Tail Light Dim

[lkncyclist]

Need wiring diagram for National Tropical.

[wolfe10]

What year, what chassis?

Is the is a new issue, or an ongoing one?

Have you measured voltage at the tail lights and compared with battery voltage? Have you temporarily rigged an additional ground for the lights-- did it improve the situation?

If low voltage to the lights is the issue, it is easy and under $20 to rewire tail lights (or any others for that matter) through a RELAY so that they get full voltage. Did this on our present coach for tail lights, low beams and high beams. The original wires only act as the SIGNAL to close the relay, providing full battery voltage to the lights.

[dickandlois]

Brett, when you added the relays to the lighting circuits did you install wiring from the main battery buss and add a fuse to each circuit?

Rich.

[lkncyclist]

Thanks Wolfe,

passenger side tail lite always dim and has been for long time, back up lite is intermittent. Our Tropical is a 2008 model on a Freightliner chassis

[lkncyclist]

Do you know what color code the ground is; the MH has several extra wires than the fiver we had

[dickandlois]

Do you have a volt meter? You can read the voltage at the socket, the other terminal would be the ground.

Freightliner wires the chassis with white wires and gives them a circuit number for the most part.

You should be able to get the chassis wiring diagrams by calling Freightliner with you Vin number. They can send them to you email address in the PDF format.

http://freightlinerchassis.com for contact information.

The lighting circuit power is run in the long harness along the frame to connectors on the shorter light circuit harnesses.

You should be able to fasten a wire between the frame and the lite socket and see if the voltage reading go up.

Rich.

[wolfe10]

Brett, when you added the relays to the lighting circuits did you install wiring from the main battery buss and add a fuse to each circuit?

Rich.

Rich,

Low beams and high beams from front buss with fuse and 10 gauge wire to relay and relay to head light distribution terminal. Old head light wire is signal and new ground wire.

Tail lights from battery isolator (convenient on our rig) with fuse.......

[desertdeals69]

Brett, when you added the relays to the lighting circuits did you install wiring from the main battery buss and add a fuse to each circuit?

Rich.

Rich, when I installed relays for all my rear lights the power to the relays comes from the coach batteries to even out the load at night between the headlights and tail lights. It has a separate relay for each light and I use circuit breakers.