http://www.etrailer.com/tv-wiring-101-circuit-testing-faq.aspx
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer
installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Today we are going to show you a little bit of wiring. Basically, like a wiring 101 and what to look for when you are going to hardwire into a vehicle. And what hardwire means is actually getting to the wires and splicing into them making a connection. We will go ahead and do our test and ground it. Instead of piercing the wires, if you have a junction that is easy to get to go ahead and pull it apart. And instead of piercing the wire, go ahead and test on the inside here. Just check each individual contact here until you hit something. Then make sure you actually have your running lights on and then go ahead and turn them back off. It also proves to us that our ground is good and it is working with our electrical system here.
If you know which tab is your running light, you can go ahead and look on the back side of it and have a hole on the backside of it that matches the front. In our case it looks it would be the purple wire here. So the purple wire here, we know is a running light so we can go ahead and make our connection to that wire right now. You always want to do your wiring one circuit at a time. Take your running light wire, which on a 4 pole would be brown, make your connection and make your ground connection too at this point. And then, test on the other side of the 4 pole at the end where you have your running lights working. So when you test this, you want to go ahead and put your ground to the ground pole on the 4 pole. Then go ahead and use the probe to go ahead and test the running light circuit here. Do that one at a time. Also basically everything applies to the other circuits too. Your left turn, your right turn, and brake, if you have a 5 wiring system, and your running lights.
Once you have found your running light circuit, then you go ahead and make your connection. Go ahead and start with your left turn signal. So we will go ahead and turn on our left turn signal. We will just repeat the same steps for testing for that. There you have it. Now if you notice that it is blinking real fast that is because the car thinks there is not a bulb hooked up to it, because there is not. Once you make your connection and plug it back into the tail light it will go back to normal. The same thing applies to the stop light circuit. So just have somebody hold down the break pedal and you just go ahead and go through them all until you find it. Then have them let off of it then turn it back on. The reason you do that is to verify that it is your stoplight circuit. Sometimes they have a constant 12 volts going to some other electronic in your vehicle. If you test it, turn everything off and on to verify that you have the right wire. Also the same thing applies when you go over to the passenger side and look for your right turn signal, do it the same way.
This Old Trailer: Finding and Fixing a Broken Wire - etrailer.com
http://www.etrailer.com/tv-This-Old-Trailer-Broken-Wire.aspx
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer
installation instructions and specs for complete information.
In this addition of This Old Trailer we are going to cover wiring again. This time we are going to cover the wiring concerning a broken wire. Not talking about shorts, not talking about a ground issue, we are talking about a broken wire. We are going to show you what to look for on that. :40
This is a good clue it is a broken wire, because it is working so far and then all of a sudden it just stops working. Then you know it is probably a broken wire, not a short or blown fuse. So we are going to start at the top and work our way back to find the broken connection. :54
First thing we are going to check is the trailer connector itself. Now this is going to apply to all connectors, not just the simple 4-pull we have here. You want to make sure the connections are clean, they do not have to be shiny or anything like that but they should be clean like this one is here. And also check in the ground. A lot of times the running light circuit is the one that gets corroded up a lot, so if the running light circuit is a problem it could be from corrosion right there. It is clean so go ahead and plug it back together and we will resume our inspection down the line. Also, sometimes the wires going into here get flexed a lot too, sometimes the wire itself will get worn back and fourth and actually breaks. It is rare that this would happen but it does on occasion. So we will work our way down since it passes inspection. So it looks like there is nothing physically wrong with it, what we will do to make sure is we will test right behind the wire here with our light tester. 1:53
Then we will check it periodically after each connection. We are going to make a splice somewhere in here and check before and after. Take your tester and ground it to the wire harnesss ground. That will verify power going into it. Okay there is power going in. We have verified there is power going in so we will check the other side. We have power coming out so we are good there. We will test the power on this wire, go ahead behind this connection. We have power through here so we are good, so we will go through the section of splices here and check that. Double check ourselves. Power here and no power here. So our problem is somewhere in this splice right here. We will go ahead and take it apart to inspect it and see what the problem is. One neat little tip is once you are done piercing the wire, even though it is a needle point that you are checking it with, it might be a good idea to put a dab of silicone on there to help seal it up when you are done, or what we are doing and wrap electrical tape around it. That will keep air from getting to the wire itself and will help out a lot. And theres our problem right there. 3:36
The butt connector itself, the crimp fitting on it looks like its smashed the wire in half and it is barely in there so there is our problem, a broken wire. It looks like it crimped it too tight and sheared the wire basically. If you hold it together you can see that the light is actually working. So simply what we are going to do here is go ahead and replace this splice. Now we reapply our electrical tape to it and we will be done. Now since we found our broken wire here this could have easily happened somewhere else further down the line if there was another splice involved or right behind the light fixture itself. As in the fixtures on this trailer the actual wires itself will push into the light itself. The light could get pulled out or may not have a good connection to begin with. So something like that can always happen behind the lights. Also, if your tail light has a type of connection that has a push pin into it, a small little fixture that plugs into it may get corroded or be faulty at best. So you want to check on both sides of the light itself if you have that fixture. And that pretty much covers looking for a broken wire on a trailer.
Testing for a Correct Ground Connection Demonstration - etrailer.com
http://www.etrailer.com/tv-wiring-101-ground-testing-faq.aspx
Buy this at etrailer.com Use Coupon Code: TY10 to save 5% today
Today we are going to show you a little bit on wiring. Basically, a wiring 101 or what to look for when you hardwire into a vehicle. Hardwire means actually getting to the wires and splicing into them and making a connection. The first thing you want to do when you hardwire a vehicle is you want to make sure you are grounded and get a test. Make sure your tester is working fine. On some cars you will see this on one of the wires. Being the same color like these black wires. You will see a lot of them ran to a screw inside the body here. Chances are that is going to be your ground. You can actually use that ground for your light tester. What we mean by a light tester is a device like this right here. Basically, this connects to the ground and what this device does is this hooks around the wire you want to test and you push it together and it precises the wire and touches the copper wire inside, creates a circuit and lights up when you have power in that wire.
Also if you do not have that ground screw in the body it is easy enough just to make your own. We just use a self tapping screw, like we did right here. To make a fresh ground, we just used this screw going to the sheet metal here. Then we go ahead and test it. Before you do any connection you want to make sure your tester is working. You do that by testing a circuit you know is live all the time. That would be basically your running lights. So in this instance we are going to go ahead and ground it to the ground screw here. Then we will go ahead and turn on the running lights. When they are on, what you can do is take your light tester and put it on the wire and pierce it like so. You can do that with every wire that is hot. The best way to do that is right behind the tail light so you know when your tail light is on that at least one of the wires has to be hot. If you go through all of these wires and one is not hot, chances are your ground is not good.
Another good ground you can use is the tail pipe because the block itself is grounded to the battery. You can clean a section of your tail pipe off, use this your clip and do that. You can do that if it is easily accessible. The older the vehicle, the more cleaning you have to do, it is up to the individual. But usually you can find a good ground and you can also make a ground on a couple pieces of steel that overlap. We can see this little wield line right here. This is actually a really good spot to put a ground in. Basically make sure it is not going to the outside or will mess up the taillight or anything. But, anywhere you see two pieces of metal overlapping, chances are you have more steel to go into, and the better chance that it will be grounded steel. With more steel the less chance you are going to strip out the screw as you tighten it down.
Wiring Circuit Tester Kit - etrailer.com
http://www.etrailer.com/tv-demo_circuit_tester_kit_40376.aspx
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer
installation instructions and specs for complete information.
You can see the kit comes with three parts to it, obviously the tester itself here, the alligator clip that will actually go on to the end here. You also have the hook that goes over the end which goes around and pierces the wire to test it. This is the larger alligator clip you use for the ground. The way this unit identifies the circuits is done in two different ways, it lights up and makes a sound. We'll demonstrate that with this light we have hooked up to a power supply. This is the ground so this will go to the ground of one of the lights you are working with. This probe here will go to the light itself. We'll use our hook here, and we'll just test the wire. Just squeeze it gently and you hear a tone and it lights up. What's also nice about this if you actually reverse the polarity of this, it will reverse the ends and tell you the polarity.
This Old Trailer: Finding and Fixing Wiring Shorts - etrailer.com
http://www.etrailer.com/tv-This-Old-Trailer-Wiring-Shorts.aspx
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer
installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Today on This Old Trailer, we are going to discuss electrical shorts on the trailer itself. Basically we are going to talk about if you plug up your trailer and you find out that you have a blown fuse and the tail light does not work, the running light does not work. We will go through this trailer we have here and try to find some problems with it and show you what to look for. Basically when you are dealing with a short you are going to look for physical evidence. And that means tracing the wire from the front all the way out back. So what is going to happen is basically we are going to start at the plug. Generally it is going to be somewhere down here that has a problem like it has extra extra long length here and it is going to be dragging on the ground so it gets some road rash in there.
Your running light and your ground wires could fray and touch each other causing a short that way. Just work your way on down and then a lot of times the wire lays against the steel of the trailer. Sometimes it is a vibration like this will cause that problem also. Or one of the wires, part of the wire will grind against the frame causing a short. There is nothing here so you just keep working your way down where the wire goes through the loop here or through the hole in the steel. If it is really tight it could vibrate and cause a short that way. Which is usually not much of a problem. Whenever there is wire lying on metal somewhere, always check there first for a short. And you can not really see it. Maybe just take your fingers and feel the wire. If you feel anything that is out of place, and we can feel there is something right here.
Let us pull it out and take a look. It looks like the gray wire has got a nick in it. It has been like that for a while too because it is a dark color it is not a shiny copper. All right we will go ahead and give this a quick fix. Basically we are just going split the brown wire away from the other two. And just pull it away just to get it started just like I did. Okay. And sometimes there is a small nick you can probably just get away with just cutting it in half and stripping the wires a little bit on each side. If you have got enough wire you can actually go ahead and just slice the butt connector right into place. If it was a little farther apart or a really big section like we are dealing with here you might want to go ahead and just put a small section of wiring and two new connections in there too. And this is right at the end so since these are kind of corroded up and your fresh wire is here, it is better to connect to that so let us go ahead and pull it out a little bit more and we will just put a new section in. Again, if there is just a one time deal then this is fine but if you are going to have like three or four of these places in your trailers, especially an older one, that has been sitting for a while, you might want to go ahead and just replace the entire harness because the more connection you have the more liability one of these coming loose. Start with fresh wire.03:27.
And actually this type of short is a perfect example of an intermittent short. Or sometimes you go down the road and you blow a fuse and then you put a new one in and it does not do it for a while, that is because these wires have been bouncing back and forth on the frame so when it hits the right bump, they will short out and you will not know what is going on. Okay, and we will just go ahead and just cover up our connection from the electric tape and we will give it a test. And this is only for our running light circuit. The short one that will not bother any other instances of left turn or right turn both have their own fuses on the vehicle. All right, once you have got your connection made, then it is a good time to go ahead and try it again. Now if this does not work again the chances are you might be dealing with another short somewhere else down the line. Chances are it is usually just one short causing the problem. We do not have our truck handy, we are just going to plug this into our own power supply. You could easily do this at home with a couple of wires coming off the back of your towing vehicle and just put the wires to the correct terminals temporarily testing it that way. All right, we have got our power supply on. We have got the running light circuit turned on. And so far it has not been shortened out but I think we are good with that circuit. It is always a good idea to inspect the rest of the wiring just in case. The same way we did before. 05:24
Short Circuit Detector, Automotive, DIY, blown fuse
This video describe how I made a simple and inexpensive short circuit detector for automotive troubleshooting. The devices is designed to help find the source of automotive short circuits and blown fuses.
This video is published for entertainment purposes only, and it is not to be construed as an instruction guide. If you need help with an automotive problem you should carefully assess your limitations, and consider consulting a professional before getting in over your head. Be careful to protect yourself and to protect your property by not doing something you are unqualified to do....
HI-VIS VoltPRO Circuit Tester
High visibility, simple to use, one handed dynamic voltage testing. Indicates Power and Grounds. Test the circuits ability to deliver current and identify loose, corroded or broken wires. Capture intermitent spikes or drops in voltage.Take Voltage Snapshots in any mode, any time.
Fix Electrical Shorts in Your Own Car
Emmy award winning mechanic Scotty Kilmer shows how to repair electrical shorts in your own car. For the answers to all your car care questions, visit www.scottykilmer.com All questions are expertly answered, absolutely free by Scotty personally.
Two Guys Garage "Circuits 101"
Two Guys Garage co-host Kevin Byrd discusses "Circuits 101"
Two Guys Garage on SPEED, episode #813
Parasitic drain, an automotive short circuit that may cause a recurring dead battery
I describe a practical algorithm for diagnosis and investigation of parasitic drain in an automotive electrical system. This problem typically presents with the recurring problem of a dead battery when the car is parked and not used for hours to days. Parasitic draw is a low amperage, high resistance short circuit that persists even when the ignition key is turned off.
This video is published for entertainment purposes only, and it is not to be construed as an instruction guide. If you need help with an automotive problem you should carefully assess your limitations, and consider consulting a professional before getting in over your head. Be careful to protect yourself and to protect your property by not doing something you are unqualified to do....
Light Check - Test trailer lights quickly and easily. Save time, save money, drive safely.
Light Check is a portable, self contained diagnostics and testing device for one person to easily test trailer lights without a towing vehicle. Simply connect Light Check to your trailer wiring, turn on the power and it cycles through all the light circuits allowing one person to easily check all the trailer lights. Internal electronic diagnostics will indicate the type and source of faults when problems are found.
Includes internal rechargeable battery and electronic diagnostics for testing trailer light circuits.
Proud recipient of the 2009 Idea Champion Award. Click here for more information and national finalist in Newpreneur Contest sponsored by Inc.com and alibaba.com.
http://www.commerce.nd.gov/innovate/innovatend/meet-past-innovate-nd-idea-champions/
Order online at www.trailerlightcheck.com
How to test vehicle fuses
This is just one way of doing it, by measuring the resistance. The mixed up fuse shouldn't be causing a problem, but it can cause a problem when the fuse needs to blow up to save the rest of the electrical.
Finding a active short
A fuse that keeps on blowing is an active problem and can be difficult to find. However if you use these steps, you should be able to locate and repair it.
This Old Trailer: Troubleshooting the Ground Wire - etrailer.com
http://www.etrailer.com/tv-This-Old-Trailer-Groundwire.aspx
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer
installation instructions and specs for complete information.
The first thing you want to do when you first start working on electrical problems is you want to divide and conquer. You have two parts here, the truck and the trailer. You want to verify which one actually has the problem. Chances are it is going to be on the trailer, but then again you still want to check the truck too. So use a separate light tester, hook a ground not to the frame but to the 4-pull ground itself because this is what is going to carry the ground to the trailer. :52
So we will hook up our ground lead to the tester to the ground, we have our running lights on so we are good to go. We will do the same test with the left turn and right turn. Once we verify our truck is working fine then we can start working on the trailer. The hitch should only be used for pulling purposes, not for anything electrical. And that is the proper way how the trailer should be hooked up to the tow vehicle. 1:19
Just to give you a quick idea how electricity flows in the trailer what happens is the electricity flows through the brown, yellow, and the green wire goes through the lights and has to flow back in a circle like I said, so it all has to come back to ground. On trailers it goes to the frame, and from the trailer it has to go through the ground on the truck. And if there is any interruption it is going to cause the trailer lights not to work at all or do some weird stuff. We have our ground wire right here, as you can see it is loose in the air so it is not going to do you any good. We have wires disconnected so lets go out back and show you what is going to happen when you have no ground wire attached to the trailer.1:54
You can see here we actually have the lights on on the trailer, yet we still have the ground disconnected up front. Basically what is happening is starting to get ground any way it can. In this instance it is getting it through the ball on the truck. Now you get a brand new hitch with everything painted and nice and new, chances are this is not going to work this way. But on an older vehicle, with the parts worn in and used a lot where you still have metal to metal contact it probably will work. However, it is not very good on an electrical system, because when you go down the road you are going to get a constant on off all the time. You have probably seen guys going down the road and see their lights flicker every time they hit a bump. We will shake the trailer and get the same effect. And now we have the turn signal on. Again, the ground is not hooked up front, but it is getting ground from the ball. We will go ahead and shake the trailer again. See how it goes off? That is not good. So to fix that we will go ahead and reattach our ground. 2:51
Go ahead and run the ground screw through the trailer. Now that we have it reattached go ahead and test it back at the other end of the trailer. All right we have the running light circuit back on, go ahead and check the trailer, simulate it bouncing down the road.
