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Old 07-08-2017, 06:18 PM   #1
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Question Electrical Shorts in My Trailer

Greeting from the North Cascade Loop of Washington,


I have had this problem with my porch light and my stove light and now its my driver side tail light.

I can deal with the other two but I need my tail light

If I smack near it I can get all the lights to work but my tail light goes out
on the road. I giggled the wires and that made it go on and off and I pressed on the left side of the plate after I took the red cover off and that seems to make a difference too?

Another weird thing I have noticed is when I am watching TV via my antenna, if I turn on any lights except forward ones I lose reception?

However, I don't know where start to try and solve the short in my tail light

Suggestions? Ideas?

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Old 07-09-2017, 07:54 AM   #2
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Hi Joan

What you were describing is not an actual "short". With a short you would actually be blowing fuses. But that's OK we understand the problem. Just mentioning this in case you ask someone for help as a short is different than a bad ground or loose connection.

What you were describing sounds like you have a corroded/rusty or loose ground connection which can affect many things all at once. This fits for the porch light and the stove light as they are on the same side of the trailer in close proximity to each other. And when you bang or wiggle the wires the connection remakes and it works for a while till it stops again.

The taillight however has its own ground to the back of the frame as Sunline kept the DOT lights grounding somewhat separate from the internal DC components as the DOT lights ground direct to the frame while the inside DC items create connections linside the power converter. Sunline did use white stranded wires for the 12 V DC common/grounding connections.

Also when we use the word ground on a DC wire it's the same as the battery negative or DC common wire which are all white stranded wires. Just do not mix up white solid wires as those are the 120 V AC neutral wires which the AC neutral should never touch the metal camper frame.

This is going to be a little hard to tell you where to exactly start. The inside lights could be from loose screws in the power converter or a loose wire connection somewhere in the wall at one of those fixtures . They wire nut the wires together and sometimes they get loose or corroded or in this case the 12 volt hot wire feeding the lights in the wall could be an issue too. You have to check both.

You may have two separate problems that are the same cause. For the taillights, there could be a loose wire in the wall at the lights also but odds are higher that it could be a rusty connection under the camper at the back where a white wire would be bolted to the frame . You may also have rusted and corroded connections upfront under the trailer where all the white DC common grounding is done . Also check the battery terminal DC - negative for corrosion.

This is a little bit of a touchy subject if you should take this on. Before on touching any wires make sure the camper is unplugged from shore power and the battery is turned off. Do you have access to a friend or someone in your area who has automotive electrical talent or is an electrician that can help? Finding these kinds of problems is often a search and destroy mission to find the exact spot that's causing the problem . You basically look at all the grounding locations, and clean up any bad looking ones and keep searching until you finally find the problem.

Hope this helps

John
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Old 07-09-2017, 11:05 AM   #3
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Yeah that's what I was afraid of, finding it is tricky
Don't know a soul here, just arrived but I can ask around. Can I visually see the white ground wite connection under my trailer to see if its corroded?
I will look, if so can it be cleaned or does it need to be replaced? As for loose screws in the converter box, do you mean the panel box inside my trailer with the fuses?
I can check my battery too

Thanks!


Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnB View Post
Hi Joan

What you were describing is not an actual "short". With a short you would actually be blowing fuses. But that's OK we understand the problem. Just mentioning this in case you ask someone for help as a short is different than a bad ground or loose connection.

What you were describing sounds like you have a corroded/rusty or loose ground connection which can affect many things all at once. This fits for the porch light and the stove light as they are on the same side of the trailer in close proximity to each other. And when you bang or wiggle the wires the connection remakes and it works for a while till it stops again.

The taillight however has its own ground to the back of the frame as Sunline kept the DOT lights grounding somewhat separate from the internal DC components as the DOT lights ground direct to the frame while the inside DC items create connections linside the power converter. Sunline did use white stranded wires for the 12 V DC common/grounding connections.

Also when we use the word ground on a DC wire it's the same as the battery negative or DC common wire which are all white stranded wires. Just do not mix up white solid wires as those are the 120 V AC neutral wires which the AC neutral should never touch the metal camper frame.

This is going to be a little hard to tell you where to exactly start. The inside lights could be from loose screws in the power converter or a loose wire connection somewhere in the wall at one of those fixtures . They wire nut the wires together and sometimes they get loose or corroded or in this case the 12 volt hot wire feeding the lights in the wall could be an issue too. You have to check both.

You may have two separate problems that are the same cause. For the taillights, there could be a loose wire in the wall at the lights also but odds are higher that it could be a rusty connection under the camper at the back where a white wire would be bolted to the frame . You may also have rusted and corroded connections upfront under the trailer where all the white DC common grounding is done . Also check the battery terminal DC - negative for corrosion.

This is a little bit of a touchy subject if you should take this on. Before on touching any wires make sure the camper is unplugged from shore power and the battery is turned off. Do you have access to a friend or someone in your area who has automotive electrical talent or is an electrician that can help? Finding these kinds of problems is often a search and destroy mission to find the exact spot that's causing the problem . You basically look at all the grounding locations, and clean up any bad looking ones and keep searching until you finally find the problem.

Hope this helps

John
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Old 07-09-2017, 12:04 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by apackoftwo View Post
Can I visually see the white ground wite connection under my trailer to see if its corroded?
I will look, if so can it be cleaned or does it need to be replaced?


As for loose screws in the converter box, do you mean the panel box inside my trailer with the fuses?
I can check my battery too

The rear tail lights ground is generally in the back end under the camper. Normally by the bumper area. Look for any wires outside the black plastic membrane. That bundle of wire is the rear tail lights and a white wire from it will be bolted to the frame.


The other grounds are up front under the camper header frame inside and behind the battery area. Will see a bunch of white wires screwed to a terminal strip.


If you find it, odds are high the bolt through the frame will be rusted badly and needs to be replaced when you take it off . Then scrape rust off the frame and clean up the wire connection and bolt it back up. As long as the wire end is ok. Then you can reuse. If it is all mangled up or broken then the wire end needs to be replaced.


The loose screws are in the converter box behind the panel with all the fuses and circuit breakers. You take the cover off and you will see the. Check all for tightness. Make absolutely sure all power is off before doing this. Battery and 120 volt AC shoreline power.


Hope this helps


John


Take pics and post of areas you need help on explaining
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Old 07-10-2017, 12:07 PM   #5
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1st Step

A couple of pictures I took. Looks rusted and looks
like a special little bolt too? But I will try to unscrew it and
see it will come out.
Also if you look to the right
you see a small hole in the black plastic membrane
with wires. I don't think I have anymore membrane
fabric but I do have some heavy duty 3M outdoor tape
that could do temporarly

IMG_2947.jpg

IMG_2946.jpg

Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnB View Post
The rear tail lights ground is generally in the back end under the camper. Normally by the bumper area. Look for any wires outside the black plastic membrane. That bundle of wire is the rear tail lights and a white wire from it will be bolted to the frame.


The other grounds are up front under the camper header frame inside and behind the battery area. Will see a bunch of white wires screwed to a terminal strip.


If you find it, odds are high the bolt through the frame will be rusted badly and needs to be replaced when you take it off . Then scrape rust off the frame and clean up the wire connection and bolt it back up. As long as the wire end is ok. Then you can reuse. If it is all mangled up or broken then the wire end needs to be replaced.


The loose screws are in the converter box behind the panel with all the fuses and circuit breakers. You take the cover off and you will see the. Check all for tightness. Make absolutely sure all power is off before doing this. Battery and 120 volt AC shoreline power.


Hope this helps


John


Take pics and post of areas you need help on explaining
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Old 07-10-2017, 05:37 PM   #6
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Hi! John did real good job about your light problem. Your TV problem is probably when turning on the lights you are taking away power from the antenna booster. I replaced all my lights with LED. I have not had a problem since then.
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Old 07-10-2017, 05:58 PM   #7
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Thanks but I have all LED lights including the porch light


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Originally Posted by krazedave View Post
Hi! John did real good job about your light problem. Your TV problem is probably when turning on the lights you are taking away power from the antenna booster. I replaced all my lights with LED. I have not had a problem since then.
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Old 07-10-2017, 09:57 PM   #8
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Hi Joan

I'm doing it from my phone remotely as I am traveling . While the main grounding lug for the rear DOT lights looks bad and does need to be cleaned sometime in the future, I do not think that's your problem from what you're describing.

I would check the rear tail light itself. There is a tab on each side that you very gently press in and then the red lens cover will come off. Do not press very far or you'll snap it off. Check the actual bulb socket for corrosion. Fine steel wool or very fine sandpaper can clean up the corrosion on the bulb or in the socket. If you break the tabs off, you can tape the red lens back onto the fixture temporarily.

Make sure you take note which way the bulb came out. There are two prongs on the sides that are different positions or lengths from the bottom of the bulb they only go in correctly one way.

If the bulb corrosion does not fix the issue this gets more involved as you have to pull the entire fixture off the camper which is Putty taped on it and then the wire knots are buried inside the wall. Try just the bulb corrosion first

On the holes in the black plastic membrane that is part of the shower trap access panel door. Sunline put holes in that to allow water to get out if a trap leak occurs. Do not plug those holes or the water will stay inside and rot the wood frame. My T 1950 is made just like that. That access panel is unique to 1950 floorplans. You get inside that panel if your trap is clogged or has a leak you can fix it

Hope this helps can post more Wednesday night if needed

John
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Old 07-11-2017, 10:00 PM   #9
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Hi John,

The light bulb was the first thing I checked, hoping it was a burnt out bulb and I replaced it too.

However, I neglected to mention that when I apply my truck brakes the light works so it seems it just when I use the turn signal. Could it be the pigtail? I had a new one 3 years ago but I don't believe the connector to the truck was replaced. Could it be the truck connector?

Also have not taken off the panel to the converter to see if there are any loose screws yet.

I don't like these kinds of mysteries


Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnB View Post
Hi Joan

I'm doing it from my phone remotely as I am traveling . While the main grounding lug for the rear DOT lights looks bad and does need to be cleaned sometime in the future, I do not think that's your problem from what you're describing.

I would check the rear tail light itself. There is a tab on each side that you very gently press in and then the red lens cover will come off. Do not press very far or you'll snap it off. Check the actual bulb socket for corrosion. Fine steel wool or very fine sandpaper can clean up the corrosion on the bulb or in the socket. If you break the tabs off, you can tape the red lens back onto the fixture temporarily.

Make sure you take note which way the bulb came out. There are two prongs on the sides that are different positions or lengths from the bottom of the bulb they only go in correctly one way.

If the bulb corrosion does not fix the issue this gets more involved as you have to pull the entire fixture off the camper which is Putty taped on it and then the wire knots are buried inside the wall. Try just the bulb corrosion first

On the holes in the black plastic membrane that is part of the shower trap access panel door. Sunline put holes in that to allow water to get out if a trap leak occurs. Do not plug those holes or the water will stay inside and rot the wood frame. My T 1950 is made just like that. That access panel is unique to 1950 floorplans. You get inside that panel if your trap is clogged or has a leak you can fix it

Hope this helps can post more Wednesday night if needed

John
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Old 07-12-2017, 08:16 AM   #10
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The filaments for the brake light and the signal are the same. Your TV either has a converter (if it has different brake and stop lights) or it turns off the brake light when the signal is on. Here is what you can do, a short wire 6" or so with the ends stripped stick the bear wire end to the trailer plug (key way up) on the terminal at 11 o clock connect the other end to the pin at 9 o clock this should light your right signal/brake connect it to the pin at 3 o clock and that should light the left signal/brake light. If all of that works than you have an issue with the TV end. Oh yeah your camper battery must be working.
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Old 07-12-2017, 08:05 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by apackoftwo View Post
Hi John,

The light bulb was the first thing I checked, hoping it was a burnt out bulb and I replaced it too.

However, I neglected to mention that when I apply my truck brakes the light works so it seems it just when I use the turn signal. Could it be the pigtail? I had a new one 3 years ago but I don't believe the connector to the truck was replaced. Could it be the truck connector?

Also have not taken off the panel to the converter to see if there are any loose screws yet.

I don't like these kinds of mysteries
Ah, extra info. This helps. I was responding to the original request of,

Quote:
Quote:
I have had this problem with my porch light and my stove light and now its my driver side tail light.

I can deal with the other two but I need my tail light

If I smack near it I can get all the lights to work but my tail light goes out on the road. I giggled the wires and that made it go on and off and I pressed on the left side of the plate after I took the red cover off and that seems to make a difference too?
I was picking up on the "tail light" goes out. In realty, I am now understanding the brake lights do work and so does the turn signal which means 1/2 the light does work. Is this correct?

If it is the running light part only of the tail light on the "drivers side only", this is a key piece if info.

Please confirm the right side (door side/passenger side) running/tail light, the 5 red marker lights on the top back of the camper and the 2 red side maker lights do work and do not have this issue?

I'm "assuming" now this is only the drivers side running/tail light that does not work and all the others do work. And now, the brake light and the turn signal in that light work.

If that is correct, we can get off the bad grounding path as if the ground was bad on that left rear fixture, then the brake light and the turn signal would not be working either. They all use the same ground wire.

This now points to the actual hot wire that feeds that left rear fixture for the running light portion of the light bulb.

When you changed the bulb, did you look inside the bulb socket and see the 2, silver dots in the end of the socket that touch the bottom of the bulb? One of those 2 dots may have corrosion on it causing an intermittent problem. This is not the first place to look given the new info.

Since all the other rear running lights and this is only isolated to the left rear running/tail light, then the truck and the 7 wire cable is working. If this circuit had an issue at the truck or 7 wire cablee, none of the running lights would work.

If the bulb socket is not the problem, then this points to the wire connection buried in the wall. I do not have access to all my pics right now but the wires in the wall look like this


There will be a green, red and white wire buried in the wall behind the fixture. The green wire is for the running/tail lights. The red wire is for the left brake/turn light and the white wire is the ground for the entire fixture. You unscrew the fixture from the camper and there will be a hole in the siding you can pull the nest of wires out. The green wires are wire nutted together which could be the suspect connection. Since this will require new butyl tape to reseal the fixture, make sure this is not bulb socket corrosion. If you get this far to taking the light off, check all 3 connections but special wire to the green wire.

If you need more pics on this, I can get to it late Friday or Saturday. I will also address the other 2 lights then.

Hope this helps

John
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Old 07-13-2017, 07:52 AM   #12
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John I would not use a volt meter to check something that maybe a poor connection. Here is why, a DVM has almost zero resistance so with a poor connection it can show full voltage but will carry no current and that can confuse the issue, it cases like this I always use a test light it either lights or it doesn't because it has enough resistance to load the circuit. It also can be used to check for poor grounds with a known good B+.
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Old 07-13-2017, 08:12 AM   #13
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Apackoftwo the wiring for the brake light and the turn signal uses the same wire one for each side. Connect your camper to the TV turn on your signal and make sure your TV lighting works properly when connected to the camper. Usually when lighting does bizarre things it is a poor ground but first make sure your TV behaves properly connected to the camper.
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Old 07-13-2017, 08:13 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mainah View Post
John I would not use a volt meter to check something that maybe a poor connection. Here is why, a DVM has almost zero resistance so with a poor connection it can show full voltage but will carry no current and that can confuse the issue, it cases like this I always use a test light it either lights or it doesn't because it has enough resistance to load the circuit. It also can be used to check for poor grounds with a known good B+.
Yes, you are right on. My bad. Thanks for pointing this out. This can confuse the issue even more. The test light will draw enough current that if it lights the test light, it has at least that level of power passing capability. This is just like testing a triac in the AC world of things.

Joan, I agree with Tim, do not use the volt meter, use test light if you have one. By changing your light bulb, in essence you have almost done a test light test. Just look inside for corrosion and clean up any you see.

Thanks

John
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Old 07-13-2017, 08:36 AM   #15
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Quote:
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John I would not use a volt meter to check something that maybe a poor connection. Here is why, a DVM has almost zero resistance so with a poor connection it can show full voltage but will carry no current and that can confuse the issue, it cases like this I always use a test light it either lights or it doesn't because it has enough resistance to load the circuit. It also can be used to check for poor grounds with a known good B+.
Joan said she has LED bulbs installed too, wouldn't that highlight the issue even more? I would think an LED would just flash on/off where a regular bulb would light somewhat dim between spikes.

I'm not saying replacing with a regular bulb will fix things, but it certainly may be bringing up an issue that might not have been noticed otherwise.
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Old 07-13-2017, 08:39 AM   #16
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Quote:
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Joan said she has LED bulbs installed too, wouldn't that highlight the issue even more? I would think an LED would just flash on/off where a regular bulb would light somewhat dim between spikes.

I'm not saying replacing with a regular bulb will fix things, but it certainly may be bringing up an issue that might not have been noticed otherwise.
Good point.

Joan, are the LED's you replaced only on the inside of the camper or are they in the tail lights too?
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Old 07-13-2017, 10:49 PM   #17
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Unhappy

Just on the inside. Ok now to add to the mystery when I plugged the pigtail into the connector on the truck today when I broke camp the light worked?

I put a new bulb in and I took it out again to check and see if there was corrosion in the fixture and there wasn't

All the rest of the lights work, running lights etc and the problem light on the drivers side works when I apply the brakes

There happens to be an electrician staying in this camp who will be returning this Sunday. Is there any testing he could do?

And I have a totally new problem. I left my truck headlights on (first time ever and it ran down the battery so I got a jump and now my rear tail lights signals don't work and the inside turn signals blink really fast. I am reading that is probably a bad bulb but could be the connector. Would jumping the truck have anything with blowing the rear bulbs? The tail lights don't work when the brake is applied so I am hoping it just new bulbs. Or maybe a fuse

It dark here now so I might wait until tomorrow to put off the tail lights (not easy) and replace bulbs and check fuses

Geez when it rains it pours!






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Good point.

Joan, are the LED's you replaced only on the inside of the camper or are they in the tail lights too?
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Old 07-14-2017, 06:27 AM   #18
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I think your Chevy has lighting module for the rear lights and if I recall they were problematic prone to corrosion and just plan failure. This could explain no turn signal on the rear of your camper also. It's sort of coming back to me I believe it's on the left frame rail under the truck bed.
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Old 07-14-2017, 07:14 PM   #19
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Hi Joan,

This mystery keeps getting deeper....

On the "truck", a quick blinking blinker inside the cab is often an alarm to tell you the bulb or the socket it plugs into is having an issue. The rapid blinking alerts for the side of the truck that has the issue.

mainah's comment about if your truck has a signal module adds a whole new dimension to this mystery. When they go bad they can do strange things that make troubleshooting a trailer even harder.

You said you had an electrician friend in the campground. If he can help, have him, take the cover off the converter and tighten all the screws. This will not have anything to do with the rear tail lights, but he is there and it might help the other inside lights issue.

He can also try and check out "just" the camper. Here is what mainah was talking about testing the 7 wire cable and the rear brake and left directional. Have your electrician friend try this.



That image shows the pin outs of the trailer plug. Your looking at the top left pic image. This view is looking directly at the 7 wire cable end "only", the image that says "outside".

Pin 4 that says black, is the hot wire to the camper battery. Have the battery disconnect on and he will insert a jumper wire on that pin 4 and touch pin 5, red and that should light up the left brake light/turn signal on the back of the camper. He can test the camper DOT lights are working correctly.

What ever you do, "do not" touch the hot wire jumper from pin 4 to pin 1 (white) as that pin 4 is the battery negative/ground terminal and you will blow the truck charge fuse in the junction box on the front header of the camper.

We can leave you with this. This rear tail light that is giving you trouble, as mainah stated, there are 2 parts of the light bulb in the left rear tail light. It is a 2 filament bulb meaning 2 circuit in one bulb. Sort of like 2 lights in 1 bulb.

The less bright part of the bulb, is the tail light that comes on as when the all the other running lights (clearance lights etc) are on. This is only fed from 1 wire in the 7 wire cable. It is pin 3, green wire. And all the running lights come on when that pin 3 gets power. If the left rear running light portion is the only part that does not work, but all the other running lights on, then this points to the that physical left rear signal fixture. It might be the bulb socket or the wiring in the wall with a loose connection. And possibly the ground wire for that fixture is going bad too. A hit and miss problem can still be a ground wire.

The more bright part of the bulb lights up with you press the brake pedal or use the left turn signal. This part of the bulb is only fed power from 1 wire in the camper all the way up to the 7 wire cable. You can have your friend jumper test that. That said, if the ground wire at that light fixture is acting up, it will stop the brake/left turn part of the bulb from working too.

Above is the campers part of the equation. You might have a truck problem which can cause the brake/turn light not working. And it sounds like now, you have a truck problem. The left tail light/running light portion not working but all the other running lights on, points to the camper.

It is not beyond possible you have both a truck problem and a camper problem...

Hope this helps

John
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Old 07-15-2017, 08:46 AM   #20
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Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Maine
Posts: 3,357
SUN #2097
mainah is an unknown quantity at this point
The quick flash is the lack of resistance of the signal bulbs usually caused by a dead bulb but if a module or terminal block does not allow the system to "see" the bulb it will do the same thing. As far as the no flash on the camper but having a brake light points to a TV issue as the camper is just following instructions from the TV. If it had no brake light either then more likely it would be a camper issue. So somewhere on your TV there is a failure to communicate. Here is a very simple gadget I made incidentally it was from a GM the other end was corroded beyond repair This allows me to check the entire trailer wiring as long as the camper battery is good from brakes to all the exterior lighting just a matter of stuffing the red wire in the appropriate slot.
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