Post by joek on Oct 8, 2010 22:40:21 GMT -5
When I first hooked up the trailer to pull it out of the driveway, I tested the lights. Sure enough, they still worked. So, happily I pulled her out of the driveway, did a few final things I couldn’t do when it was in the driveway and went camping. For our first two trips, everything went fine (other than my loose tow ball, but that’s another story). On our third trip, we decided to head out after work on Friday. A little bit of a late start and shorter days meant I needed to turn on the headlights. Only to notice that the running lights weren’t working. So, I pulled over and checked the connection to find that while it was plugged in properly, the wire was getting pretty hot. But what to do, what to do. I didn’t think I’d be able to do a roadside repair but also couldn’t just camp on the side of the highway. So, figuring I was about 30 minutes from our destination with 20 minutes of daylight left, we got back on the road and gave it a little bit more pressure on gas pedal. Needless to say, we got there but it was a little nerve-wracking knowing that I was towing a big black spot on a country road.
But we made it, settled in and made dinner and had a cozy night. The next day, I headed into town to find a hardware store and an inexpensive circuit tester. $5 later and I was on my way back to see what kind of trouble I was going to get in. I just started testing it from each connection, starting from the truck going back. First I made sure the truck was working right, then tested it at the first connection about two feet from the 4-pin connector. I had electric, but the light was really dim. More proof that I had a short somewhere. Next was to head to the rear of the trailer where my next connection was. I took apart my wire nutted connections and found that if the lights were disconnected, I had a powerful light on my little tester. So, keep working backwards. Next was to start taking apart the lights. After taking apart all of the lights, I was able to wire each rear and each side separately. Each light seemed to work fine, so I wired it all back up and shazam, everything worked great. So, out with the electrical tape and tie everything back up, testing again periodically to make sure everything was still working. Put the lenses back on and open a beer to congratulate myself on a job well done. Though I didn’t really know what I had done to fix it, I figured I’m just that good. Kate comes back and I say “look honey, all fixed” and turn on the lights. But, no running lights.
So, who has figured out what went wrong? Simple really. A screw from one of the taillight lenses was going through the running lights wire and grounding it to the body, creating my short. Fix was easy, just cut the screw shorter so it only goes into the siding by a ¼” or so and I really get to enjoy that beer.
Moral of the story, make sure your wires aren’t running where they will be pierced by screws. Luck of the draw in some cases, but let’s try to be sure they aren’t right where you know a screw will.
Anyway, so there is my short story, about a Short.
But we made it, settled in and made dinner and had a cozy night. The next day, I headed into town to find a hardware store and an inexpensive circuit tester. $5 later and I was on my way back to see what kind of trouble I was going to get in. I just started testing it from each connection, starting from the truck going back. First I made sure the truck was working right, then tested it at the first connection about two feet from the 4-pin connector. I had electric, but the light was really dim. More proof that I had a short somewhere. Next was to head to the rear of the trailer where my next connection was. I took apart my wire nutted connections and found that if the lights were disconnected, I had a powerful light on my little tester. So, keep working backwards. Next was to start taking apart the lights. After taking apart all of the lights, I was able to wire each rear and each side separately. Each light seemed to work fine, so I wired it all back up and shazam, everything worked great. So, out with the electrical tape and tie everything back up, testing again periodically to make sure everything was still working. Put the lenses back on and open a beer to congratulate myself on a job well done. Though I didn’t really know what I had done to fix it, I figured I’m just that good. Kate comes back and I say “look honey, all fixed” and turn on the lights. But, no running lights.
So, who has figured out what went wrong? Simple really. A screw from one of the taillight lenses was going through the running lights wire and grounding it to the body, creating my short. Fix was easy, just cut the screw shorter so it only goes into the siding by a ¼” or so and I really get to enjoy that beer.
Moral of the story, make sure your wires aren’t running where they will be pierced by screws. Luck of the draw in some cases, but let’s try to be sure they aren’t right where you know a screw will.
Anyway, so there is my short story, about a Short.
Of course now for 30 bucks you can get one of those magnetic light kits for emergencies. Everybody should have one.