# Flood lights on trailer won't work but "regular" lights do??



## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

I know there are some really auto-savvy folks here on HF. I do have an appointment scheduled on Wednesday but I thought I would ask here too. 

Now I've had this issue once before and it turned out to simply be a fuse out on our pickup, but we looked through all the fuses ourselves last night and couldn't find one that was burnt out. 

I have a 2014 GMC Sierra 2500. And I have a 2003 Exiss gooseneck horse trailer. There is a dressing room, but no LQ. I had my trailer at home this past weekend so I could pressure wash out the inside (I keep it where I board normally) and I went to flip the switch for my interior lights and it didn't work. I had left everything hooked up so I turned the pickup on and all the normal side lights on the trailer, brake lights, turns lights, etc work just fine. 

My trailer has a switch for the interior lights in the dressing room, along with a flood light outside the dressing room door. And then a second switch for the interior lights in the horse portion, along with a flood light on the back. Neither of these worked. 

Again, we looked at pretty much all the fuses last night and looked through the pickup owner's manual and could not find anything. So I made an appointment for the pickup at the dealership and I am going to start there. 

It is highly possible there is something wrong with my trailer, but last time the issue was a simple fuse, so I am going to start there. Just not sure why we couldn't not find the burnt fuse. I didn't watch them change the fuse last time so I don't know where to look.

Any thoughts or things I should consider?


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## evilamc (Sep 22, 2011)

My f150 didn't come with the relay switch needed in the fuse box for my trailers interior lights to work. I know you said you checked fuses but did you check relays too?


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## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

I did not! Honestly I'm not very auto-savvy myself (typical girl, I suppose) but I'm trying to learn. I'll take a peek in the owner's manual tonight.


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## evilamc (Sep 22, 2011)

Lol we don't learn until we find a problem that needs fixing 

This is what I had to buy for my truck for the interior lights to work AND the electric breakaway box to work
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HUYNNUI/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1


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## tim62988 (Aug 30, 2012)

I believe the fuse is one of the square ones (at least on an 08 chevy) so you may need to actually pop the plastic cover off the fuse to see if it is good or bad

next easy spot: unscrew the cover over the switch in the trailer, I would assume it is just an interior $2.00 house style switch under the cover if you or a friend has a spare one try it, or if you have a test light see if you have electric going to the switch when the truck is hooked up

another spot to look: look in the trailer plug, I forget which is the auxiliary light (always has power) but make sure all of the connections look good, tight and clean


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

When two different pick ups towing my trailer had the same issue as yours Beau, I had the plug changed, solved the problem. That was after checking all the fuses and the relay switch on both vehicles. I hate checking fuses, I hate it even more now I tell ya!


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## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

tim62988 said:


> I believe the fuse is one of the square ones (at least on an 08 chevy) so you may need to actually pop the plastic cover off the fuse to see if it is good or bad


Hmm, hubby pulled out all the fuses and looked at each one ... but I don't think we did the big square ones because they weren't labeled with anything to do with a trailer in the owner's manual. 



tim62988 said:


> next easy spot: unscrew the cover over the switch in the trailer, I would assume it is just an interior $2.00 house style switch under the cover if you or a friend has a spare one try it, or if you have a test light see if you have electric going to the switch when the truck is hooked up


The dressing room and the horse portion each have their own switches. Neither work. So I would be less inclined to think both switches suddenly both went bad ... but I suppose anything is possible. The dressing room switch is inside the dressing room. The horse portion switch is on the outside of the trailer, on the back.



tim62988 said:


> another spot to look: look in the trailer plug, I forget which is the auxiliary light (always has power) but make sure all of the connections look good, tight and clean


Excuse my french but I've had that _damned_ thing replaced 3 times in the 5 years I've owned the trailer. It better be fine.

The last time I had my pickup/trailer in for this exact issue, that was one of the first things they did is put a new trailer plug on it ... which of course was NOT the issue.


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## Cynical25 (Mar 7, 2013)

evilamc said:


> Lol we don't learn until we find a problem that needs fixing
> 
> This is what I had to buy for my truck for the interior lights to work AND the electric breakaway box to work
> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HUYNNUI/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1


What do you do with this piece??? I have a 2011 F150 and have never been able to use my trailer's interior lights or get my truck to recognize my trailer as being plugged in to the brakes (I only get the exterior trailer lights!)


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## evilamc (Sep 22, 2011)

Cynical25 said:


> evilamc said:
> 
> 
> > Lol we don't learn until we find a problem that needs fixing
> ...


It goes in the fuse box under the hood  just snaps right in! Will fix your lights for sure if you don't have it. But if your breaks aren't working it could be something else. It charges the breakaway box break thing not the actual trailer breaks. Your trailer breaks should work when plugged in the 7pin connector. Our trucks come with the break controller factory installed.


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

We had issues with an old vehicle and found that Ford had fuses in 2 places. This helped with the interior lights


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## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

Well shoot, I didn't take the pickup in yesterday b/c hubby unexpectantly took it to work b/c HIS pickup was acting up that morning. Will have to try to get it in next week.



evilamc said:


> It goes in the fuse box under the hood  just snaps right in! Will fix your lights for sure if you don't have it. But if your breaks aren't working it could be something else. It charges the breakaway box break thing not the actual trailer breaks. Your trailer breaks should work when plugged in the 7pin connector. Our trucks come with the break controller factory installed.


Trailer brakes work just fine.


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## Cynical25 (Mar 7, 2013)

evilamc said:


> It goes in the fuse box under the hood  just snaps right in! Will fix your lights for sure if you don't have it. But if your breaks aren't working it could be something else. It charges the breakaway box break thing not the actual trailer breaks. Your trailer breaks should work when plugged in the 7pin connector. Our trucks come with the break controller factory installed.


Thank you so much! Replaced relay 9 and finally have interior trailer lights. Also replaced fuse 21 and my trailer brakes battery finally charged


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## evilamc (Sep 22, 2011)

Cynical25 said:


> Thank you so much! Replaced relay 9 and finally have interior trailer lights. Also replaced fuse 21 and my trailer brakes battery finally charged


Glad that fixed your problems! Its silly that the manufactures don't just have it installed factory...so people just never realize they need it!


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