How to Wire Trailer Lights

Wiring a trailer light is easy and can be done without professional help. The tools required to wire trailer lights are a wire crimper, test lights, trail light connector, a heavy duty flasher, wiring kit and electrical tape. After gathering all the necessary materials, wiring the trailer lights should just take a few minutes.

Trailer Light Wiring
Before starting off with the wiring activity, one should check whether his vehicle has a 4-wire receptacle or any other type. The 5-wire receptacle would need a trailer light converter. It can be obtained from a nearby automobile store.

How to Wire Trailer Lights
In order to connect the wires correctly, it is necessary to know the color code. The colors used in the color code are yellow, white, brown and green. The yellow color denotes the left turn signal while the green is used for the right turn signal. Brown color is associated with the parking lights and the white is used to denote the chassis ground.

The first thing one needs to do in the process of wiring the lights, is to locate the harness of tail light wiring of the vehicle. The second step is to find the spot for the hook up place. It is necessary that the wiring harness be long enough to reach the connector receptacle of the trailer. If the length of the wire falls short, purchasing a new connector remains the only option.

One should first clean the chassis of the car, so that it can be used for the test light. The clip end of the test light is used in this case. The test light is used to probe the wires. After the above activity is completed, the headlight can be turned on to check the parking lamps. The test light comes into action at this point to check the wire. Continue checking with the test light until it lights up. Once the signal is received, the brown wire can be connected to the quick connector.

After checking the parking light, the headlight can be turned off. The right turn signal should be checked after testing the parking light. The same process, as in the case of the parking light, is repeated to test the right turn light. The wire that is tested in the case of the right turn signal is connected with the yellow wire. After connecting the wire properly, the ignition should be turned off.

In this step, the left turn signal is checked and then wired properly. In order to proceed, the ignition should be turned on and kept in the 'run' position. The left turn signal needs to be activated and the wire should be tested. The wire that passes the 'test', i.e. which lights up the test light, is the left turn wire. It is then connected to the green wire. The last wire which is the ground wire, is connected to the white wire. The connection can be done with the help of a sheet metal screw.

With the completion of the above steps, the process of wiring a trailer is completed. The trailer light wiring instructions presented above would come in handy for those who want to carry out the wiring all by themselves. The detailed procedure explained in the above article helps us understand how to wire trailer lights.