How To Check Trailer Lights With A Multimeter

Have a trailer with lights that carries things like canoes and kayaks? It’s very important to know how to use a multimeter to check your trailer lights.

Using a multimeter can be fast and easy and will help you troubleshoot your trailer lights just in case there is a problem.

Listed below are instructions on how to use a multimeter:

Process For Using A Multimeter 

The very first thing that you need to do is put your multimeter in the ohms position.

Ensure that your red wire is on the volt dome jack and that the black wire is on the common jack.

Get the three-pin connector that connects to your car from the trailer, which has a terminal ring for ground.

You will notice that the wires of the connector are labelled; right turn, left turn, brake wire and a black wire that has no writing. Get the common wire from your multimeter and connect it to the terminal ring.

You will then use the red wire to cross-check all the other wires from the connector to see how much resistance your multimeter will read.

If the multimeter shows zero ohms, there is no connection between that line and the ground, and the problem could be a faulty bulb or a disconnected wire. If there are no connection problems, then the multimeter should give a reading of 0.32 ohms.

Now check the grounding of your chasing by connecting the chasing to the red positive wire. This should give a reading of 0.1 ohms for a properly grounded trailer.

For continuity tests, remember that the ohm reading is going to take the path of least resistance and trailer lights are connected in series-parallel circuits.

To get a true reading, disconnect all the bulbs and connect each bulb on its own to determine if it’s well connected. Make sure you read to see if there is an open circuit and whether it's your right turn signal, your left turn light, or your breaking lights. This is the way you'll troubleshoot it.

Conclusion

With this knowledge, you can easily troubleshoot your trailer’s lighting system should a problem arise. Having a multimeter around you whenever you travel with your trailer will always come in handy, especially now that you know how to use it.

I hope this helps! Feel free to like, share and comment.