Quote:
Originally Posted by nautracer
I guess the top lights on a 21 are only for brakes?
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Like almost all trailers in North America, an Escape uses a combined stop+turn system: there are only three lighting circuits to the trailer
- tail or running: tail lights, marker lights on the side, clearance lamps in the top corners of front and rear, and wide vehicle identification (ID) group
- left: combined stop (brake) and turn signal, flashes for left turn, goes on in combination with right combined stop+turn for stop (brake) indication
- right: combined stop (brake) and turn signal, flashes for right turn, goes on in combination with left combined stop+turn for stop (brake) indication
Since stop and turn are combined, there's no easy way to have a lamp that is only for the brakes - if it works for brakes, it also works for turns, as others have already confirmed.
The clearance lights and wide vehicle identification group are needed for trailers (including every current Escape other than the 17') which are more than 2.0 metres or 80 inches wide.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nautracer
are the top and bottom lights on the 21 redundant systems?
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In the version
shown on Escape's web page for the 21' the three ID lamps are combined in one large unit (in the middle - one lens but three distinct spots of light when on), and large units are used on each side for both the clearance function, and presumably stop+turn; that would make the top outer lamps functionally redundant with the lower lamps. They may be identical lamps.
Escape rear lamp configurations have occasionally changed, and are not quite consistent between models, but since the current 21' options list doesn't include extra tail lights, I assume the setup described above is standard equipment for that model.