• Welcome to the new NAXJA Forum! If your password does not work, please use "Forgot your password?" link on the log-in page. Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] if we can provide any assistance.

Help with wiring taillight converter.

O

outlander

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Columbus,Ohio
Ok I feel like a newb but this has got me stumped!Trying to get my steel taillight housings wired up.....
I cut the stock sockets out and bought a taillight converter to run my 4" stop/tail/turn lights
Like these:


I have been trying to wire this taillight converter all day:


http://www.trailerwiring.com/

I have it all wired up but the only thing that works are taillights.....
wiring diagram on the converter is:
white:ground (I didn't use)This is only a ground for a trailer,right?
red:brake
green:right turn
yellow:left turn
brown:tail

I have it wired this way and signals and brake lights do not work.Thinking I got a bad converter I exchanged it for another one with the same results.
Is it possible that these 4" lights are pulling too much juice for this converter?The instructions say "do not exceed 2.1 amps per stop/turn output"
 
Last edited:
I would assume it is needed, as a trailer's lights will not function correctly with no ground. I haven't done the light boxes, but I did go through a faulty ground scenario on my trailer a few weeks back, and I had taillights but no other function. AFAIK, wiring up the lights for the boxes is no different than a trailer, it's just that the "trailer", in this case, is bolted to the back of your truck.

Hope that helps.
 
Yea I know.....But I thought that since the lights in the boxes are already grounded to the chassis(the pigtails have a ground on them with a ring terminal that I hooked up to the taillight bolt) the ground in the trailer harness isn't needed.So should I run the grounds from my lights to the ground wire on the converter and then to the chassis ground???

screw these damn converters!I don't know what the hell I'm doing wrong.
Do I have the right converter?

Thanks for the help.
 
Last edited:
Do the lights you are installing have 2 filament lamps? I don't have the wiring for my converter in front of me (I went with a Curt, plugs right into my factory harness, got it from Summit), but IIRC, each light has 2 wires, plus a ground serving it. One is for the tail, one for stop/turn, and then the ground (normally the trailer chassis), so there are 5 wires coming out of the converter. The lights will need to be grounded in order to work. On a trailer, they ground to the frame, as this is how they bolt on. If your lights do not bolt directly into metal (ie, are secured with a rubber grommet, like the lights on commercial trucks), they will not be grounded unless wired to a ground. This would mean the lights would have to have 3 wires- 1 for tails, 1 for stop/turn/flasher operation, and 1 ground.

Are your lights like this? How do they mount to the light boxes? How many wires? Got the right bulbs in it? Is the socket for the bulb twisted out of place? That sounds like a stupid question, but it's one of those "ask me how I know" things. ;)
 
Last edited:
hubs97xj said:
Do the lights you are installing have 2 filament lamps? I don't have the wiring for my converter in front of me (I went with a Curt, plugs right into my factory harness, got it from Summit), but IIRC, each light has 2 wires, plus a ground serving it. One is for the tail, one for stop/turn, and then the ground (normally the trailer chassis), so there are 5 wires coming out of the converter. The lights will need to be grounded in order to work. On a trailer, they ground to the frame, as this is how they bolt on. If your lights do not bolt directly into metal (ie, are secured with a rubber grommet, like the lights on commercial trucks), they will not be grounded unless wired to a ground. This would mean the lights would have to have 3 wires- 1 for tails, 1 for stop/turn/flasher operation, and 1 ground.

Are your lights like this? How do they mount to the light boxes? How many wires? Got the right bulbs in it? Is the socket for the bulb twisted out of place? That sounds like a stupid question, but it's one of those "ask me how I know" things. ;)
Click to expand...


They are sealed three wire lamps grounded to the vehicle chassis.I am 100% sure the lights are grounded.....
I bought pigtails with the lights:
white:ground
red:stop/turn
black:tail
I have the white wire on both lamps grounded to the chassis.I have the jeeps blue taillight wires going to the black wire on the lamps.Then I have The jeeps turn signal wires going to the red wire.Lastly I have the jeeps stop light wires going to red also(turn and stop ran in common)
 
Someone needs to do a write up on installing a tail light converter for running these lights on an xj.....
I found this little how to vid:
http://www.etrailer.com/tv_helpful_hints_tow_ready_tail_light_adapter_118158.aspx

But for some reason doesn't it seem like they have the input and output side of the converter backwards in terms of which side goes to the towed and towing vehicle???

According to the vid if the three wire "input"(Rturn,Lturn,tail) comes from the towing vehicle what gives the towed vehicle a brake light signal?

So should I have the red brake wire on the converter feeding the stop lamps?That doesn't make sense.....the red wire on the converter is on the input side,right?That would mean that the red wire should be hooked into the stop light wire AND BE FED so when you hit the brakes it gets a brake light signal from the jeeps wire?

Thanks for any additional input.
 
Last edited:
Hook up the ground....just because you have the lights grounded to the chassis doesn't mean the converter box is grounded. Have you tried this yet??? Try this and report back.

A.
 
Yea I tried that yesterday.....
I believe that white wire is for lights on an actual trailer.The trailer ground has to go to the towing vehicle chassis to complete the circuit,right?I think these converter boxes have a ground wire molded into the box itself for ease of installation/convenience.
 
1 wire on each light goes to the respective taillight outputs of the converter. 1 wire on each light goes to the respective turn/stop outputs of the converter. The other wire on each light has to be wired to the ground on the converter, or the lights won't work.

If you aren't sure how to wire the converter to the jeep's wiring, consider one of these.

http://store.summitracing.com/egnse...5+400050+4294820140+4294908280+115+4294908279
 
the converter needs to be grounded had to do it on all ov them i ever hooked up but if that don't work you something else backwards
 
Well,I admit defeat!!

I started with a new converter to rule out the possibility that the one I was dealing with was bad.Got rid of the body ground for the lights and grounded them to the converter,grounded the converter also.I was able to have tail lights,brake lights and signals but as soon as I hit the brake the lights stayed steady(same senario as trying to run these lights without the converter)

I'm off to the store to take the converter back and get two more 4" round lights to use as separate signals....
What a waste of two days......I've been through three different converters,lots of hair pulling and too many wasted gallons of gas.Wally world may just ban me from their franchise for making too many returns...lol j/k.

Thanks for all the help,though....I appreciate it
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
1990 turn and parking light issue left front and dash
Replies
13
Views
655
RCP Phx
R
jeeperguy21
Possible trailer hitch wiring issue
Replies
5
Views
770
four_shot
four_shot
B
Jeeper needs Help !!
2
Replies
22
Views
3K
denverd1
denverd1
F
01 XJ Remote Start Questions
Replies
0
Views
1K
Firefighter1466
F
E
Fuel Pump Wont Stop Priming, CEL not working PLEASE HELP!!
Replies
18
Views
2K
fahadwizz
F
Back
Top