Trailer Lights Malone Trailer

[JMS]

Having problems with my Malone Trailer lights. They were not working I did some trouble shooting and thought It was the truck fuse for trailer lights, I used one of those plugs you stick in your hitch light receiver to check and before I replaced fuse nothing afterward everything was great.

Today I hooked up trailer and back left tail light works but not side light and the opposite on the other side. I checked all the wire connection including the ground by the tongue & bulbs and everything looked okay.

I have the trailer with the retractable tongue and was examining the plug from the base of the trailer that connects to the tongue plug and it looks like the white ground wire was cut off (see picture), but honestly I don’t remember a second ground wire....Does anyone know if there is a second ground wire or is it supposed to be snipped off like that? I checked owners manual and wasn’t much help. Appreciate any assistance


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[Neumie]

I don't have a Malone trailer, but I think the cut ground wire is correct. I've assembled a few Rack-n-Roll trailers years ago and I think their harness also had a cut ground where the tongue connected to the rear frame. If it was accidentally cut off you'd see a loose, dangling white wire bolted to the rear portion of the frame somewhere.

I recently had and issue with my LED sidelights on my home built trailer. One side was very dim and the other was intermittently working (though dim when it was). The rear two LED lights worked as they should; park/turn/brake. Ran through the usual checks: properly grounded trailer, sidelights were grounded, sidelight bolts were tightened, and the hot wire was firmly connected. I even took a multi-meter to make sure the sidelights were actually getting power. Everything checked out so the only thing it could be was both my sidelights had failed. Bought a new to check and sure enough that was the issue, so either the LED or the circuit board failed after 7 ish years.

Not sure if you have LED or incandescent, but you may need to use a multi-meter to start weeding out issues.

[Rockclimber]

I have a Malone trailer- the white is definitely the ground wire.

[TroutSupport.com]

White is always ground, and yep, it's important. Trailer lights are a never ending battle.

[Neumie]

According to the OP the ground wire is still connected at the plug attaching to the vehicle. On folding/collapsible trailers there's a second plug where the tongue attaches to the frame of the trailer to allow it to retract or be removed; that second harness doesn't have a ground wire.

[JMS]

According to the OP the ground wire is still connected at the plug attaching to the vehicle. On folding/collapsible trailers there's a second plug where the tongue attaches to the frame of the trailer to allow it to retract or be removed; that second harness doesn't have a ground wire.

Neumie thanks for your help that’s what I found as well, I’ll invest in a multimeter and figure it out. Appreciate your help


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[Wutevs]

Quick quest'

Where your lights are bolted to the trailer, are they bolted onto shiny metal parts of the trailer? Just wondering because I fixed my trailer lights last week and a bad ground was the problem. Took off the lights, cleaned up the holes with a file and wire brush, problem solved.

Good luck.

[TexasJim]

If you want to reduce the trailer lights headaches, give up on bolting the white ground wire to the trailer frame. Run a separate ground wire from the white wire back to ALL the lights. The newer, sealed and LED lights, wired correctly and sealed should function for years. I mounted mine up on the upright guides, where they never see saltwater. Same for all the splices. Liquid 'Lectric Tape is your friend. Put it on everything! TexasJim

[OrangeQuest]

Chasing wiring problems on trailers don't connect the trailer to the ball of the tow vehicle, just plug the harness in. You won't get a false ground from the metal to metal connection the trailer ball gives. Also if you ever replace your trailer harness don't cut any extra on the harness off. Get some shock cord and build a little loop relief so if the trailer harness gets pulled it gives some and doesn't pull on the whole harness.

The running the ground wire to each light isn't a bad idea. May be a pain to do but so is chasing ghost wiring issues.