[AT] Portable Trailer lights from Harbor Freight

Spencer Yost yostsw at atis.net
Thu Aug 10 06:57:14 PDT 2017


Dave stole my 7-4 pin converter idea.   And it is not wasted money as these things are handy to have around anyways.

The better quality stuff is usually found at RV camper dealers but places like Lowes has them too.

Spencer Yost

> On Aug 10, 2017, at 9:28 AM, Dave <rotigel at me.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi Dean,
>    Try the HF lights on another vehicle to be certain it is the lights and not something in your truck. I’ve used, perhaps, 7-8 sets of these H-F lights over the years and all have been just fine. On the other hand it maybe that some company in China is now outsourcing to France and therein lies the problem!
>    Dave
> PS, You might also try a converter plug (7 to 4) in your 7 pin outlet and see if that does the trick.
> 
>> On 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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