tail and clearance lights always on??

[bhutch74ly]

Over the last couple of days I have done some major electical work on my 74 Tradewind Land Yacht. Now my tail and clearance lights remain illuminated even with the two vehicle detached from the trailer. The only way to get them to go off is to disconnect the battery cables. What gives???

The work I have done recently is as follows:

Replace all of the clearance lights with new ones. The old and replacement lights have one lead (hot) and the fixtures are grounded to the trailer skin.

rewired the 7-lead cable with new ends. In order to install the new 7-pin connector on the trailer end I had to do the connections on the front of the trailer.

BTW, when the trailer battery is connected and the trailer 7-pin cable is connected to my tow vehicle, everything (brakes lights, tail lights, clearance lights, and back up lights) work properly.

Any ideas where I should look to keep my running lights from burning when the trailer battery is connected will be appreciated.

Bob

[nilesrob]

Sounds like you have two wires crossed in the 7 pin. Under normal conditions you can jumper two of the pins to keep the lights on - sounds like you may have done this inadvertently. Can't recall the pins.

[bhutch74ly]

Originally Posted by nilesrob

Sounds like you have two wires crossed in the 7 pin. Under normal conditions you can jumper two of the pins to keep the lights on - sounds like you may have done this inadvertently. Can't recall the pins.

Brad, thanks a bunch. Sorry for the slow reply. Update: The problem fixed itself!!!???? I believe the problem was that I had soaked the inside of all four (male and female) 7-pin plugs with an anti-corrosion lubricant. This material (made by Boeing) is supposed to be non-conducting but it appears that it or some dislodged trash may have been conducting across two of the pins at least until the material dried. If this is not the correct conclusion, I may have a gremlin somewhere that will return to give me heartburn. For now everything is working great. Thanks again,
Bob

[overlander63]

In case it comes back, the two top pins on the plug are battery power and clearance lights. A strand of wire may be touching one pin from the other, and moving it may have dislodged it.

[bhutch74ly]

Yes, I expect this may be the case. The new/replacement receptacle on the front of the trailer was slightly different than the OEM receptacle. The most significant difference is that the wires were difficult to connect to the lugs in the new plug. I think the clearances between lugs was also very close. Anyway, the worst thing that could happen with a repeat of this problem is that it would run my battery down unexpectedly. It's funny; I've had many trailers over the years and the most common problem has been getting all of the lights to illuminate. Never had a problem with lights working when they weren't supposed to!

Thanks again,
Bob