Tail Light Wiring

[billkoboldt]

I have a light bar that I slide into the trailer hitch receiver on my 2011 Honda CRV. I have four lights on it, two for left and right turn and brake lights. The other two are for tail lights. If I have the tail lights turned on and turn on either turn signal, the two tail lights have a slight flicker to them.

The wires run from the front of the car and plug into the light bar. The other end plugs into the plug from the motorhome.

Would be alright driving in the daytime, but at night the person behind me might be a little confused with lights blinking on both sides. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Bill Koboldt. F148740

[dickandlois]

Bill, By chance are the lights you are using on the toad LED's ?

Rich,

[billkoboldt]

No, they are 1157. I mounted 4 lights on the light bar that I made. The 2 inside lights use only one of the elements for tail lights. The outside lights are for right and left turn and brake lights. None of the bulbs uses both elements. The turn and brake lights are wired the way they should. The other lights are for tail lights only. The light fixtures are bolted to bare metal, so I should have a good ground. Bill.

[rlbarkleyii]

LED's would brighten your light bar considerably, and the crossed feed of current could be cured with diodes you can get from Campers World and other RV supply places. Check the pigtails and make sure they have two contacts on bottom and are designed for the bulbs being used.

[billkoboldt]

I don't understand how I am getting cross feed. The yellow wire from the pig tail goes to the left turn signal and the green wire goes to the right turn signal. The brown wire is for tail lights. Unless I am getting cross feed from the ground wire, because all the lights are grounded to the same wire. Maybe I should run a separate ground wire from the negative post on the battery to the brake lights. I have thought about LED lights but haven't taken the time to look into it. I used the same light bar on a 2007 Saturn Vue and the same problem. Bill.

[huffypuff]

It does sound like you need a better ground as the problem occurs with the heaviest of load. Tap a ground near the light bar to the vehicle frame.

[dickandlois]

Bill,
I have to think that Ray is on the correct path. The fact that you have standard incandescent bulbs and you have the dim flashing of the other lights.

Using the the hitch as the ground point can cause the problem.

Might just try temporarily connecting a wire from a good ground connection on the light bar to a ground point inside the tailgate, if that does not solve the problem run a ground wire between the coach hitch and the toad,where the draw bar connects.

When one uses LED's and they act as described, adding diodes to the circuit(s) help.

Rich.
Well - Mother nature has used up all her flash bulbs for now, so back to the rack!

[billkoboldt]

Thanks everyone for the info. Will play around with different ground points today. Bill.

[nitehawk]

Double check, heck, triple check the ground in the coach receiver plug and then the ground from the towed front plug to your light bar.

I had similar problem when I made a light bar for our 1996 Geo Tracker. I ended up running a wire from the coach ground in that plug, to the ground wire on the light bar. PROBLEM SOLVED!!

[billkoboldt]

I originally had a ground wire to all 4 lights. The two lights that control the tail lights are connected directly to the bar. The right turn/brake and left turn/brake lights were connected to the tail lights by connecting a bracket to them.

I disconnected all the ground wires and connected the ground from the pigtail to the left turn/brake light. I then connected a ground wire to the stud on the right turn/brake light and connected that to the bar.Then I spliced into the ground wire under the hood and connected to the negative side of the battery and that solved my problem.

It's weird how one wire can cause such a big headache.

Thanks to everyone for their assistance Bill.

[huffypuff]

When I worked fleet we called that BFG. Bad Fricking Ground to put it nicely. You have to remember that all 12 volt circuits have a positive and ground to make it work. Bad connection to either one will cause problems.