Does the battery need to be charged or hooked up?

[redhawker2]

We did a light test tonight and backed the truck up to the hitch area and plugged in to see if the lights were still operating after going through the winter. Nothing came on. no running lights or anyhting...what do I need to check. The Brake box light was lit up in the truck so that seemed alright any advice?

[cortés]

We did a light test tonight and backed the truck up to the hitch area and plugged in to see if the lights were still operating after going through the winter. Nothing came on. no running lights or anyhting...what do I need to check. The Brake box light was lit up in the truck so that seemed alright any advice?

Sounds like a connector problem to me [pigtail]. Blow it out with a
compressor, spray some cleaner in it, plug it in a wiggle it around
some and I bet you'll find everything comes on again.
It may even take a few bumps down the road to jog things back
into working order.

[redhawker2]

Well I am going to get my big compressor out of the shop tomorrow and I will blow it out. They did work last year before winter and I figure a spider must have moved in or something. But does the trailer battery need to be working to? So Tomorrow I will also charge the battery in the rear (it needs it anyway) Thanks Bill

[cortés]

But does the trailer battery need to be working to?

Not for the exterior lights. They're powered from the TV.

[redhawker2]

OK I will check in tomorrow night and tell you what I find out about this....

[redhawker2]

In a former post Cortes... you mentioned a spray cleaner in the plug outlet...what kinds of cleaners are there out there? And do I just shoot it down in there?

[cortés]

In a former post Cortes... you mentioned a spray cleaner in the plug outlet...what kinds of cleaners are there out there? And do I just shoot it down in there?

Any of the various metal corrosion cleaner type products will do...
dont use much...only a few drops or a quick burst will suffice.
WD-40, etc. If you have a small file you can run that against each
blade contact a few times. Once you get things working a few drops
of machine oil is a good idea to help prevent it from happening again
so quickly.

[Swift Silver]

Electro/electrical contact cleaner for the plug.
Using a test light grounded to frame of tow vehicle (tv) and lights on tv, connect to each terminal on the plug on the tv one at a time, if it lights you have power to the plug, if not likely a fuse or corrosion or wiring (most common). all the terminals may not light so dont worry about that your checking for power.

[Swift Silver]

Forgot to mention earlier, the trailer battery needs to be installed and should be able to take a charge ie not dead. Another trick is to get a car flasher relay that will fit the trailer plug and check your lights that way, it will also entertain you for a about 5 minutes.

[redhawker2]

ok so where is it that I would look for that particular flash plug?