Question about trailer turn-signal strength

[SkyChimp]

My truck has a round 4-prong recepticle. I had to buy a 4-round to 4-flat adapter to operate my trailer lights. The adapter wasn't wired right so I had to re-wire the leads to match up with the recepticle on the truck. It's now wired properly and all the leads securely attached (I've double and tripled checked it).

All the lights work appropriately on the trailer. The only problem I am having is WEAK turn signals. When the trailer is not hooked up to the truck, the truck turn signals are very strong and the signal intervals are normal. When I hook up the trailer, the turn signal on the truck and the trailer are weak (dim) and the interval much quicker. Brake lights, flashers, etc all work fine on the trailer. And the turns signals work, the signal is just dim and quick.

Any idea what may be causing this? Do I need to change the flasher unit on my truck's fuse box?

[slabbandit]

Hey there SkyChimp, I asked my Brother-in-Law about your problem. He races boats and has worked at Napa parts house. He said that you should get a heavy duty flasher. Your stock flasher won't run that many lights at one time. Give it a try.

[SkyChimp]

I figured it was something like that. I didn't think it was a short since they work (abnormally), and everything else works fine. Thanks for checking. I'll go to the auto-parts store tomorrow and see if I can find one.

[SkyChimp]

If you are using an adapter between your truck and the trailer, all kind of weird things can happen if it's is not wired right. I had similar things happen when I plugged mine in for the first time. I had to crawl under my truck and check to see how the wires went into the recepticle. Wrote it down. Then took apart my adaptor and re-wired it. The wire leads were held in by screws and it was easy to do. Now it works fine - except for the weak turn signals.

An adapter should have wires the same colors as those leading into the recepticle on the turck and the lead on the trailer. Make sure the adapter is wired so that their is continous color from the truck, thru the adapter, and into the trailer.

[slabbandit]

Hey there Turkeyfoot, Bro says you probably have a poor ground. Clean all ground connections and see if that helps.

A lot of guys don't use a ground wire, they just depend on gettihg enough ground through the ball and hitch. The problem here is that if you get a little rust up in the hitch or on the ball you won't have a very good ground.

If it ends up not being the ground check out your trailer wiring for bad spots or poor connections.

Good Luck and let us know what fixes it.

[stray]

What kind of truck do you have? In most cases the putting a heavy duty flasher or one of the new solid state flashers in will care of that problem, but some can have weird problems to indicate problems. If it was me I would use the solid state flasher (I want to say 536 is the number, but I’m not positive) it will last longer and maintain the normal flash pattern.

[dockshooter]

If you are using an adapter between your truck and the trailer, all kind of weird things can happen if it's is not wired right. I had similar things happen when I plugged mine in for the first time. I had to crawl under my truck and check to see how the wires went into the recepticle. Wrote it down. Then took apart my adaptor and re-wired it. The wire leads were held in by screws and it was easy to do. Now it works fine - except for the weak turn signals.

An adapter should have wires the same colors as those leading into the recepticle on the turck and the lead on the trailer. Make sure the adapter is wired so that their is continous color from the truck, thru the adapter, and into the trailer.

Usually the dim lights indicates that you are not grounded properly.
Do you have the boat trailer hooked to the vehicle.
if not did you hook up the white wire from the vehicle plug to a bare ground on the trailer, this has to be done for proper current flow . *** just my thoughts on this issue ***
Dockshooter

[Crappie Reaper]

Skychimp, you might have a wire mis-connected at your trailer lights. The biggest problem with trailer lights is mis-connection, or bad ground. Most of the time, your trailer tounge will ground your lights for you, but, if the ball is rusty, or tounge is rusty, you will have weak lights. If you have a simple light setup, you probably will not need a heavy duty flasher. On a 4 flat connector, you should have a white, green, yellow, brown. The white should be your ground, the brown is a common wire that both trailer lights share. If one of them is mis-wired at the light, it will cause your lights to act funny, like one blinking bright, while other blinks dim while a signal is engaged. Or, both go dim when the brake pedal is depressed. Check the wiring at your light fixtures. Then the Yellow is for power on one side, and the green is power on the other side, I forget which color is what side, but you will see. But, you could have lights that is trying to send power from a left turn signal, through the common (brown) to the other light making things really weird for you, so make sure you check the wiring at the fixtures!
Check these things then make the changes and test again. You might try making sure the white wire on your truck side is grounded, my chevy wasn't. It will make a big difference.
Post your results for us and good luck.
Reaper

[SkyChimp]

Been checkin the internet, found this site:

http://www.hitches4less.com/troubles...er-wiring.html

Describes my problem to a T

Q: When my trailer is connected to my vehicle the turn signals are dim and flashing rapidly. What causes this?
A: When you add trailer lights to a vehicle system, the turn signal amp load basically doubles. Most vehicles have a flasher that controls the blink of a turn signal. The standard flasher provided in many vehicles will not handle this extra load. You should replace your flasher with a heavy duty flasher (8 to 10 amp) and make sure the vehicle engine is running. The flasher will slow down your turn signals and a running engine will increase the brightness of the lamps.

[Crappie Reaper]

Then sounds like you should go ahead and PU a heavy duty flasher. The autoparts store should be able to tell you where it is located on your vehicle.