davidj54

If that white wire is hot on the truck side there's definitely something wrong. You need to correct that. The white wire is ground unless it's an add on and somebody hooked it up wrong.

Clane

The wire was definitely hot. Gave a nice bright spark when i touched it to the trailer frame.... Truck wiring is how it came from the factory / dealership, 4 pin connector. i have not messed with or spliced anything into the trucks trailer wiring.
I did have a trailer brake controller installed.... is it possible that was wired wrong, or maybe now the white it supposed to be hot for trailers with brakes??...
Guess i need to get under the truck this weekend and take a look....

olddodgetrucks

get a test light,white is ground and must be grounded to trailer frame,brown is running lights,green is p/s turn-brake,yellow is d/s turn-brake,hitch is not a ground and if you use it for a ground in some cases it will effect the trucks comp.

rich

blue or black is used for brake power never white. green is right and yellow- left.

zulusafari

If your truck has a 4-flat from new, it may be installed wrong. If you are using a 7RV to 4-flat adapter, it may be wired wrong inside. I bought a Hoppy 7 to 4 adapter for my last truck that was wired wrong on the inside -- everthing was one pin off counter-clockwise! My current ride has a nice tow package, but looks like a crummy 4-flat install spliced into the back of the 7RV socket. Grrr. Will definitely need work before I hookup to any trailers!

Chrisreyn

here, this should help... note that the white is the ground on BOTH sides of the plug!

4 way flat molded connectors allow basic hookup for three lighting functions; right turn signal / stop light (green), left turn signal / stop light (yellow), taillight / license / side marker (brown) and a ground (white).


If you have trailer brakes, then you need to swap that flat 4 for a 5 or 7 pole connector that allows for the brake wiring in addition to what is listed above.

BigIron70

Read the following TSB you may need to have TIPM flashed to regain power to trailer wiring again.

davidj54

Sounds like whoever installed your brake controller might have messed up the wiring. Under no circumstances should that white wire be hot!

Clane

Well it looks like i have a little project in the morning. I'm definitely going to ground the white on the trailer end. Gonna have to splice into the wire cause it's only about 2' long. not even long enough to reach the hitch
Does the white on the truck end ground to the frame somewhere in the rear?

I have the 4 to 7 pin adaptor for when i pull with brakes but have not permanently attached it cause i dont pull with brakes that often.

Thanks! Will post my findings... If i'm not back by sundown send in another 12er!!

johnh

2 feet long should be long enough, the white wire will attach directly to the trailer frame...... i used self tapping screw

Clane

Sure, 2 feet is plenty.... If i just wanna do nascar laps in the driveway...


I spliced into it to added a little length and grounded it to the frame. Everything works (even with the trailer not attached..haha)

Still dont know why the white was hot, but it doesnt seem to have any power to it now... ??...

Thanks for everyones help!

rich

if it was just a spark that made you think it was hot, then it was because it was grounding. jumper cables will do the same thing if you hook the hot up first.

Clane

Thats exactly what happened. Makes sense. Thanks.