Side lights not working

[Niall]

Hi guys,
I just purchased and installed new side lights for my Boler.
The ground is either of the bolts which actually fasten the light in place on the trailer.
When I try to test these lights using a small 12v battery, none of them work.
My current tester is showing that current is passing through the light, but it is not actually lighting for some reason.
Fairly sure it is a grounding issue, but can't be sure.
Can anyone shed any light on this?

Thanks,
Niall

[AC0GV]

Originally Posted by Niall

Hi guys,
I just purchased and installed new side lights for my Boler.
The ground is either of the bolts which actually fasten the light in place on the trailer.
Thanks,
Niall

Are you running two wires to each light? And did you buy LEDs and is the polarity correct? Some matter.
EDIT:Forget the polarity comment, I just blew up the picture.

[Niall]

Originally Posted by AC0GV

Are you running two wires to each light? And did you buy LEDs and is the polarity correct? Some matter.
EDIT:Forget the polarity comment, I just blew up the picture.

There is a live wire, shown my picture, and i will ideally then connect a ground wire to either of the fastening bolts.
What is strange is that my current tester is showing that the wiring and light assembly are technically functioning, but nothing is happening with the light. Strange..
And no the bulb is not blown before someone asks lol

[Joe MacDonald]

Make sure the 12 battery you are using is strong enough to make the light illuminate, and since you mention current tester, not Voltmeter, i take it you are putting the meter in series with the bulb? i.e. red probe on battery positive, Black probe to light feed?, light ground wire to battery negative?

Joe

[JoelInTexas]

Originally Posted by Joe MacDonald

Make sure the 12 battery you are using is strong enough to make the light illuminate

Yep, you mentioned using a "small" battery to test them.

Maybe your battery voltage is sagging when you connect it to a light - still passing current, but no longer providing enough voltage to light the bulb.

[Casita Greg]

From what I can make out in your pictures, it doesn't look like there is any ground wire attached to either of the mounting screws. I think I can make out another wire, (a short stub anyway,) coming out of the back, that doesn't connect to anything. The wire looks like it was cut off. Maybe that would have been your ground to the mounting screw? The wire I'm talking about would be at about "10 o'clock" in the bottom picture.

[DaveLevenson]

You state that the ground is through the mounting bolts. Are you using a ground wire attached to one of these bolts? If not, and if you're bolting them into a fiberglass body, then there is probably no ground connection. You'll find battery voltage on the lamp, but you'll have no current flow because the circuit is open.

If you do have a wired connection from a mounting bolt to the negative side of your battery, test the voltage between the mounting bolt and ground. If there's any voltage there, your ground circuit is open somewhere.

[fishinjimi]

On any trailer that I have ever wired which is many there is always a common groundwire connected to all lights Even if you use a metal frame as a common ground you're begging for grief