2010 trailer LED lights don't work other than reverse lights

[Eric2010MCX2]

Hey folks,

So we have a 96 F-150 pulling a 2010 Mastercraft Trailer with LED lights.

I have NO lights that work on the trailer, with the exception of the backup lights. They work fine and the lockout mechanism disengages fine in reverse. This is all while hooked to my 1996 F-150.

The 7 blade RV connector on my truck is ok, as I checked all the blades with an ammeter. I know the boat trailer lights work, b/c we tested them at the dealer with another (New) truck and all kinds of testing equipment.

I have been told that older vehicles do not work with LED trailer lights without changing out some sort of module on the older vehicle. I am confused by this b/c the backup lights on the trailer are LED and they work fine.

Any help would be appreciated..

Thanks, E

[trickskier]

If there not working it has nothing to do with the fact they are LED. Your post is not making contact with the pigtail. Slighty bend the connection in the pigtail in and the posts on the receiver out to make contact.

[Sodar]

The back-up lights and solenoid for the brakes work off the center post of the RV-7 connector. It could be that your RV-7 connector on the truck is not compatible with the RV-7 on the trailer. It's been a few years, but one of the shop trucks at the boat place I worked at was a '97 F-250 and had an RV-7 female plug that was not compatible with many of the newer RV-7 males plugs. We ended up making an adapter and it worked fine from there out. You might want to make sure your contacts are in the same spot for both truck and trailer (ie. left turn lines up with left turn, running with running, right turn with right turn)

[Eric2010MCX2]

I added a Hopkins 7 blade connector on my truck as all it came with was a 4 wire from the factory in 1996.

Does anyone have a schematic of what posts go to what on the 2010 Jet connex harness on the trailer?

[Eric2010MCX2]

Sodar, I think you are on to something here. I hope you are anyways!!

[Shaun315]

Older vehicles upgraded with LED indicators (on the vehicle) often need either new blinker relays or resistors in parallel with the LED lights. Older blinker relays blink fast to indicate a burnt out light, and the LEDs pull very little current, to older vehicles an LED light appears to be a burnt out incandescent bulb. So you can get solid state relay blinker or fake out the old relays with resistors.

I don't think this applies to trailers, so I'd go with making sure your plug and socket contacts are properly mated when connected like the others said.

[Sodar]

This is right, except the center post in your case will be blue.

http://www.norpine.ab.ca/rvplug/Norp...ram%20page.htm

[cbryan70]

cant you just put a resistor in the line to make it seem like it is drawing more current?

[Shaun315]

sounds like Sodar's solution is the way to go...

[Eric2010MCX2]

UPDATE>. I just talked to Jet connex (who makes the harness on the new MC trailers)... and got confirmation on what goes to what in terms of the poles on the trailer side.. and I am sure of which way to face when looking at them...

the poles on my trucks side match up with the poles on the boat trailers side... so there is something more to this here.

[thatsmrmastercraft]

99% of all trailer light problems are caused by a bad ground. Or at least it seems that way.

[Eric2010MCX2]

If I had a bad ground on the truck, would all of my leads on the truck side RV plug still test out and give me 10.5 - 11.5 volts when tested with an ammeter? , b/c that's what I'm getting now.

[thatsmrmastercraft]

Eric, it looks like you are the other 1%.

[nmcjr]

While I agree that ground problems are very common it seems to me that the reverse lights wouldn't work if that were the case, (although I've seen some strange ground related problems). But, to be sure, were the stated voltages above with your tester grounded to the trailer or to the truck? If the truck, try testing with the tester grounded to the trailer.

I think LED's can be somewhat more sensitive to input voltages (a bad ground would cause a low input voltage and I know from automated Xmas light experience that LED's don't always dim well), so you may want to run a ground wire from the truck to the trailer to test also (since you are seeing less than 12V on the tests above) You will need to find some good non-painted surfaces to touch the wire to, like bolts etc.

The next step would be to use a test lead to test from let's say the taillight pin on the truck and manually connect it to other pins on the trailer to see if you can get them to light up. (I don't know if the trailer connector has a ground pin, but you will want to test to confirm which it is first so you don't blow a fuse on the truck.) If that works, then try a blinker from the truck to the various options on the trailer. This test is just another way to verify the pinouts that you are looking at because I have seen a truck that wasn't wired standard from the factory and gave me fits. I know you already looked at the pinouts, but that would be the only thing left that makes any sense--and to Sodar's point, seems like the most likely problem here. It could be that either the boat or the truck is not following the pinouts you have on paper. Basically, assume you don't have the pinouts on paper, and use your tester to learn the truck's pinout, then use the test lead to learn the trailers pinout and make sure they match--hope this makes sense??

[Shaun315]

your truck is probably fine if it worked with other trailers with a 7 blade connector.

are you getting any voltage on the trailer side of the plug other than the reverse lights? You might have a bad ground on the trailer...