Trailer Lights New EZ Loader

My EZ Loader Trailer is less than 1 year old and I'm having problems with the lights. Trailer light issues are my least favorite thing to work on next to trying to loosen any fitting, nut or bolt on my engine but that's another topic. It seems that EZ Loader seems to have some kind of ground connection through the safety cable that engages the surge brakes incase your trailer becomes detached from the hitch. I can tug on this cable and when the clasp that the cable originates from is in contact with the metal the lights will turn on. Weird? When my lights are not working properly my surge brakes do not disengage when I back up-this I can understand b/c of poor connection. My left turn signal does not work. So could this be just a bad grounding wire somewhere in the surge brake reservoir area? I'm still stuck on why tugging on the breakaway cable would cause my lights to go on and off? ANy experience with this or helpful suggestions would be appreciated. :?

I believe your real problem lies in the ground from your trailer connector. What is probably happening is that you are providing an alternate ground back to the towing vehicles grounding system through the brake emergency cable when it touches both the tow vehicle and the trailer chassis. Generally, the connection to the ball will do that for you, but you may have enough grease or such that it is not making a good ground. I would guess that if you drove around the block a few times, it might make the ground for you. You can test this theory by taking a piece of wire and touching a clean ground on your vehicle and a clean ground on the trailer (generally bolt-heads are good places).

Failure of the ground would also cause the brake backup-override to fail.

You should check the connection of the ground from your connector to the trailer chassis as the first item to look at.

Trailer lights are odd creatures. We sold boats back in the '60' and 70's and trailer connections gave us more trouble than the boats did. (Of course, we sold only trouble-free sailboats. :lol: ) A good ground is essential. Back in the days of actual "lamps", I have seen the ground feed back through one of the bulbs when the primary ground was not properly made. Turning on a turn signal might light the brakes or such.

Seeker:

I'm sorry I can not help you on this however I and I'm sure many others would like to know your final results. I'd ask that you make a post back here when you've solved your trailer light grounding situation, as a lot of us could learn from what you're experiencing. If what abcandjrc has suggested does not solve your problem you might call the EZLoader factory in Washington where Ranger Tugs has the trailers made to ask them what there thoughts are. I've called them a coupe of times with questions and they've always been very helpful.

Jim

SEEKER":tjcrzvxa said:

My EZ Loader Trailer is less than 1 year old and I'm having problems with the lights........ANy experience with this or helpful suggestions would be appreciated. :?

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I second the explanation by 'abcandjrc'; the breakaway cable is being used as a ground by default, EZ Loader didn't design it that way. 😉

You have a bad ground connection somewhere. It could be in one place or several, so check and clean each and every one, from the trailer plug itself right back to the tail lights.

We had trouble with our surge brakes locking and the solution was in the wiring connection to the vehicle. With a new pigtail and some electrical grease on the connectors the surge brakes work now. On to other electrical issues as one side of the tail lights are not working. You are all correct, trailers (especially those dunked in salt water occasionally) are troublesome.

Don

I may have narrowed down the search but I haven't fixed the problem. Worse yet they state troopers decided to give me a friendly "how ya-doin today" and let me know that my left lights/signals are not working.....luckily his suggestion was that a trailer less than a year old should be working just fine... I said, "thank you officer". It looks like the there are ground wires that are attached to the chain/bolts at the left side of the tongue, they are slightly exposed and take a sharp angle to make that attachment. I'll be giving EZ-Loader a call to get there 2 cents as well...I'll let them now what the State Troopers recommendations are.

As far as a single lamp not working, it could be several problems. Generally, the turn signals are combined in a unit with the brake light on that side. Does the brake light on that side work? If so, you probably do not have a ground problem at the light, but a power-lead failure.

In that case the first place I would look is at my vehicle's owner's manual to see how the various signals to the trailer connector are fused. That is an easier check than crawling around under the trailer. You could have something as easy as a blown fuse (but, sadly, I doubt it.)

Most trailer lights are connected by those cheap snap connectors. They will corrode like crazy. Even sealed butt connectors will eventually fail. The good thing is that either is easy to replace. If the brake light lights but the turn signal doesn't, I'd check the connectors right after checking the fuses.

If neither works, check for ground probems again. Some lamps are grounded to the trailer chassis by the fasteners, some by a wire attached to the chassis. Loosen and retighten the connection, however it is made.

I was talking with Scott Kuver at EZLoader about another matter and brought your trailer wiring/trailer light situation up and he advised to "look where the marker lights in the fenders splice into the harness" to check and see if this might be where your problem is. If you need to reach Scott his phone number is 800-426-3110 or you could email him at skuver@ezloader.com Keep us posted as to the final outcome.

Jim F

I also have had some ez loader issues with the led tail lights and I can say that you will find the ground on the right tail light. As I remember it is a white wire and is grounded on the lugs that hold the light on. You will find two wires that are white and one goes to the ground of the light itself and the other where the loom ground is. I got real tired of the factory lights going bad and went to aftermarket lights with a lifetime guarantee. My trailer is a 2007 and the light dealer told me they had huge problems with the lights. Mine were always full of water and the led's died one at a time. Any way the right tail light is a good place to hunt for a bad ground. Bob Heselberg in Eatonville Wa

Seeker, This may or may not help you with your problem. I had a problem with both of my running lights on the right fender would work intermittently at the same time. I thought it might be something in common to both lights. I was wrong, sort of. Both lights had the same problem but independent of each other. These are sealed led lights using a frame ground. They are held to the fender by a 7/16" nut on the inside of the fender. The sealed reflector/lens is held to the backing plate by two rivets. I pried the reflector from the backing plate and found there is a copper ground surrounding one of the rivets and it was all corroded. I could not clean it manually so I got some muratic acid (The Works Toilet Bowl Cleaner) and applied it with q-tips. Then rinsed with water and blow dried. (Be carefull - the muratic acid is very corrosive - do not get it on your skin or in your eyes) I then applied the muratic acid to the mounting bolt and around the hole in the fender where the light is mounted. That cleaned all the rust and corrosion easily. Then rinsed thoroughly with water and blew dry. I then re-assembled the light using a couple of 8-32 screws, locking nuts and washers. Then remounted the lights to the fender. They now work good.

One solution is to connect together all the light housing ground points in much the same way that the green ground wires are run on the boat. Just daisy chain the ground wires from the trailer connector to the farthest light housing.
While you're at it, see if you can re-mount the light housings so that they are electrically isolated from the aluminum frame. That way each light will have it's own ground. Using an aluminum chassis (or car body for that matter) as a DC ground return is never a good idea, especially if it's likely to get wet, particularly with salt water.

One of my vehicles has an aluminum body, and every single electrical component attached to the body has its own ground wire to prevent electrolysis and corrosion.

The problem with single-point grounding for all lights is that a single-point failure takes out all the lights. Grounding to the frame generally will assure a ground to any lights that haven't lost their immediate ground. When the vehicle is attached and has been moving a bit the ground will be taken back to the tow-vehicles inherent ground through the hitch. Only individual lights which have lost their own individual ground will fail to light.

Elaboration at the following to avoid hijacking this thread.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2706

abcandjrc":3dd9slk2 said:

The problem with single-point grounding for all lights is that a single-point failure takes out all the lights.

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Sorry, I should have been clearer. The daisy chain starts at the trailer connector, goes to each light housing, then finally returns to the trailer connector making a ring or continous loop. That way a single bad connection won't take out all the lights. Obviously this ground circuit should be made with connections of the same integrity as those used on the power connections.

Unless painted, coated, or anodized, aluminum will oxidize and form a insulating barrier just in the presence of the atmosphere; add dissimilar metals, salt water, and electricity to speed up the process.

Aluminum makes for a strong and lightweight trailer; a good ground return circuit, not so much! 😉

Update: I jiggle stuff and sometimes it helps.....

I'm at a loss with this and frankly don't care to spend the time to deal with it. Because I'm forced too or face problems with The Man I'm looking at committing a weekend and working on this issue. Figures that this past weekend everything seemed to work fine. I do see some exposed wires where the ground at the tongue is. I'm interested in investigating the grounding of each light since EZ Loader said each light is individually grounded and I do have an aluminum frame. Also it looks like I have to get rid of some conduit to really visual the wire junctions.

Now...anyone have any experience with Wallace Stoves.....that's another post.