The most common comment I hear when a trailer or caravan turns up to the workshop and their lights aren’t working is: “They were working when I left home”. You know what – 9 times out of 10 I believe them. Why? Because I know that there are certain things that can happen to trailer plugs, light globes and earth connections. So, what can you do to check that these little issues aren’t causing your lights not to work?
Here are 5 things to check when your trailer or caravan lights are not working:
TRAILER PLUG
Your trailer plug can be the most common cause of your lights not working. When you look at the metal pins of your trailer plug, make sure that the pins haven’t closed. When you think about it, it’s always going to happen because when you fit and remove the trailer plug from the tow vehicle, you tend to ‘wiggle’ it out. By doing this, it is pushing on the metal pins and closing them up, meaning that when it is connected to your tow vehicle, the pins aren’t making a complete connection in the socket. Simply grab a small flat head screwdriver and carefully open the pins up.
GLOBES
If you still have globe lights fitted to your caravan or trailer, the 2 most common problems are a blown globe or a bad connection between the globe and globe holder.
To check if the globe is blown, simply take out a globe that is working and fit it into the globe holder that you took the non-working globe out of. If the globe starts working, then you know that the globe you removed is blown. If both globes don’t work, then there could be corrosion in the globe holder. If you have some sandpaper, lightly remove the corrosion with the sandpaper and re-fit the globe. If this still does not work there may be a deeper problem.
EARTH CONNECTIONS
Most caravan lights are earthed through the body of the caravan which means unless you have a good connection between the coupling and the tow ball, you won’t always get a good earth through the caravan.
Make sure that there is no Dirt or debris stopping a good connection between the 2. If you have 1 or 2 lights not working on the caravan, if possible, check the screws that are holding the light to the caravan. The screw is what is supplying the earth supply to the light. If the screw is loose or rusty, you will find that may be the cause of the light not working.
L.E.D. LIGHTS
If you have power going to your lights, whether they’re for the side, brakes, or indicators, but only half or less of the light is working, it is most likely that the diodes (LED’s) in that light have blown. The only way to fix this issue is by replacing the entire light.
CONNECTORS
A lot of light wiring looms these days come as a ‘Plug and Play’, which means the lights will have a male plug connected to it and the wiring loom will have a female plug. Once connected, this will allow the power to flow through the wiring loom to the lights. Unfortunately, over time these connections become corroded or break meaning you are left without lights working.
If you have ruled out all these causes and you are still having problems with your trailer or caravan lights please book at appointment at Bold Trailer And Caravan Repair Centre on (02)8544-8114 and the team will be happy to assist you with repairing your lights.
