Is the Orange or Brown Wire the Hot Wire in My Back Up Light? And How to Find Out.

Question:

there are 2 wires going to my back up light a black and an orange/brown. How can I tell which is the hot wire

asked by: Bob W

Expert Reply:

The brown wire is usually your running lights but for all wires on your trailer you can apply a source of power from a 12V car battery to see what function each wire activates. You should connect the battery's negative terminal to the trailer frame and then apply 12V power to each wire to see what each wire connects to. This should help you to identify which wire does what on that tail light.

I attached a FAQ on trailer wiring for you to check out also. You can refer to it for trailer wiring that shows the usual configurations of 4-pole, 5-pole, 6-pole and 7-way wiring. Photos are included to show you the usual wiring colors for each function.

expert reply by: Jerred H