Wiring Guide Post Lights

[nastyquedawg]

I am in process of rewiring my boat trailer and have a question on the guide post lights. There are 2 wires, a solid black wire and a black wire with a white stripe. For simplicity let's talk green side only.

If I connect the brown wire to the black wire with the white stripe and the green wire to the black wire then will the guide post lights fuction like tail lights or do I have to ground the black wire with the white stripe to the trailer and connect the black wire to the brown wire so they function like side markers. Thanks in advance for any information you can provide.

 

[Dunaruna]

Re: Wiring Guide Post Lights

Tail lights and side clearance lights are on the same circuit so there is no need to separate them.

From your guide post lights (clearance lights), the solid black is ground, the black/white is positive. Connect trailer brown to black/white, connect trailer ground to solid black.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Wiring Guide Post Lights

There is a basic question to be asked before an answer can be given - are your guide post lights simply marker lights, or are they tail lights.

If they are marker lights, one of the two wires is probably intended to be a ground. If that is the case, connect one of the wires to the brown wire and either ground the other to the frame, or connect it to your white wire, if you are using a wired ground to your vehicle.

If the light you are speaking of is a tail light, one of the wires needs to be connected to your brown wire, and the other to the green wire, but you will have to figure out which is which. The easiest way to do that is to remove the lens and connect the brown wire to the others, one at a time. The filament that burns most brightly will be the one that should go to the green circuit, so you just have to figure out which of the light wires (black or black/white) is the right one for that.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Wiring Guide Post Lights

if mounting like these you need 3 wires, turn, tail and ground. on clearance lights tail and ground.

Green goes to turn/brake, brown goes to tail/ clearance/ then you need a ground wire. which attaches to the mounting bolt.

on the clearance lights the black/white goes to the brown wire, the back goes to the ground.

for the last 20 years i have been running a dedicate ground wire to all my fixtures, and it has eliminate all problems, other than blown bulbs.

see this. http://www.accessconnect.com/trailer_wiring_diagram.htm

 

[nastyquedawg]

Re: Wiring Guide Post Lights

Got it, I have marker lights, the bulbs only have 1 filament. Thanks for the help

 

[mickjetblue]

Re: Wiring Guide Post Lights

If you bought posts with the marker lights built into the top of them, don't
be surprised when the bulbs burn out. They are subjected to a lot of vibration,
and will burn out. After a couple of times, I gave up on replacing the bulbs.
I'm putting side marker lights on the trailer. The posts are good, all the same.

Good luck.

 

[nastyquedawg]

Re: Wiring Guide Post Lights

Do you think bulb grease would help with the vibration?