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MikePA
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Reged: 09/10/02
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Posts: 338
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Loc: Southern PA
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Trailer Lights
05/01/03 05:49 AM
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The last step in my wife's standard procedure for hooking up our GN trailer is to check for the green light on the controller. If it was on, all was well and off she drove.
Two notes;
(1) She drives the trailer a lot more than I do since she takes the horses all over the place.
(2) Her last step is my 'next to last step'. My 'last' step is to turn on the truck lights to make sure the trailer lights come on.
Last evening I had to unhook the trailer to use the truck for something else and noticed that while the green light was lit on the controller, the trailer lights did not come on with the truck lights. 
A little wiggling of the electrical connector and they came on. I assume this was because of a poor connection somewhere? Why would the connection be good enough to turn the green light on the brake controller but not good enough to connect to the trailer lights?
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Bird
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Reged: 09/12/02
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Posts: 1694
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Loc: Corinth, TX, USA
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Re: Trailer Lights
[re: MikePA]
05/01/03 06:09 AM
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Mike, those kind of problems can be easy and sometimes not so easy to find and fix. You have several wires, and therefore, several pins in those connectors. It could be that only part of the connector pins were dirty and failed to make contact, it could be a loose wire somewhere that made contact when you wiggled it, I've even seen wires broken inside the insulation with no break in the insulation and wiggling it gets the two ends together. I wouldn't consider the fact that some circuits worked and some didn't to be unusual. When I hooked up a trailer, I always liked to check all of them; brakes, taillights, turn signals, and on some trailers, even backup lights.
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rozett
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Re: Trailer Lights
[re: MikePA]
05/03/03 06:50 AM
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Another reason for this connection problem is ordinary environmental corrosion. Go to your local auto parts store and get a tube of conductive grease. Put a little on each connector pin on both the trailer and the truck. Work the two together a few times. This will help a lot.
//bruce
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Gary_in_Indiana
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Reged: 09/15/02
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Loc: Fort Wayne, Indiana
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Re: Trailer Lights
[re: MikePA]
05/04/03 10:41 PM
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Mike,
This is based solely on personal experience with a number of trailers and trailer light problems encountered over the years. In my experience, the best thing to start checking is the ground(s). Regardless of the light locations, etc., a bad ground seems to be the culprit in something over 70% of instances. 
Good luck with this. Solving trailer light problems can be and usually are a real challenge. I hope this helps. 
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egon
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I've found keeping the connector clean and corrosion free helps a lot.
Egon
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