Troubleshooting Boat Trailer Right Side Tail Light Wiring

Question:

We just put on brand new tail lights, on left everything works, on right side previous owner had various connecting pins that we cut out because there was corroded wiring so on right there is 1 single brown wire and then there is a double wire green, and black with green line. On new light we have white ground, green, and brown. Obvious we know where all the colors match up except for the black wire with green line. All other running lights are working on both sides and left tail everything works. Bulbs dont looked burnt we just bought and opened these lights today. We have a 4 way connector to our truck as well

asked by: Amanda

Expert Reply:

Since you have everything working on your tail light on the left side, but not on the right side, we can do some troubleshooting using a circuit tester like # PTW2993. You can probe the trailer wires to determine the running light/clearance light wire, then you can find the turn signal and stop light wire or wires if they are separate. Then you will have either a ground wire or a reverse light wire. It is most likely that you have a ground wire based on your description that just needs connection to your trailer frame bare metal to metal. I've attached an article on wiring and another on lighting to help further.

If you don't have a running light wire on each side, you may need to run a jump wire from the left assembly.

expert reply by: Jason S