LED taillight bulb anomaly

[Rossue]

Works for me, however for less than $10 that cover is in my cart.

[thoer]

This thread made me order one of those guards that Jim B posted.

[War Eagle]

Sun is out, humidity is down, things are drying out, so I reconnected all the on-board electrical stuff, and all seems to be working fine again. No random LED emitters glowing in the taillight cluster. Having only an observation of one, the problem sure seems moisture-related on one end of the trailer or the other.

[thoer]

Here's hoping that cleaning the plug was all it needed! The fact that it was so dirty and even a bit corroded makes it sound reasonable.

Of course it may just be that the weak glow isn't visible in the daylight? Only tonight will tell for sure.

[freespirit]

Originally Posted by War Eagle

Sun is out, humidity is down, things are drying out, so I reconnected all the on-board electrical stuff, and all seems to be working fine again. No random LED emitters glowing in the taillight cluster. Having only an observation of one, the problem sure seems moisture-related on one end of the trailer or the other.

since the weather is good (you may have to get on the ground to see under the trailer near the front)..you might want to locate where the splices are between the multi-conductor cable with the tow plug on it and the discrete wiring going to the trailer lights in the rear. This splice location may be a terminal strip and/or junction box or just individual inline crimp wire splices. The multi-conductor cables with the tow plug are usually not very long, so this splice location may be near the front of the trailer and possibly inside. At some point knowing where, how this wiring is spliced, and color of the wires spliced, might be advantageous in troubleshooting issues in the future. If you locate it and take a photo/post it, other new Escapees might find that valuable.
If anyone has a photo of the location of this splicing on a 2017 Escape 19 that would also be helpful as well as the other size trailers.

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by freespirit

since the weather is good..you might want to locate where the splices are between the multi-conductor cable with the tow plug on it and the discrete wiring going to the trailer lights in the rear. This splice location may be a terminal strip and/or junction box or just individual inline crimp wire splices. The multi-conductor cables with the tow plug are usually not very long, so this splice location may be near the front of the trailer and possibly inside. At some point knowing where and how this wiring is spliced might be advantageous in troubleshooting issues in the future. If you locate it and take a pic/post it, other new Escapees might find that valuable.
If anyone has a pic of the location of this splicing on a 2017 Escape 19 that would also be helpful as well as the other size trailers.

freespirit: when I was doing my A/C retrofit I was under the front dinette seat on the drivers side. You can see the black umbilical coming through the floor and going into the junction box and the discrete trailer wiring leaving. This is on a 2010 19' and may not be exactly the same depending on the trailer model/year but I doubt ETI varies much from this general concept. Hope this helps.

[Vermilye]

Since the only place the towing electrics & the trailer electrics are co-located is in the 7 pin connector, unless someone has done some "wiring projects", I'll bet the damp connector caused the problem. It only takes a few milliamps to light an LED to a dim glow - when they are the only thing on a circuit interesting things happen with a bit of moisture.

Another place an LED has lead to interesting results is the one that indicates blown fuses. It takes a bit of current to light the paralleled LED next to the fuse. A few people have noticed a LED light fixture glowing dimly even with the fuse open on the circuit. You will also measure voltage since the blown fuse indicating LED passes a bit of current. Can be very confusing!

[freespirit]

Originally Posted by rubicon327

freespirit: when I was doing my A/C retrofit I was under the front dinette seat on the drivers side. You can see the black umbilical coming through the floor and going into the junction box and the discrete trailer wiring leaving. This is on a 2010 19' and may not be exactly the same depending on the trailer model/year but I doubt ETI varies much from this general concept. Hope this helps.

that's interesting....guessing that the two white tubes and the two grey tubes in the picture going thru the floor are for your AC retrofit and would not be standard?

[War Eagle]

It appears ETI has simplified the wiring some on the 2017 21'. The junction box in the photo below is mounted inside the frame rail of the tongue on the driver's side just before the framework goes under the camper. The 7-pin connector pigtail goes in the lower right side, and the color-coded taillight, brakes and power wires come out the lower left side. Wires coming out the upper right go back forward for the safety breakaway brake switch and the power jack. The sun was going down when I took this photo, and I had other things to get done before dark, but I plan to pull the cover tomorrow and have a look inside for moisture and/or loose wire strands, etc.

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by freespirit

that's interesting....guessing that the two white tubes and the two grey tubes in the picture going thru the floor are for your AC retrofit and would not be standard?

Yes, correct. That is a pair of insulated refrigerant lines and power/control wires for the mini-split A/C that leave in the gray Liquidtite conduit. Also the loose black wire coming out of the junction box was a ground connection I added for a Doc Watson battery monitor.

That newer setup along the frame rail that War Eagle posted seems much cleaner. Just need to keep the moisture out. It looks well made so unlikely to be an issue.

[War Eagle]

Everything is back to normal tonight. No random taillights glowing. I'm starting to lean toward the slightly corroded and damp 7-pin connector theory allowing a minute transfer of electricity from battery prong to right taillight prong, plus variation in how much power it takes for some LED elements to illuminate compared to others. That or someone at ETI is in reality a paranormal poltergeist that loves playing illumination tricks on unsuspecting Escape buyers. I'll go with the damp connector theory - for now, anyway. So I ordered the connector cleaning tools mentioned above plus the connector cap for dry storage, and I'll mount the latter up under the propane tank cover. That can't help but be a good idea regardless. Thanks, everyone....

[freespirit]

Originally Posted by War Eagle

Everything is back to normal tonight. No random taillights glowing. I'm starting to lean toward the slightly corroded and damp 7-pin connector theory allowing a minute transfer of electricity from battery prong to right taillight prong, plus variation in how much power it takes for some LED elements to illuminate compared to others. That or someone at ETI is in reality a paranormal poltergeist that loves playing illumination tricks on unsuspecting Escape buyers. I'll go with the damp connector theory - for now, anyway. So I ordered the connector cleaning tools mentioned above plus the connector cap for dry storage, and I'll mount the latter up under the propane tank cover. That can't help but be a good idea regardless. Thanks, everyone....

yeah but the "Close Encounter of the Third Kind" cause sounds a bit more interesting around the campfire...

[War Eagle]

Update: I cleaned the dried road salt out of the 7-pin connector and am keeping it nice and dry tucked up under the propane tank cover when not connected. No more odd glowing LED taillight emitters. Seems the odd problem is solved - I hope.