97 - 200x Tail light upgrade wiring problems

[TrexMex]

I believe since this has to do with messing around with wiring this thread goes in this section... if not please feel free to move it.

Stuck with the tail lights upgrade... I have followed the instructions in the tech section and after two different trailer wiring kits (both from Hopkins, 48925 and 48845) I realized the brakes only kick in when the turn signal circuit is open (i.e. one of the turn signal wires is grounded or the turn signal lever is activated with the ignition switch off). Here's the thing, I found out the turn signals circuit is normally closed. So right now it's either the fancy way with relays and diodes or I'm maybe choosing the wrong trailer wiring kit, although I find it weird that two different ones operate exactly the same... any thoughts would be more than welcome.....

I also posted this message in my build thread:

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90271

Hope someone can help!!

 

[TrexMex]

What, no help for me?

 

[rtg143]

Which taillights do you have? The ones with the amber turn signals?

 

[rtg143]

When you cut the green wire on the rear the one from the front went to the controller. The wire that goes to the lights, goes to both sides. You have to cut the wire and have the one that goes to the right light connect to the green from the controller. The one that goes to the left light is the one you connect the yellow wire from the controller. The wire to the light is green.

 

[TrexMex]

When you cut the green wire on the rear the one from the front went to the controller. The wire that goes to the lights, goes to both sides. You have to cut the wire and have the one that goes to the right light connect to the green from the controller. The one that goes to the left light is the one you connect the yellow wire from the controller. The wire to the light is green.

Thanks! Yep I did that as the instrucions in the Tech Section indicated.
Also the original tails had the amber turn signal.. Now another bit of information I missed on the first post is that the turn signals work with the heavy duty Flasher, but with the original flasher if I have a turn signal on and hit the brakes the lights go out. I was suspecting bad ground but I connected directly to the Chassis last night and that didn't make any difference....

Any other thoughts?

 

[rtg143]

I'd retrace all of the wires. The ones coming out of the convertor that are supposed to go to a trailer are the ones that connect to the new tail lights. Just that the green wire that is on the left side tail light will be connected to the yellow wire from the controller. The green will go to the right. Otherwise the brown goes to both tail lights and the black is the ground. The inlet from the truck to the controller is as they show in the directions.

 

[TrexMex]

I've just posted this same message in my build thread, so I'm gonna be lazy and I'll just copy and paste it.....

...I must have read every post in this forum related to taillights conversion problems.. I was about to quit last tuesday when I decided to send an email to Hopkins mfg saying I had problems with my "trailer".... this is what I sent them:

Message:​

Hello, I have recently purchased a Hoppy 48925 Taillight converter to hook up to my 1994 Ranger. The problem I have is that when hooking it up to the vehicle the running lights and turn lights work fine, but the brake lights dont work. Being a 94, I have separate lights in the truck and my setup in the trailer is a combined brake/turn lights signal. In case it helps to troubleshoot this problem, if I ground turn lights inputs in the converter the brake lights work. I have also hooked up a Hoppy 48845 converter with the same results. Thank you, Id appreciate any support you can give me with this problem.

and what I got back from them:

Converter will only work if you have it hard wired in completely.

You are using to tow a trailer and not to change the taillight system on the car, right?


They must get a ton of ppl asking for the conversion ... anyways, I just went around the issue for three days and yesterday morning it struck me.. the guy said the converter would only work if it's wired completely and I was mentioning that grounding the turn light would make the system work (which I stupidly thought it meant the box was screwed up or it just wasn't made for the way the truck handled the turn signals)... Conclusion? The damn thing is made for trailer lights!!! Meaning it's being hooked up in tandem to the truck's lights system!! If the ground in the system is floated (i.e. wires cut) the box won't work.

Solution? you need to fool the box into thinking the system is still there. Given that I was getting rid of the old turn signal wiring, I just kept them and instead of a light bulb I bought a couple of 2.5 ohm resistors from RadioShack to simulate the bulbs so I wouldn't have an extra thing to worry about. Frikin' thing worked and me have lights now!!! Celebrated with a friend with a 6-pack of MGD

Here's a diagram:

I really don't know why my setup was different than the one in the tech section, but the way I set it up follows the logical thinking that the box is supposed to be hooked up to a working system, not used as a "stand alone unit", if you will... I might be worthwhile to put this in there as a side note...

 

[rtg143]

That was great idea. I can understand the MGD and you deserve it. Thanks for the update.