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Pulse
12th Apr 2009, 06:58 PM
Had an interesting weekend fixing the lights on my dad's trailer - chewed off by a dog. Soldered them all as I thought they should go, plugged it into the car without hitching and tested it:

1. Indicators, brake and tail all work by themselves no worries.
2. With the tail lights on, when the brake is applied, the indicators come on!!!

it got worse...

3. with the brake on, the left indicator causes the right to come on!! and vice versa...

so it took all the electrical tape off and checked.. no shorts

and ideas?





After a long afternoon I plugged it into the hilux... all worked normally.. none of the weird stuff above.

So I checked the car... cold earth installed by the towbar installer.. never noticed it because it always got earth via the hitch! Fixed with a shakeproof washer.

Anyway the moral is that a good reliable earth is the basis of all auto electric installations!


Pulse

glenn k
12th Apr 2009, 10:21 PM
Yea pulse I'm sure it was a bit confusing. I've had a bit of wierd stuff like that for the same reason.

Rossluck
13th Apr 2009, 06:48 PM
2. With the tail lights on, when the brake is applied, the indicators come on!!!

it got worse...

3. with the brake on, the left indicator causes the right to come on!! and vice versa...



Sounds perfectly normal to me. :?:wink:

Chipman
13th Apr 2009, 07:24 PM
......See it lots of times when following behind trailers or caravans... sometimes even single cars.

Always poor earthing......



Cheers

Chipman

Yonnee
13th Apr 2009, 08:01 PM
Well, at least you fixed it. Dodgy earths are always a drama to find!!
Particularly when from the driver's seat, you usually don't see the trailer looking like one of these...:newyear: