What Circuits Does Trailer Clearance Light with a Single Black and White Wire Carry

Question:

I have LED penny lights flush mounted on my trailer. They are wired as tail lights, but they only have 2 wires, a black wire and a white wire. I purchased it wired like this. I have turn signals working, I have brake lights working, but i do not have running lightsheadlights working. I have a ground wire from the harness to the trailer tongue. Do these lights also need to be grounded for running lights to work? How do i ground them? They do not have mounting bolts or a ground wire coming from them. PS - excellent website, the info has helped me out with my last trailer etc.

asked by: Devin

Expert Reply:

Typically a trailer taillight that has two wires which one of is black and the other white is a single function light like on the part # AL82AB. The black wire is the power circuit and the white wire is the ground circuit. There won't be a way to get this light to work as both a stop/turn circuit and a running light circuit. You'd most likely want to run the running light circuit to these lights instead as they sound like they are clearance lights.

expert reply by: Jameson C