Trailer lighting question-Exterior

[Sneakinup]

I've been fooling with setting up the umbilical cord to get all my brake lights, directionals, marker lights etc. running properly. Fooling with is the operative word here...

All my marker lights come on just fine. The red tail lights come on. I have intermittent blinkers, but I think I need to clean out the sockets better, as the street side lamp had much more corrosion than the passenger side.

Here is my question(s)..

With the car off, and truck emergency flashers on, should all my lights on my trailer be blinking? They aren't.

The white lights on the rear of the trailer... are those for the backup lights, or should they be on when the trailer lights are on? When I have the truck lights on, they are on also.

I haven't checked the brake lights yet. I'll wait until my son comes over tomorrow, but I have a feeling those aren't working either. I'm not blowing any fuses... which is always a good sign.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I searched the posts but couldn't find anything specific to this problem. The posts were great help in getting me as far as I am with making the modern 7 pin connection configured with the AS connection. Trial and error!

[overlander64]

Greetings Sneakinup!

With the car off, and truck emergency flashers on, should all my lights on my trailer be blinking?

Unless your lights on the trailer are wired very differently from my '64 Overlander and '78 Minuet, only the turn signal lights should flash when the tow vehicle's emergency flashers are energized. There is (or was) a device available that could be plugged into the Bargman connector that would flash all of the exterior trailer lights, but I haven't seen one advertised for quite some time (I purchased one from NOS via E-Bay about a year ago).

The white lights on the rear of the trailer... are those for the backup lights, or should they be on when the trailer lights are on? When I have the truck lights on, they are on also.

Yes, the lights with the clear lenses are backup lights. They should only be illuminated when your tow vehicle's backup lights are illuminated (assuming that your tow vehicle's backup lights were wired into the Bargman connector - - not all dealers remember to do this). If your trailer is like my Argosy, its umbilical cord was not wired to the current standard and the 12-volt charge line was keeping the backup lights constantly illuminated.

I haven't checked the brake lights yet. I'll wait until my son comes over tomorrow, but I have a feeling those aren't working either. I'm not blowing any fuses... which is always a good sign.

Not a guarantee, but if the lights are flashing when the emergency flashers are on you MAY have brake lights as well - - a better test would be to try an individual turn signal as the same fillament of the bulb is used for turn/brake light processes.

If you haven't tried consulting this diagram, it might help explain what each of the wires should be doing in your Airstream's umbilical cord:

Airstream 1966-1981 Umbilical Cord Wiring Color Codes

The above color coding was consistent with that used in my '78 Argosy Minuet - - with any luck, it will also apply to your '72 Airstream.

Good luck with your electrical troubleshooting!

Kevin

[wahoonc]

As far as flashing all of the lights when the trailer is unhooked from the tow vehicle you can get a heavi duti flasher and plug it into the Bargman on the trailer and as long as you have shore power or battery it will...or should cause all of the lights to flash. I learned this trick at an RV show looking at the way a popup was flashing. You can also make a jumper wire that will do basically the same thing but then you don't get the flashing. I look on it as usefull if you have to abandon the trailer on the side of the road or want to call attention to yourself in the campground, I mean if you are at a rally....

Aaron