectors looked good on both sides on a whim I sprayed them with DeOxIt (actually just the trailer side) and it worked! Lesson learned and thanks again for all the help.
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