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Expert Answers about Trailer Wiring


  • Determining Function Of Trailer Taillight Wires on Horse Trailer Taillights.
  • Since yellow, green, and black are not standard trailer taillight wires, we will need to do a little more digging to find the functions of the different wire colors. To determine the function of the trailer taillight wires, you will want to trace the wires into the taillight housing. The wire that makes contact with the outside of the bulb socket is the ground wire. Once you've determined which wire is the ground wire, you will want to ground this wire and apply 12V power to the other...
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  • How Does Trailer Lighting with Black and Red Wire Attach to Standard Trailer Wiring Colors
  • For most trailer lighting applications the if the light has a red and black wire the red wire represents the stop and turn circuit and the black represents the running light circuit. If there isn't an additional white wire that would indicate that the assembly grounds through the mounting hardware. So to wire this to standard trailer wiring you'd run the red wire on the assembly on the passenger side of the trailer to the green wire and the red wire on the driver side of the trailer to...
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  • Replacing Trailer Wiring Harness on a 1976 Jayco Eagle Pop Up Trailer
  • Replacing the wiring harness on your 1976 Jayco Eagle pop up trailer should be fairly easy. If your trailer is set up with brake/turn signals, and tail lights only then I would remove the factory square 6-way wiring connector and replace it with a 4-way flat connector, item # 18004. This connector will wire as follows the white wire should go to ground on the trailer frame, the brown wire attaches to the trailer tail light wire, the yellow wire attaches to the trailer left turn and brake...
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  • Wiring Code For Hopkins 7-Way # HM20048
  • When installing The Hopkins 7-Way Molded Trailer Wire Connector # HM20048 on your 1984 Chevrolet C/K Series Pickup the black 12 Volt hot lead will have to be used in order for the brakes to work. I have attached the wiring code below: White Wire - Ground Usual Trailer Wire White Black Wire - 12 Volt (Hot Lead) Usual Trailer Wire Black ( The black wire for a traditional brake controller that ports doesn't necessarily need to be active for it to work) Green Wire - Tail Lights Usual Trailer...
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  • How Does the Optronics Trailer Light # STL79RB Wire to Trailer Wiring
  • The wiring of the Optronics Trailer Light # STL79RB that you listed are: The white wire, with the mounting eye, is a ground wire that needs to be connected to the white wire of your trailer wiring. The black wire would be connected to your running lights and is the lower intensity illumination. This should be run to the brown wire of your trailer wiring as this is usually the tail light circuit. The red will be wired to the brake/turn wire and is for the higher intensity illumination....
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  • How Do I Determine The Functions Of Each Wire On My Trailer If They Are Not Color Coded?
  • Hello Donald, thanks for reaching out. Since the wires on your trailer are not color coded to the typical standard, the best way for you to determine the correct function for each wire will be to use a wire tester such as part # PTW2991. You can probe each wire and use the process of elimination to determine the function of each wire. On the trailer side it can be helpful to trace the wires back and see where they go.
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  • How Do Trailer Wires with Two Wires Attach to 4-Way Trailer Wiring
  • Based on the colors of the wires that are on the lights you bought for your trailer is sounds like the assemblies ground through the mounting hardware, the brown wire is the running light circuit, and the red wire is the stop turn circuit. A traditional 4 wire trailer setup has a stop/turn circuit that runs to either side of the trailer. One for the passenger side (typically green wire) and one to the driver side (typically yellow). So that's two of the four wires. The white wire will...
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  • How to Wire Third Brake Light on Trailer
  • To add a third brake light to your trailer I recommend Optronics Sealed, Streamline LED Trailer Third Brake Light, 1-Function, # STL80RB. This can be wired to your trailer using the Tow Ready Vehicle to Vehicle Taillight Converter, part # 118158. To install the tail light converter # 118158 on your trailer you will connect the wires on the input side of the converter, white (ground) to the trailer frame, green wire to green wire on your trailers wiring, and yellow wire to yellow wire on...
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  • Trailer Wiring for a Motorcycle Towing a Motorcycle Trailer
  • Normally, the 5-wire flat connector will accept a 4-wire flat connector and work properly. The extra circuit on the 5-wire connector is normally wired to power a reverse lockout or electric trailer brakes not the brake lights. If your motorcycle has the brake light circuit connected to the extra circuit you will need to do some re wiring or install a converter, item # 119178KIT, on the motorcycle. Your trailer should be wired as follows. White wire = ground, brown = taillight, yellow =...
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  • Wiring a 1992 Mazda B2600 With a 4-Way Trailer Wiring Harness
  • Your 1992 Mazda has a 5-wire system, and the trailer has a 4-wire system. If you do not have a 4-Way trailer connector on the truck, you will need to install one. The 4-Pole Hardwire Kit with Converter, item # 119178KIT will convert the vehicles 5 wire system down to a 4-wire system for trailer lighting. You will need to identify the taillight circuits on the vehicle with a circuit tester, item # PTW2993 if needed. Once you have the proper circuits identified you will connect the white...
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  • Wiring Wishbone Connector To Trailer With 4 Wires
  • The reason for four wires on your trailer is that one of the wires will normally be spliced toward the rear of the trailer and will run to both sides of the trailer for the running lights. I have attached a photo of a wishbone connector. You can see that the two wires highlighted with arrows are sharing the same pin on the connector. The green wire will connect to the right turn signal, the yellow wire to the left turn signal and the white wire will be the ground. Typical trailer wiring...
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  • Wiring New 7-Way Trailer Plug on Trailer That Used Wishbone Harness on 4-Pole
  • The easiest way to wire in a 7-way plug on your trailer that currently has a 4-pole wishbone harness is to use a junction box like # 38656 from Spectro. Your trailer that has a wishbone harness has two separate running light wires (dual brown wires) that allow you to connect both sides' running lights without need to run a running light jumper wire between the two sides of the trailer. The junction box will provide a handy and weatherproof connection point to wire together the trailer's...
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  • How to Identify Functions for Each Wire on a Trailer
  • Trailer wiring often uses specific color wires for a particular lighting function but there is no guarantee that your trailer uses the common wire colors. This just means that you'll test the wires on the trailer to see what each one does; then you will know how to connect it. You can refer to the linked article on trailer wiring that shows the usual configurations of 4-pole, 5-pole, 6-pole and 7-way wiring. Photos are included to show you the usual wiring colors for each function. In...
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  • Wiring Single Wire Clearance Lights on an Enclosed Trailer
  • You will need to use a circuit tester, item # PTW2993 if needed, to test the wires exiting the trailer to figure out the wiring configuration with the trailer hooked up to the truck and the running lights on. You will probably find that you have taillight power on one of the green wires and no power on any of the other wires. In this case you would wire the two green wires to the power wire coming from the clearance light. You would then need to wire the two white wires coming from the...
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  • How to Test Trailer Wiring to Determine Function Handled by Each Wire Color
  • The wire colors and number of wires on your trailer don't quite match up to what is common but we can help you sort it all out. The best way to start is to identify what function each trailer wire powers by connecting them one at a time to a well-charged battery. First, find the wire that connects to the trailer frame since this is the ground. Usually a white wire is ground but it is always possible that alternate wire colors were installed at some point in the past. Whichever wire connects...
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  • Will the 4 Pole to 6 Pole to 4 Pole Trailer Wiring Adapter Work For My Trailer
  • The Hopkins 4 Pole to 6 Pole Trailer Wiring Adapter # 37175 will work to connect your vehicle wiring to your trailer wiring. However, you will need the Wiring Kit for Brake Controllers # 5506 to make the adapter fully functional. The 6-way adapter has three wire leads: the blue is for electric brakes, the red wire is the hot lead and the white wire is the ground wire. I attached installation videos of the wiring adapter and wiring kit you may want to check out. There are two standard wiring...
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  • How To Wire A Third Brake Light On A Trailer
  • To get a third brake light on your trailer I would recommend the Optronics Sealed, Streamline LED Trailer Third Brake Light, 1-Function, part # STL80RB. This can be wired to your trailer using the Tow Ready Vehicle to Vehicle Taillight Converter, part # 118158. To install the tail light converter # 118158 on your trailer you will connect the wires on the input side of the converter, white (ground) to the trailer frame, green wire to green wire on your trailers wiring, and yellow wire to...
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  • Wire Colors and Functions of Hopkins 7-Way Molded Trailer Wire Connector
  • There are two color code standards that are used in the trailer world. The Hopkins 7-Way RV style connector and cable, # H20046, that you referenced uses the RV Industry standard color code which is as follows: White Wire - Ground Red Wire - Left Turn/Brake Brown Wire - Right Turn/Brake Green Wire - Tail Lights Blue Wire - Brake Controller Output Black Wire - 12 Volt hot lead Yellow Wire - Reverse Lights or Auxiliary Circuit This color code is commonly found on camping trailers such as...
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  • Connecting 5 Wires From a Trailer to a 7-Way Trailer Connector
  • The best solution for your situation would be to use a circuit tester, like part # PTW2993, to wire your trailer wires to a seven-way trailer connector, like part # A7WCB. Wiring by function is the best way to make sure you have the trailer connector wired correctly. Be sure you know what the black wire function is on the trailer. It will probably be for a twelve-volt battery or for reverse lights, but it could be used for something else. The location for the black wire in the connector...
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  • How To Wire A 7-Way Trailer Connector With A Wishbone Trailer Wiring Harness
  • The best way to wire a 7-way plug on your trailer that has a 4-way wishbone harness is to use a junction box like part # 38656 from Spectro. The wishbone harness has two separate running light brown that connect both sides of the trailer running lights without the need to run a jumper wire between the two sides of the trailer. The # 38656 junction box will give you a nice way to wire together the trailer's leads and the 7-way plug like Hopkins part # H20044. You would use the junction...
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