Trailer Wiring help

Kentuck · Post by **Kentuck** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 4:05 pm

I changed the plug on my boat trailer (Ranger) from a 4-plug and one for the surge breaks to a 7-plug adaptor to fit my truck. When I first did this all the lights worked. The next night I pulled the boat out and didn't have any trailer parking lights. I had the truck wiring checked and was told it was ok. I had blown a fuse in the truck for the trailer parking lights, replaced it and it blew again. Parking lights are the only lights I don't have. They work when I hook that wire to a turn signal post so I know they work. The surge break actuator works too as I was able to back the boat without turning the manual dial to back in. Do you think I have a problem with the parking lights' wires? Should I get one of the 7-to-5 prong adaptors instead of the one I got? I'm not terribly electrically inclined so any help or suggestions would help. The first time I hooked the lights up with the new connector all the lights worked fine.

Thanks,
Kentuck

MN · Post by MN » Tue Aug 02, 2005 4:16 pm

The 7-5 adapter direct from ranger.Not sure what year your boat is mine is a 2000 519vs and it was only about 20 buck's.money well spent in my opinion.I purchased mine off there website and it only took about a week.I believe the receiver on the trucks are all the same ford chevy dodge.

Kentuck · Post by **Kentuck** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 4:31 pm

I forgot to mention I have a 05 Chevy 2500 with the trailering package. The boat is a 93 Ranger.

eagle123777 · Post by **eagle123777** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 5:42 pm

kentuck, i have the same truck even though mine is a diesel, sure its the same wiring harness. i have used the 7/5 right off the walmart shelf on two trucks and my trition so should work on ur ranger....

Mitch · Post by **Mitch** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 11:03 pm

sounds like you have a short to ground in your plug either on the truck or on the boat from the parking light post. Try re-doing the wire connections and see.

dave · Post by **dave** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 9:08 pm

Kentuck; The first thing I would check is that you have a clean solid ground from the truck to the Female plug & then from the male plug at the boat to the trailer frame. Most problems arise out of having a bad ground. It can cause lots of strange things with the lights & fuses. Dave

Kentuck · Post by **Kentuck** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 10:58 am

Thanks, all. I'm leaning towards a groung issue. The previous setup had the standard 4-prong plug plus one for the surge brakes. The surge brake plug had a hot and a ground. I ran both grounds together in the new plug. Maybe that caused my problem. I haven't had a chance to check back into it due to a family trip but will this week.

Kentuck

Ken C. · Post by **Ken C.** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 7:08 pm

Therefore connecting two grounds should not be a problem. I would first make certain that the "extra" ground you found is truly a ground. I've been looking at the same situation and all of the 7-wire diagrams (see link below) only have one ground connection. I wouldn't think the back-up solenoid on the surge brakes would have a separate ground, as most of them can work off a 5-wire connector (5th wire being connected to the back-up lights).

Trailer Brakes and Wiring 101

Here's what you do - get a volt/ohm meter and measure the resistance between each of the trailer-side lamp/power plug terminals to the ground terminal (should be a white wire). Ground-to-ground should read almost zero ohms. If one of your lamp wires is shorted to ground you will see the same reading. If wired correctly you should see some resistance - maybe in the 200 ohm range (just guessing) or higher on the lamp and power wires.

Of course I need to preface all of this with the fact that while I work on electronics for a living, all I know about trailer wiring is what I've found on the internet. Therefore I won't be responsible for anything you fry while following my suggestions

!

Kentuck · Post by **Kentuck** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 9:23 pm

Great info guys. Thanks. I will look into whether or not the white "ground" wire that was on the surge brake connector is truly a ground. confusing part is when I first hooked this up the parking lights worked. the next night they didn't. Oh well. always something to work on.

Kentuck · Post by **Kentuck** » Tue Aug 09, 2005 9:47 pm

Thanks for all the help. I got a tester today and checked the wires. Got solid tests so things looked good there. Hooked the boat up to the truck and took the "new" tralier plug apart while it was hooked to the truck. As is typical for me I had two wires switched on the trailer side. Corrected this and things look good. Thanks again for the help and hopefully patience for this rookie.