Guide Post LED Lighting Electrical Help

[Edward]

I'm not electrical by nature and could use some assistance. I put on CE smith guide posts and followed the directions. I believe I have good ground as I drilled holes in the trailer frame and sanded down to bare metal for the ground.

The posts light up very dim, but eventually get bright under way but then flicker on/off. The flickering is random, and I can't quite tell but it appears both posts might be flickering at the same time.

What's the best way to troubleshoot this? I have a voltmeter just not sure how to tackle as I'm not experienced enough with electrical wiring on a trailer.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Ed

 

[tdonoughue]

Hi, Ed. You are probably right to suspect the ground. That is where I would start. Do you have photos of what you did on the holes and sanding? Do you have a long length of wire available? Something that could go from your ground point to the connector to the vehicle?

 

[Helipilot11]

I had the same problem, but replaced the ground hardware with a nut and bolt. Now the lights work as they should and no blinking.

 

[Edward]

I definitely think it's ground now. Did some research and it appears weak light and flickering lights are commonly ground problems.

Will troubleshoot more tomorrow.

Thanks

Ed

 

[Murf'n'surf]

Did you have the trailer on the ball? If not, hook it up and see if that helps your ground.

 

[Scottintexas]

you could also jump your ground wire over to where your trailer lights are just to help you trouble shoot it,

where are you at in DFW maybe if your close I could come by,

 

[Boat Crazy]

Agree with @Murf'n'surf . Also, try hooking your ground wire to the same bolt that grounds your tail lights. Also check your ground wire where it bolts to frame from your plug outlet. Make sure all strands of wire are making a good connection. It is possible only a few strands of wire are making contact.

 

[Bill D]

@Edward I had one of my post lights doing the same thing a while back. I checked all the connections and normal trouble spots. In the end the connection inside the light was bad. I called C.E. Smith customer service and they sent me a replacement. Very few questions asked. I was really impressed with their service.

 

[Murf'n'surf]

You could test it straight to a battery or battery charger to ensure your problem isn't the new lights.

 

[Edward]

Okay. Finally resolved. Figured out the wiring on the trailer. Each side has a run of wires in the trailer frame, and with that run is a white ground wire that each light taps into. Where each run comes to the front one side white goes straight to the plug. The other side is split into two whites, with one going to the plug and the other going to an eyelet in the tongue that swings away and screws into the bottom of what looks like a part of the brake cylinder.

So, I decided I had three options. More sanding on my current connection to the frame where I grounded, tap into the existing white ground and ride along that path or lastly run a dedicated ground up each side in the frame and connect to the same ground point in the tongue.

I opted to run my own ground. Bought the necessary supplies from an auto store, fished a dedicated ground through each side, connect up the wires and connected to the existing ground point and voila!!

If I get some spare time soon I'll create a diagram of my findings and what I did to help those in the future.

Cheers!

 

[njmr2fan]

I'm doing these this week. I need the guides to see the trailer behind our Ram truck. It was never an issue sighting the empty trailer down a ramp with our Ford Edge, buts its lost behind the height of the truck bed. I'll have to prepare for dedicated ground wires. thanks.

 

[Edward]

I'll take some pics when I get home today. I decided to run my own ground on both sides and connect to the grounding point on the front of the trailer, which was a screw into the bottom of what looked liked the brake cylinder.

Running the wires through the trailer frame was easy and only took a couple minutes on each side. I used electrical fishing tape to do it and it was quick.