Can you help me with my trailer lights grounding issue?

MRJS asked:

I converted a boat trailer into a utility trailer.

There is a green and brown wire running down the right side.

There is a yellow and brown wire running down the left side.

Each wire is carefully soldered and shrink tubed.

There is a white wire (ground) attached to a ring connector and soldered. It’s attached to the trailer with a screw. I sanded off the paint to expose bare metal.

The lights don’t work.

I’m pretty sure there are no cuts or discontinuities anywhere.

What I think is the problem is that I screwed each lamp in the back to an angle iron. The angle iron is screwed to wood.

So, is that messing things up? Do the lamps have to be screwed to actual metal of the trailer for proper grounding?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

4 Responses

  1. John S Says:

    don’t rely on the plug for a ground… add a dedicated ground from the trailer frame to the vehicle being used to tow

  2. rssr27 Says:

    The lamp sockets have to be direct grounded. The ouside portion of the bulb is the ground, so it must be in contact somehow with the metal on the trailer which you claim is grounded.

  3. blt2wheel Says:

    the lights need to be grounded, most ground through mounting bolts, try jumping a ground wire to the mounting bolts

  4. Radar Says:

    run a wire from the metal the ground is on to the metal the lights are on

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