Boat trailer lighting ???

[det07]

When trailering a boat at night w/ your vehicles headlights on, are the taillights of your boat trailer supposed to be on? If so, what are they supposed to do when you brake if they are already lit up? Will they shut off, or is a second bulb supposed to light up when you tap the brakes? Just want to avoid a ticket and from getting rear ended. Thanks for the help!

[glockman55]

Both.. 1157 bulbs have two filaments, BOTH TAIL LIGHTS AND BRAKE LIGHTS SHOULD WORK OFF ONE BULB. If you are haveing problems like you discribe, check your ground.:dizzy:

[WALLEYE MIKE]

Yup, he's right. The tail light is on the smaller filament and the brake light is one the larger one for a brighter light. Brown wire will be your tail lights. Yellow your left turn and brake light, green your right turn and brake light.

[Busterboy]

Are your turn signals and brake lights combined or are they in separate housings? If the turn signals/brake lights are separate, you may have tapped into the turn signal circuit and they will not work as brake lights. If the turn signals and brakes are separate, you need a converter box to get all of the lights to work correctly. Check with a place that sells trailer wire kits or the internet to see if a 'plug in' style of wiring harness is available for your vehicle, these plug into an exisiting wiring harness point in the vehicle and no wire cutting/splicing of wires is needed to connect a trailer plug to it.

Busterboy