Trailer Lights problem, tow vehicle 4-way to trailer 7-way

Just got a 92 Coleman popup and trying to get the lights working.
There are no brakes on the trailer, so all I need is the lights
working. My 4-way on the tow vehicle works just fine on my other
trailers with 4-way connectors, but the new trailer has a 7-way
connector.

I have an adapter and from what I can tell, all is wired correctly,
common ground white on the 7-way to the white on the 4-way,
red on 7-way to yellow on 4-way,
brown on 7-way to green on 4-way, and
green on 7-way to brown on 4-way.

With headlights on tow vehicle on, blinkers are dim at best, and when
brake pedal is pressed, all lights go out. With headlights off blinkers
work, but again, when brake pedal is pushed all lights go out.

Tow vehicle is a 2004 Grand Caravan with dealer installed hitch and
4-way connector.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I see where kandk715@m contributed:
>Just got a 92 Coleman popup and trying to get the lights working.

The most likely cause: a bad ground connection. Because the
chassis/frame is part of every circuit, it is imperative that every
lamp be well secured to the chassis, and that there is a separate
ground wire through the connector to the chassis of both tow vehicle
and trailer.

To see whether that's the problem, connect a jumper cable from your
car/truck to the trailer frame - remembering that paint is an
insulator.

Will Sill
The Curmudgeon of Sill Hill

Will Sill wrote:
> I see where kandk715@m contributed:
> >Just got a 92 Coleman popup and trying to get the lights working.
>
> The most likely cause: a bad ground connection. Because the
> chassis/frame is part of every circuit, it is imperative that every
> lamp be well secured to the chassis, and that there is a separate
> ground wire through the connector to the chassis of both tow vehicle
> and trailer.
>
> To see whether that's the problem, connect a jumper cable from your
> car/truck to the trailer frame - remembering that paint is an
> insulator.
>
> Will Sill
> The Curmudgeon of Sill Hill

The wiring on the trailer is stock, ground wire connected to each
fixture, fixture themselves not attached to frame. I added another
ground wire connected to the trailer chasis and then connected to the
ground stud on the trailer 7-way connector.

Problem right now is when headlights are on, running lights on trailer
are on like they should be, when blinker is on all lights flash does
not matter whether right or left. When brake pedal is pressed, all
lights go off on the trailer.


With headlights not on and either turn signal on, turn signals on
trailer work fine, but when brake is pressed, all lights flash.


Frustrating! Not sure what/how exactly to test. As I said before,
connection from the tow vehicle works perfectly with my other two
trailers with 4-way connectors. Acutally hauled one out to make sure i
wasn't loosing my mind.

To test, connect the negative of a battery to the frame and then touch
each lead on the trailer connector?

"kandk" <kandk715@m> wrote in message
news:1155086932.111674.31620@p79g2000cwp. ...
:
: Will Sill wrote:
: > I see where kandk715@m contributed:
: > >Just got a 92 Coleman popup and trying to get the lights working.
: >
: > The most likely cause: a bad ground connection. Because the
: > chassis/frame is part of every circuit, it is imperative that every
: > lamp be well secured to the chassis, and that there is a separate
: > ground wire through the connector to the chassis of both tow vehicle
: > and trailer.
: >
: > To see whether that's the problem, connect a jumper cable from your
: > car/truck to the trailer frame - remembering that paint is an
: > insulator.
: >
: > Will Sill
: > The Curmudgeon of Sill Hill
:
: The wiring on the trailer is stock, ground wire connected to each
: fixture, fixture themselves not attached to frame. I added another
: ground wire connected to the trailer chasis and then connected to the
: ground stud on the trailer 7-way connector.
:
: Problem right now is when headlights are on, running lights on trailer
: are on like they should be, when blinker is on all lights flash does
: not matter whether right or left. When brake pedal is pressed, all
: lights go off on the trailer.
:
:
: With headlights not on and either turn signal on, turn signals on
: trailer work fine, but when brake is pressed, all lights flash.
:
:
: Frustrating! Not sure what/how exactly to test. As I said before,
: connection from the tow vehicle works perfectly with my other two
: trailers with 4-way connectors. Acutally hauled one out to make sure i
: wasn't loosing my mind.
:
: To test, connect the negative of a battery to the frame and then touch
: each lead on the trailer connector?

But did you try what Will suggested? Jumper cable from tow vehicle frame to
trailer frame, making sure you're contacting bare metal. All your symptoms
point to bad ground.

Problem solved!!!

Helps when you actually hook the trailer up to the tow vehicle! break
through was that when the two were disconnected, a suggestion was made
in another group to actually hook a wire from the trailer frame to the
tow vehicle, did that and all be damn, everything worked perfectly.
Didn't take me too much (*duh*) to figure that without that wire and
the trailer hooked to the vehicle that would probably work too! (*
DOUBLE DUH *)

Thanks again for all the help and suggestions!

KandK

You have a ground problem. But the best way is just to snip the 7 prong
plug off and put on a flat 4. Why fool with an adaptor? The little popup
should have never had a 7 way to begin with.

--
Steve Barker

<kandk715@m> wrote in message
news:1155007250.582135.297920@m79g2000cwm. o...
> Just got a 92 Coleman popup and trying to get the lights working.
> There are no brakes on the trailer, so all I need is the lights
> working. My 4-way on the tow vehicle works just fine on my other
> trailers with 4-way connectors, but the new trailer has a 7-way
> connector.
>
> I have an adapter and from what I can tell, all is wired correctly,
> common ground white on the 7-way to the white on the 4-way,
> red on 7-way to yellow on 4-way,
> brown on 7-way to green on 4-way, and
> green on 7-way to brown on 4-way.
>
> With headlights on tow vehicle on, blinkers are dim at best, and when
> brake pedal is pressed, all lights go out. With headlights off blinkers
> work, but again, when brake pedal is pushed all lights go out.
>
> Tow vehicle is a 2004 Grand Caravan with dealer installed hitch and
> 4-way connector.
>
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>