[AT] Portable Trailer lights from Harbor Freight

[Stephen Offiler]

Dean, if I read correctly, you had your trailer hooked up to the 7-pin and
then you added the HF lights to the 4-pin?  If so, did you try
disconnecting the 7-pin to see what would happen?  (My underlying thinking
here is that modern trucks probably have a computer somehow involved with
powering those trailer connectors)

SO


On Thu, Aug 10, 2017 at 2:53 AM, Dean VP <deanvp at att.net> wrote:

> Several months ago this was a topic on Atis when Harbor Freight had these
> light sets on sale for like $5 or $10 or so.  Well I bought two sets of
> them In case I needed then on my trailer and the second set to carry around
> in my truck for anyone else who might need them at an Antique Tractor
> show.  Well recently I decided maybe I ought to hooked one up to my truck
> and trailer to see how I liked them.  Didn't work so good.  The first
> indication was it appeared I had a crossed wire or poor ground since
> whenever I turned on a turn signal both turn signals blinked at a lower
> brightness.  Chased grounding, cleaned contacts, etc, etc.  No solution.
> Keep in mind my normal trailer lights are working fine. Then I found out
> that if the tail lights were on, night time, whenever I braked, both
> taillights would go out. Not dim, completely out.  That had me really going
> and then I found out that if the tail lights were not on, daytime, the
> brake lights worked just fine.   Now that had my h!
>  ead completely spinning.
>
> So after a while of being completely dumfounded I finally realized I had
> another brand new set in the truck so hooked them up. Same damned thing.
>  Let me reiterate, my regular lights on the trailer work perfectly.  The
> only difference is the HF lights are fed by the small 4 pin connector right
> next to the 7 pin connector that feeds the normal trailer lights. Now One
> could come to the conclusion that there must be something wrong with the 4
> pin connector circuits  or  both HF light sets are defective. I have tested
> the 4 pin connector with a volt meter and the voltage appears correctly
> with no cross talk between pins for the turn signals.  I get a good low ohm
> ground measurement between the ground on the 4 pin socket and the ground on
> the truck.
>
> I'm stuck.  At the present time I am convinced I have two identically
> defective light sets from Harbor Freight.  Primarily because I cannot come
> up with anything that could be wrong in the 4 pin circuits that could
> produce these kinds of weird results. Am I overlooking something really
> simple? Or even something complex. It has me stumped if it isn't the lights
> themselves.   Unfortunately I have nothing else to check the 4 pin
> connector with here.  I suppose there may be a commercial tester for them
> but I haven't looked for one.  Maybe I'm just flat stubborn believing it is
> the lights.
>
>
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