trailer ground

[san dimas]

Hello everyone.
When I jiggle my trailer inside the receiver, the lites flicker. Could this be the ground wire that is attached to a stud on the trailer?

 

[H20Rat]

Re: trailer ground

lots of trailer plugs do not use the ground provided by the vehicle, and instead ground the entire system through the ball/receiver. Bad idea, and almost certainly going to have marginal results at best. Solution is to put a new plug on the trailer side that actually uses the ground terminal from the vehicle's plug.

 

[sublauxation]

Re: trailer ground

X 2. And like Bubba said in the other post, it's a good idea to run a ground from each light to the plug. My trailer lights were all individually grounded to the frame, then a ground wire was run to the trailer plug. It was a constant disaster. Driving on dirt roads can really screw up the ground through the hitch and will make your lights really dim.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: trailer ground

If the trailer frame is used as the ONLY ground (whether or not the white wire or the hitch ball is the connection) if the trailer happens to be a tilt style or has the tongue bolted to the rest of the frame, each of those joints needs to have a ground strap around the joint or a poor ground can result. If the trailer is welded from back to the front, then there is no better ground than the frame. Even a ground wire bolts to the same bolt that grounds the light. Clean that connection and seal it and ground will not be an issue.

 

[jayhanig]

Re: trailer ground

X 2. And like Bubba said in the other post, it's a good idea to run a ground from each light to the plug. My trailer lights were all individually grounded to the frame, then a ground wire was run to the trailer plug. It was a constant disaster. Driving on dirt roads can really screw up the ground through the hitch and will make your lights really dim.

What he said.

 

[san dimas]

Re: trailer ground

The trailer has a ground wire that runs from the trailer frame to the plug and then from the plug to the frame of my car so the trailer hitch shouldn't matter. I'm thinking that the trailer ground wire might be corroded so I'm going to try and clean up where it connects to the trailer frame..

 

[rbh]

Re: trailer ground

YUP,what they said, to add

If you use the frame as your grounding points ensure it is all welded together, bolt on pieces are bad grounds as they do not make great contact points.
(this counts for the hitch as well, get a stud welded to the frame as a contact point)

 

[sublauxation]

Re: trailer ground

The trailer has a ground wire that runs from the trailer frame to the plug and then from the plug to the frame of my car so the trailer hitch shouldn't matter. I'm thinking that the trailer ground wire might be corroded so I'm going to try and clean up where it connects to the trailer frame..

Your ground wires aren't grounding anymore, so right now it's using the hitch as the only ground, that's why it flickers when you move the hitch. Either way you have the right idea in cleaning up all grounding points, or as mentioned, run a ground wire from each light to the plug so you wont have that issue anymore.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: trailer ground

Its not impossible the vehicle harness doesn't provide ground... Even if it has a wire and a pin in the plug, its worth checking with a multimeter to see if its actually a ground or not.