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General Forums => The Mess Hall => Topic started by: jetcracker82 on March 23, 2007, 01:18:28 PM

Title: trailer wiring??
Post by: jetcracker82 on March 23, 2007, 01:18:28 PM
I rented a trailer to go up to Scotty's jeep & 4x4 tomorrow and when I hooked up the lights to my trailer hook-up, the blinkers were blinking all fast.  I know when blinkers blink fast that means you've got a bulb out.  Mine only do it when the trailer is hooked up.  The guy at the rental place had a little tester and it said everything was fine.  We tried 3 different trailers and all had the same effect.  Has anyone had this same problem? :puzzled:
Title: Re: trailer wiring??
Post by: Enjoi on March 23, 2007, 01:20:28 PM
there should be a button on top of your steering wheel that is called your emergency blinker. Move it to the side and it should turn off.  :blbl:

Im thinking bad relay though. Is the trailer blinking or the jeep blinking?
Title: Re: trailer wiring??
Post by: jetcracker82 on March 23, 2007, 01:23:09 PM
both are blinking but really fast.
Title: Re: trailer wiring??
Post by: jetcracker82 on March 23, 2007, 01:24:18 PM
its not blinking all the time, just when I use the blinkers it goes fast.
Title: Re: trailer wiring??
Post by: Jesse-James on March 23, 2007, 01:30:05 PM
That's odd, mine always blink a little slow with a trailer.
Title: Re: trailer wiring??
Post by: jetcracker82 on March 23, 2007, 01:32:11 PM
That's odd, mine always blink a little slow with a trailer.

Yea its going to take some investigation tonight after work.  I might just have a bad ground that I hope I can fine before tomorrow morning.
Title: Re: trailer wiring??
Post by: lanulos89 on March 23, 2007, 01:45:11 PM
yea i have the same problem, what you need is high capacity flashers, the little silver things under the dash board of the jeep.  replace them with high capacity ones and you'll be fine, i had the same problem with my jeep im just too cheap to replace them, but my friend had the same problem and that fixes it.
Title: Re: trailer wiring??
Post by: Jeffy on March 23, 2007, 01:48:52 PM
The problem is probably with the relay and might be able to fix your problem by getting a better Electro/Mechanical flasher relay.  The newer ones (the plastic blue metal cheapies are mechanical only) are designed to work normally if there is any slight change in resistance. (they will still not blink when there is an open circuit though)  Which relay to get will depend on your Jeep since CJ/YJ and TJ's use different relays.  I think the relay should be around $5-10.

http://www.tricoproducts.com/index.cfm?location_id=123

Although generally, if the light is out the other lights will not flash.  A common problem when swapping to LEDs is that there is too little resistance and the lights flash too fast.  Adding resistance should slow them down...
Title: Re: trailer wiring??
Post by: jetcracker82 on March 23, 2007, 03:00:04 PM
The problem is probably with the relay and might be able to fix your problem by getting a better Electro/Mechanical flasher relay.  The newer ones (the plastic blue metal cheapies are mechanical only) are designed to work normally if there is any slight change in resistance. (they will still not blink when there is an open circuit though)  Which relay to get will depend on your Jeep since CJ/YJ and TJ's use different relays.  I think the relay should be around $5-10.

http://www.tricoproducts.com/index.cfm?location_id=123

Although generally, if the light is out the other lights will not flash.  A common problem when swapping to LEDs is that there is too little resistance and the lights flash too fast.  Adding resistance should slow them down...

Called my local AutoZone and they have the good ones in stock.  $7.99  I'll pick it up and see if it helps.  Thanks for all the help fellas.
Title: Re: trailer wiring??
Post by: neale_rs on March 23, 2007, 03:14:39 PM
If high resistance means slow flashing and low resistance means fast flashing then it would seem the trailer lights are lowering your resitance. This means they are in parallel with your jeep lights, otherwise they would increase resistance.  Does this happen to your lights with other trailers or just this particular one?
Title: Re: trailer wiring??
Post by: jeepheap on March 23, 2007, 03:49:46 PM
i agree with neale. who and how is your plug wired? it may be just hooked up wrong.
Title: Re: trailer wiring??
Post by: chardrc on March 23, 2007, 04:41:54 PM
the blinkers on my s10 go faster when hooked up to a trailer.. the way i imagine it is that with the trailer lights its pulling more power/ amps which makes the metal thing that makes it blink get hotter faster and when it gets hot it pops up opening the circuit vus making it turn off then it cools fast to close the circuit making the lights go on vus a blinker... that my theory that is subject to failure.
Title: Re: trailer wiring??
Post by: lanulos89 on March 23, 2007, 05:00:18 PM
yea like i said flashers replace em
Title: Re: trailer wiring??
Post by: Jeffy on March 23, 2007, 05:25:26 PM
the blinkers on my s10 go faster when hooked up to a trailer.. the way i imagine it is that with the trailer lights its pulling more power/ amps which makes the metal thing that makes it blink get hotter faster and when it gets hot it pops up opening the circuit vus making it turn off then it cools fast to close the circuit making the lights go on vus a blinker... that my theory that is subject to failure.


Ohms Law states that, "in an electrical circuit, the current passing through a conductor, from one terminal point on the conductor to another terminal point on the conductor, is directly proportional to the potential difference (i.e. voltage drop or voltage) across the two terminal points and inversely proportional to the resistance of the conductor between the two terminal points."

In mathematical terms, this is written as:

    I = V/R

So what does that mean?  Well...


In this case, the voltage is constant at 12 volts.  This can not change.  The only things that can change is I and R but they have to stay in proportion with each other since the outcome must still equal V.  So, as one increases the other must decrease.

Now depending on how the lights are wired, they will either increase or decrease the resistance.

For Series Circuits R(Total) = R1 + R2...

For Parallel 1/R(Total) = 1/R1 + 1/R2...

This ends Electronics 101...   :doggy:
Title: Re: trailer wiring??
Post by: jetcracker82 on March 27, 2007, 04:59:06 PM
I just got s new flasher relay and it worked fine except I lost my dash lights.  So I need to get in there and investigate the whole lighting system.
Title: Re: trailer wiring??
Post by: jetcracker82 on March 27, 2007, 05:07:47 PM
the blinkers on my s10 go faster when hooked up to a trailer.. the way i imagine it is that with the trailer lights its pulling more power/ amps which makes the metal thing that makes it blink get hotter faster and when it gets hot it pops up opening the circuit vus making it turn off then it cools fast to close the circuit making the lights go on vus a blinker... that my theory that is subject to failure.


Ohms Law states that, "in an electrical circuit, the current passing through a conductor, from one terminal point on the conductor to another terminal point on the conductor, is directly proportional to the potential difference (i.e. voltage drop or voltage) across the two terminal points and inversely proportional to the resistance of the conductor between the two terminal points."

In mathematical terms, this is written as:

    I = V/R

So what does that mean?  Well...

  • I = Current measured in Amps.
  • V = Voltage measured in Volts.
  • R = Resistance measured in Ohms.

In this case, the voltage is constant at 12 volts.  This can not change.  The only things that can change is I and R but they have to stay in proportion with each other since the outcome must still equal V.  So, as one increases the other must decrease.

Now depending on how the lights are wired, they will either increase or decrease the resistance.

For Series Circuits R(Total) = R1 + R2...

For Parallel 1/R(Total) = 1/R1 + 1/R2...

This ends Electronics 101...   :doggy:

You can't mention ohm's law without giving love to Kirchoff's voltage law which states the sum of all the voltage drops across a series circuit is equal to the source voltage.  Or Kirchoff's first law the states at any point in an electrical circuit where charge density is not changing in time, the sum of currents flowing towards that point is equal to the sum of currents flowing away from that point.  Then there's Kirchoff's law of thermal radiation but we shouldn't get in to that today.  We'll save that for tomorrows class on basic electronics theory.  cheers.
Title: Re: trailer wiring??
Post by: chardrc on March 27, 2007, 06:21:27 PM
aw soo much learning.. and thinking... on spring break... not good  :brick:

wait i learned that in 9th grade science...
Title: Re: trailer wiring??
Post by: jeepheap on March 28, 2007, 05:35:04 AM
9TH GRADE SCIENCE! i went to college for 3 years studing electronics and i still don't understand it! :puzzled:

(switched to criminal justice. it's easier to be a cop. ;))
Title: Re: trailer wiring??
Post by: chardrc on March 28, 2007, 09:46:01 AM
well i learned the quoted electronics 101 stuff in 9th grade.. and some of that voltage law... the radiation and other stuff is still in the air for me.
Title: Re: trailer wiring??
Post by: jetcracker82 on March 28, 2007, 09:47:29 AM
aw soo much learning.. and thinking... on spring break... not good  :brick:

wait i learned that in 9th grade science...

It took me year total in the burning desert of 29 Palms CA in a Marine Corps school, beating my head off the desk to learn that crap.  But I can fix the hell out of some comm gear.
Title: Re: trailer wiring??
Post by: Jeffy on March 28, 2007, 12:00:34 PM
Hmmm, it seems I had it easy.  :lol: Took Electronics in HS then took Electronic Technician classes at the local JC.  (Technician certification involves a lot of hand on stuff then EE.) AC & DC circuits, Digital Theory, Microprocessors...  Never did bother to get my ETech License.  Boring stuff.... :whistle: