Running lights n turn signal wiring

[Bmalin47]

I have a 1984 Sun Line camper and cant get all my road lights to work..turn, stop, runing n clearance lights.
I have traced location to next to shower room door on drivers side, but cant follow it any farther. I think I lost a ground somewheres.
Where does the wiring go to get to stop lights etc in the back of coach ?
I'd appreciate any kind of direction of it otherwise I'll have to rewire it.
Thanks You
Bill M
New member.

 

[JohnGB]

Hi Bill,

I am not fluent on the old Sunlines, but I am on the newer ones. See if this helps any.

On the newer Sunlines, all the DOT wiring runs to the back of the camper under the camper (on the outside of the bottom cover) from the 7 wire truck plug connection junction box to the back wall area. Then the bundle goes up "inside" the back wall and fans out to the top red clearance lights, the left and right tail light and the rear side clearance lights. And on the newer campers, there is a frame ground at that back wall bundle where it goes up into the wall.

Do not know if yours is anywhere close to this. But would say this.

Start at the 7 wire truck plug. Trace that back into the camper where is goes into a junction box. The older ones had a wooden covered junction box with a cover on it many times up front inside the camper. Look under a couch, cabinet etc for a wood cover. There is often 2 fuses in there too. One for the truck battery charge line and the other for the camper battery power line to prevent wire burn outs/shorts etc.

If you can find that, then you found the start of the wire bundle and the truck ground wire. The truck gnd wire will go back out to the frame ground up front. That can be all corroded up. Then look to see how the tail lights, rear clearance lights etc. head out of that box and work their way to the back wall. If you think you lost ground, pull a long temporary wire starting at the 7 wire cable truck plug junction box, out of the camper and back to the fixtures that are not working. Figure out which wire in the fixture is hot and gnd and test it there. You can also use that wire as a continuity test to right out the tail, clearance and stop lights using an ohm meter or test light as they all junction in that 7 wire truck plug box. And being that old, someone may have modified what Sunline provided as well. But they all need the 7 wire truck plug if the camper is big enough to have electric brakes.

This is the color codes Sunline used on the newer campers. Look at the center one called "7 way RV standard" wiring. Yes the RV world uses different color codes then the general trailer industry. But they all work in the same 7 wire truck plug. Odds exist they used the same color codes on the older campers.

Hope this helps and let us know how it goes.

 

[mainah-SUN]

Have a look behind the left rear light assembly. The grounds are all white and seem to have a single point ground have a look inside of the converter/charger.

 

[Bmalin47]

Thank you for your response I'll check this out.
Bill

 

[zrookd]

Light issues.

Also the marker lights are ran in series. If any are damaged the rest of the lights will not work either. I just had the same issue with my 84 Saturn.

 

[85sun107]

hi we have 1985 Sunline when we bought it I had two lights working on it . the harness on ours runs up the drivers side goes through front frame up into the floor about three feet from front frame. goes behind furnace behind tub and under back bottom bunk bed into back wall . when I changed the tail lights all the grounds were there and the ground went over to the right light and up to my 5 red running lights and over to my side marker lights . my front came in same place about three feet from front frame were ran off a wire block where they came in under camper and went to front into wall up to running lights .I hope this helps Scott

 

[mainah-SUN]

Also the marker lights are ran in series. If any are damaged the rest of the lights will not work either. I just had the same issue with my 84 Saturn.

Nope they are parallel wired with a common ground and a common 12 volt + now if you lose a connection say at bulb #3 in the chain 1 and 2 will work but nothing beyond. With a series wired system you lose one you loose them all no matter where the break is. The worst part with clearance lights every single one is suspect if it works today it may not tomorrow they are hateful devices with very little effort to waterproof them. Best bet replace every single one with sealed LED's!

 

[Sunline Fan]

On the newer Sunlines, all the DOT wiring runs to the back of the camper under the camper (on the outside of the bottom cover) from the 7 wire truck plug connection junction box to the back wall area. Then the bundle goes up "inside" the back wall and fans out to the top red clearance lights, the left and right tail light and the rear side clearance lights. And on the newer campers, there is a frame ground at that back wall bundle where it goes up into the wall.

My '79 went up the front wall, back through each roof truss, and down the back wall. So opposite of the newer style apparently.

 

[mainah-SUN]

My T1700 is junctioned behind the left rear tail light.

 

[JohnGB]

On the newer Sunlines, all the DOT wiring runs to the back of the camper under the camper (on the outside of the bottom cover) from the 7 wire truck plug connection junction box to the back wall area. Then the bundle goes up "inside" the back wall and fans out to the top red clearance lights, the left and right tail light and the rear side clearance lights. And on the newer campers, there is a frame ground at that back wall bundle where it goes up into the wall.

My '79 went up the front wall, back through each roof truss, and down the back wall. So opposite of the newer style apparently.

H'mm, OK now there is another little tidbit of Sunline history, so in 1979 they on at least some models, they ran the DOT lights rear camper wire bundle through the attic, and not under the camper.

Wonder what model year they changed that? And I'm glad they did. Servicing that wire bundle which does not happen often, is a lot easier under the camper on the "outside" of the bottom waterproof membrane.

 

[Bmalin47]

Thank you to everyone that sent me the well recieved info, it gives me some dirction now.
Bill M.

 

[JohnGB]

Hi Bill,

When you do sort this out, please post back. It helps us and others in the future on the same hunt you are on.

Good luck

John

 

[mainah-SUN]

If you have a battery on the camper you can test them with the 7 pin connector on the trailer. Have a look at John B's pictures connect a jumper wire to the 12 volt pin just fold the bare end over and stick it into the connector with the other end connect it to the lighting pins. This eliminates the vehicle wiring and supplies constant current to whatever you are trying to correct.

 

[Clowntrigger]

I wanted to revive this thread to say thanks for the great information. This helped me fix the exterior lights on my 1987 Sunline T2000. The picture of the trailer plug was enlightening. Mine was wired like a utility trailer. Once I fixed that, I replaced all the lights with led fixtures from Amazon. I soldered the connections, heat shrinked them and pushed them into the trailer so they wouldn't corrode again. Again, thanks for sharing the knowledge to help keep these campers on the road.

 

[JohnGB]

Hi Clowntrigger,

Welcome! and thanks for reporting back. Yes, the 7 wire RV standard and the Trailer industry standard do mess up things if one is not used to them. Why the two industries never got on the same page is beyond me. Your soldering and heat shrinking is a great way to do it. It takes longer, but the results are superior. Great job!

Happy camping this year.

John