Almost Ready to Hit the Road...Need Advice

gypsychris · 03-23-2008, 05:17 AM

I thought our 345 MH was wired for trailer/toad lights (it does have a 4 prong connector) so I went and got a set of magnetic lights to add to the back of our toad (A vw New Beetle) and when I plugged them in...well...They did not work...so I assume that either the connection/cables are just bad/dead..or is there a way that these Only work? ie Does the MH have to be in Drive? etc.... Any ideas? What should I do? Re-wire a new plug? Anyone has a wiring blueprint? Where do I start

THANKS!!

balrgn · 03-23-2008, 06:00 AM

Start by checking the fuse for it, if you can find it. Test for power back at the plug in if you have not already. It should work with the running lights on, directional and brake pedal depressed, (with the key on)

gypsychris · 03-23-2008, 06:13 AM

Start by checking the fuse for it, if you can find it. -- Where would these be located? Any ideas? The sun is coming up..so I might be going out to look and try to get this to work :-) (IT IS COLD HERE IN CT....But getting these lights to work will allow us to head down south tomorrow!!!)

gypsychris · 03-23-2008, 06:19 AM

am wondering...should this plug I found in the back of our 345 be connected to the taill lights of our MH? ie. if the taillights work (which they do) then the fuse should be ok? Or are they on a diff fuse? Thanks

balrgn · 03-23-2008, 06:30 AM

Not much help as to where the fuse block is, Mine is a '77 and is with the power converter.
Yes they "should" be powered form the same circut. Not definite..
Test for power, you may have a bad ground.
Do you have a multi meter?

yukionna · 03-23-2008, 06:48 AM

Yikes! These things always seem to happen when you want to get on the road!

As balrgn, indicated a multimeter is a good tool to use. It will enable you to test the wires to trace the problem back. Another solution, if you have access to the wires, is to follow them back looking for a pinched or broken wire.

A stop gap solution, would be to attach the wires to the lights of the motorhome. That way, when the MH lights engage, then the temp lights will engage.

Good luck and let us know how you make out!

gypsychris · 03-23-2008, 08:39 AM

alright...just spent an hour or so in the fridgid cold.... I found the original connections...seemed ok.... just no power to the end plug..and no power after I cut the plug off.... what is annoying is that orginal cables do not color match the ones on the U-Haul s lights: I have a Green, Yellow, Brown. and White for Ground. Any ideas what the equivalent cables on my Moho are?? Then maybe I would be able to just start from scratch.... what do you all think?

yukionna · 03-23-2008, 09:04 AM

Did you record which wire went to which hole in the plug before you cut the plug off?

Unless you hear from someone who has a similar set up, the only other solution I know of is to use a voltmeter. Attach it to one of the wires (and ground the voltmeter to the chassis/frame), and then have someone cycle thru the brakes-directionals, etc. to figure out which is which. That will be a good test of your wires too as you will soon find out which, if any, of the wires are failing.

gypsychris · 03-23-2008, 09:06 AM

Well the thing is, PO used the same color scheme I have (which seems to be a standard added plug for trailers setup...) what i am trying to figure out is what is the color equiv on the original MH end...makes sense? Thxs!

bkahler · 03-23-2008, 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gypsychris

Well the thing is, PO used the same color scheme I have (which seems to be a standard added plug for trailers setup...) what i am trying to figure out is what is the color equiv on the original MH end...makes sense? Thxs!

Chris,

What I found on our 310 was very poor wiring from the factory. The factory just use wire nuts and left things hanging. I ended up removing about 5 feet of unneeded wiring and connectors under the rear of the motorhome.

If you don't have a volt meter the easiest way to track down the wires is to go to an auto parts or Walmart and buy a replacement tail light socket and bulb. Ground one wire of the socket to the chassis and use the other wire to check each wire at the rear of your motorhome to see if they working. When voltage is present the bulb will light up.

I spent hours tracking down a wire from the back of the coach to the front of the coach only to find out it wasn't hooked up anywhere. Fortunately I don't think this will be your problem. I think you'll find that the wire nut connections under the rear of your motorhome are bad or loose.

Its impossible for us to tell you which wire colors from the motorhome match up to the ones on your connector because no one knows how many people messed with the wiring under there.

One thing to remember you MUST have a good ground connection from the chassis of the motorhome through the connector and back to the toad. Without that none of the lights will work correctly. Its usually the white wire that is the ground wire. The brown is typically the running lights, green is one of the turn signals and yellow is the other turn signal. The yellow and green combine to make the brake lights function.

We also bought one of the magnetic light setups and are less than pleased with it. The quality of the connections inside the light assemblies not the best. If you can prove the wires at your connector are working right then you need to look at the magnetic light assemblies closely.

Here is my cell number if you want to call and talk about your wiring. I'll be out of pocket from 10:30 to 11:00 am est today.

Phone # has beenPMd.

Good luck!

Brad

gypsychris · 03-23-2008, 01:16 PM

Alright went under and spent some time playing with the wires etc... and I found that the way they had hooked up the trailer light to the Moho wires was a disaster....rusted, corroded etc and also just bad .... so I more or less pulled everything...used a rag and cleaned the wires themselves...PO had a current checker (looks like a screwdriver with a bulb and a ground) ... so I turned the hazards on, and figured it out...(it also turns out that the original wires color coded the same way as the trailer lights...will go back out in a while to secure and insulate the connections... :-) Thanks everyone!!

balrgn · 03-23-2008, 01:29 PM

Ya did good puzzling it out, I'm proud of you!

bkahler · 03-23-2008, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gypsychris

Alright went under and spent some time playing with the wires etc... and I found that the way they had hooked up the trailer light to the Moho wires was a disaster....rusted, corroded etc and also just bad ....

Looks like your wiring was in the same condition as ours was. Its a shame the factory had to do such a poor job of wiring under the chassis. Don't forget to give the trailer connector a good ground connection (white wire). Poor ground is one of the biggest faults for trailer wiring.

Brad

gypsychris · 03-23-2008, 05:47 PM

by the way, Brad, THANK YOU SO MUCH for offering your phone No and help...I didnt want to bother on Easter...but the gesture was great!!! and really appreciated/....