We have no lights and are on the road

[barryra]

We are in the vehicle pulling our 13 foot scamp right now on our way to Duluth. Everything was working when we left but now we have no lights. All I did was wash the car and scamp before we left. I blew out the 4 flatwire connectors. The lights are new. All lights work on our ford escape. Is there any obvious solution for this problem. Any ideas are appreciated.

[Kevin A]

We have a fuse just for aux tow lighting. Check for that. Also, a ground wire may have come loose. Check the wiring harness on the tongue for any cuts or breaks. If you have power on the car end of the wiring harness, you could also get an expensive set of tow lights to mount on your bumper until you found the problem. Most Walmarts or such carry them.

Sorry to hear about your problems. We have had the same issue caused just by a bumpy road jarring a connection loose.

[Thomas G.]

Excellent chance that you have a bad ground. Run a wire from the vehicle body metal to a shiny metal spot on the trailer tongue.

Also if you have a powered adapter on the Escape (like I do) there is a fuse at the battery connection.

[Terry G]

Barry, this is the kind of problem that can drive you crazy. Making guesses is probably not going to solve it. Buy a cheap ($5 to $10) digital multimeter from the nearest auto parts store. Start with checking the power from the four pin connector on your car. Once you can actually see where the voltage stops, it will be a fairly easy fix.

[Raz]

If the lights are new and nothing is working I would look where you connected the light grounds together and connected to the four pin. Then clean the four pin. Then wiggle the wires. As Tom suggests, a bad ground is likely when nothing lights up. Stay safe. Raz

[barryra]

Thanks. I'm going to try the meter and the wire.

[barryra]

We tried the meter on the 4 pin and there is no power with the lights on. I'm starting to think its the converter box they installed. I shorted the light fixture out before and had no lights but after the vehicle sat for awhile it seemed to reset then worked fine.

[Carol H]

Barry when you said you checked the 4 pin is that on the vehicle side? Do you have a small electrical modular unit inside the vehicle hidden away attached to the wiring harness? My harness had one and it decided to act up and all sorts of strange and not so wonderful things happened - including no lights working to just some of them.

[Thomas G.]

Originally Posted by barryra

We tried the meter on the 4 pin and there is no power with the lights on. I'm starting to think its the converter box they installed. I shorted the light fixture out before and had no lights but after the vehicle sat for awhile it seemed to reset then worked fine.

As I mentioned, on my Escape the converter box has a separate wire to the battery where it is fused. The trailer lights don't run directly off the same power as the vehicle tail lights. I did this because I heard that the Escape electronics didn't like the extra load of the trailer lights on the same tail light circuit.

Yours may be different, but it is worth checking, especially if you had a short earlier.

[Lil M.]

My trailer lights started acting up right before I was heading out for a camping trip last June, and it turned out the problem was in the wiring harness that had been installed in the minivan a few years before. I had to replace that, and then things worked fine.
Just my experience. Hope you get the problem solved. It can be frustrating, I know.

[Terry G]

Originally Posted by barryra

We tried the meter on the 4 pin and there is no power with the lights on. I'm starting to think its the converter box they installed. I shorted the light fixture out before and had no lights but after the vehicle sat for awhile it seemed to reset then worked fine.

Barry, If you can get to the converter box, check and see if there's power going into it and out of it. If that's not the issue, then work your way back to the battery. A blown fuse is a strong possibility.

The ohms function on the meter is useful for checking grounds. You should have less than 1.0 ohm of resistance between anything that's grounded. One important caveat: If you touch anything that has voltage while you're on the ohms function, you'll blow the meter fuse. So be careful.

[Carol H]

There is an inline fuse under the rat fur in the front hatch of the Scamp where the wiring enters the trailer when it blows it will take out all the lighting in the trailer and I would think that the power for the exterior running lights would be coming from the tow but you never know...

[barryra]

Thanks so much everyone for your help with this! I talked with Floyd & he was thinking it was the fuse that is inline with the converter box the hitch people installed. I will check the fuse in the am before we head to Temperance River. We are in the rear parking lot at Black Bear casino... Staying free along side a few other campers.. No fg's though.

Everyone on this site is so nice..

[Kevin A]

Barry,
Any luck finding the problem?

[Carol H]

Any one what to bet Floyd wasnt right? My moneys on him as usual. :-)

[rabbit]

5 gets you 3 he wasn't right. 3 gets me five he was. I think Floyd has left the room.

jack

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by rabbit

3 gets me five he was. I think Floyd has left the room.

ROFL How in the heck does that work? when I was betting he was right!

[rabbit]

I see Floyd is acting in an advisory capacity offline. For minute there, I thought I would need a crystal ball. Replace the fuse, scrape the contacts, blow your multimeter on ohm setting, buy magnetic lights at Walmart, Quien sabe?

jack

[Ron in BC]

Actually those magnetic trailer lights saved our bacon when we went South to pick up our Scamp. I had taken a set that I already had and knew worked on my truck's 4 pin plug. When the 7 pin plug didn't immediately work, darkness was falling and I had 300 miles to go, I threw on the magnetic lights and away we went.

I'd probably advise anyone driving any distance to pick up a "new" trailer to take a set with them. There're cheap insurance against a time wasting delay trying to figure out why the trailer lights aren't working.

Ron