# Need Trailer wiring help....



## ParmaBass (Apr 11, 2004)

I went to re-wire my trailer tonight and came across something I haven't seen before. I bought the simple to install, flat 4 pin plug, but the harness on the trailer has 5 wires that are white,green,green w/ brown strip,yellow and yellow w/ brown stripe. The harness I bought has white,yellow,brown and green. Any way to make the 5 wires on the trailer into 4 to make the 4pin harness work, mabey splice the two brown striped wires together? Thanks!!


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## awe-below-me (Apr 12, 2009)

that's correct, brown striped will go to your brown lead which are your running lights. Yellow and green are your turn / brake.


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## crappiebub (Apr 5, 2004)

Wiring diagram for trailers
http://www.etrailer.com/faq_wiring.aspx


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## ParmaBass (Apr 11, 2004)

So white to white, yellow to yellow, green to green and green/brown, yellow/brown spliced together going to brown will work?

I have 5 wires, but it's still a 4 pin adapter. No blue wire like the diagram, no surge brakes on the trailer..


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## crappiebub (Apr 5, 2004)

Browns are tail lights and markers. Yellow and green tracers are just specifying right or left.


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## freyedknot (Apr 10, 2004)

http://www.accessconnect.com/trailer_wiring_diagram.htm


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## misfit (Apr 5, 2004)

right turn/brake is green/brown and left turn/brake is yellow/brown.
white is ground.
brown is common to marker/ taillights.
just forget the solid green wire.


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## ParmaBass (Apr 11, 2004)

You are the man I was waiting to hear from! I forgot about the pm option, duh... Thx


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## Snobal (Jul 26, 2005)

misfit said:


> right turn/brake is green/brown and left turn/brake is yellow/brown.
> white is ground.
> brown is common to marker/ taillights.
> just forget the solid green wire.


So what would he do with the solid yellow wire?

Quote:
"Parmabass - but the harness on the trailer has 5 wires that are white,green,green w/ brown strip,yellow and yellow w/ brown stripe"

Most trailers I have seen wired this way, have 2 wires running down each side of trailer. Solid green would be right turn/brake, green/brown right taillight solid yellow left turn/brake and yellow/brown left taillight. Then white is your ground.

http://www.accessconnect.com/trailer_wiring_diagram.htm

This should be what you are looking at but the brown wires in the diagram will have yellow and green on them in your situation.


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## ParmaBass (Apr 11, 2004)

Misfit, I tried that and have no lights on my right side? Left side I have everything except the running lights? My test light quit working, so I'm off to get a new one, hopefully that will tell me something.

Thanks for chiming in guys, I'm gonna get it!!


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## roger23 (Mar 7, 2007)

http://www.etrailer.com/faq_wiring.aspx


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## onci (Aug 4, 2013)

I am having the exact same problem. 8ft flat bed trailer.

I have 5 wires coming out of a 4 way plug attached to the trailer. 


White
Yellow
Yellow/Brown
Green
Green/Brown

When I plug the trailer into my Tahoe, when one blinker is on, both lights blink. I have tried to convert the 5 wires coming out of the trailer to a 4 wire plug (White, Brown, Green, Yellow). I have had no success with any combination of the 5 wires to the 4 (new plug). 

Has anyone figured out this crazy 5 wire system and how to convert it successfully to 4?

P.S. I have already tried the suggested combinations n this thread - they do not work. Ie. Yellow/Brown > Yellow, Green/Brown > Green, White > White. You're left with an empty Brown on the 4 plug end, and an empty Green and Yellow on the 5 wire end.


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## freyedknot (Apr 10, 2004)

if i remember correctly 1 wire from vehicle plug connects to 2 trailer wires. most likely the tailights wire.


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## MassillonBuckeye (May 3, 2010)

That help?


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## onci (Aug 4, 2013)

Thanks for the responses guys. Still no avail. Here are a couple pics of what I'm working with. Again, the 5 wire setup when plugged into the 4 wire receiver simply doesn't work, so I tried cutting the 5 wires and converting them to a normal 4 wire plug (second pic).

**Edit - It will not let me post pix because of my post count.

**Edit 2 - Added pix below.

5 wires coming from trailer - http://screencast.com/t/fNvNXwH3

4 wire normal plug - http://screencast.com/t/0b9eUJ6MEbL 

Thanks in advance.


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## dgodek (Apr 5, 2012)

Test the brown wire to see if it powers side makers. These will be on only when your running lights are on.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


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## onci (Aug 4, 2013)

I bought a tester for my Tahoe plug and found out the running lights female does not have any voltage going to it.

I'm going to assume this is why all the lights are messed up. I'll need to fix the wiring on the Tahoe plug and then try again with the trailer.

Thanks again for the help.


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## Workdog (Jan 10, 2007)

onci said:


> Thanks for the responses guys. Still no avail. Here are a couple pics of what I'm working with. Again, the 5 wire setup when plugged into the 4 wire receiver simply doesn't work, so I tried cutting the 5 wires and converting them to a normal 4 wire plug (second pic).
> 
> **Edit - It will not let me post pix because of my post count.
> 
> ...


Some of the info in earlier posts was incorrect. On the five wire connector on the trailer; the white is ground, yellow is left brake and flasher, green is right brake and flasher, and the yellow/brown stripe and green/brown stripe are both for running lights. You run the yellow and yellow/brown down the left side of the trailer and the green and green/brown down the right side. You'll notice that the yellow/brown and green brown are both coming from the same pin on the trailer connector. If your new trailer wiring only has the one brown, you could run that one brown down one side of the trailer, connecting all the running lights on that side, then run that brown thru a crossmember and back up the other side to catch the other side running lights. 

Don't avoid the harnesses with a yellow/brown and green/brown...they make it easier to wire your trailer!


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## Workdog (Jan 10, 2007)

onci said:


> I am having the exact same problem. 8ft flat bed trailer.
> 
> I have 5 wires coming out of a 4 way plug attached to the trailer.
> 
> ...


The bolded verbiage above is all wrong! Solid yellow is left turn and brake, solid green is right turn and brake. The wires with brown stripes are to be connected to the running lights. Let us know how it works for you. Remember, the five wire is your friend...  If, after you rewire your trailer correctly, you have all your lights blink when you use a turn signal, you probably have a ground problem in your truck.


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## Workdog (Jan 10, 2007)

onci said:


> I bought a tester for my Tahoe plug and found out the running lights female does not have any voltage going to it.
> 
> I'm going to assume this is why all the lights are messed up. I'll need to fix the wiring on the Tahoe plug and then try again with the trailer.
> 
> Thanks again for the help.


Once you wire your trailer correctly, if ALL your trailer lights blink when you turn on a blinker, you probably have a ground problem in your truck. Where the harness from the front of the truck connects to the plug assembly on the bumper probably has a corroded ground pin in the harness plug.


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## James F (Jul 2, 2005)

I too had a wiring problem, on a used trailer.My Escape was the problem.The answer to that, was at the U Haul at 150th and Smith in Cleveland.Two young men that really did a great job.I would recommend these two over any one, they were very busy and really knew how to do their job.Very professional and courteous.I was, as you can tell impressed!


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## JerryA (Aug 16, 2004)

I just installed a new 4-pin plug on my trailer - 5 wires attached to 4 on the plug just as you described. As stated both brown wires are for your tail/marker lights. Just twist them together and attach a butt connector, attach the other end to the brown on your plug. Then white to white, green to green and yellow to yellow - and you should be good to go. If your lights aren't working properly then something else is messed up. How was the old plug wired?


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