???
I posted a message earlier but forgot to include this info. Yesterday driving the new trailer home I had all the lights on in the truck, out of the truck, everything. Stopped bout halfway and the wife took over driving without the fog lights on. Got it home and tried turning it around, the wife turned off the lights and I jumped in and turned them back on only to find out that the running lights and dash lights didn't come on. We blew a fuse under the hood where the all the computer's fuse's are. Why did this happen? I thought most if not all dodge 3500's came ready to tow.

 

Are you sure that you did not pinch a wire? If everything worked while you were pulling it home, I would check the harness. Sounds to me like a pinched hot wire to ground.

If you have the 7-pin plug under the bumper, it is my understanding that you are wired.

Ed

 

Stranger things have happened. Just change the fuse and see if it happens again. If so then check for problems. Maybe a hot lead on the trailer grounded out somewhere. Good luck.

 

Happened to me once in the middle of the night pulling my utility trailer. Wasn't using the Dodge though. Lost the headlights and running lights. Lousy trailer wires caused the problem in my case. I never plugged the trailer lights back in and have never had the problem return.

 

I may be out of line here but the trailer lighting circuit and the fog light circuit if factory are seperate, the newer trucks have seperate ciruits for the trailer running lights and truck markers. Trailers are notorious for poor wiring and can cause all kinds of power unit woes, disconnect truck and get lights working then using a battery charger or alternate source check each circuit on the trailer to prevent any more truck trouble. PK

 

What P.Kennedy said
It sounds to me like you may have messed up the wiring when you hot wired the Fog lights to stay on with the high beams. ??? ???
Also as it was said, if your truck came with the factory TT which has the 7 pin wiring harness in the rear bumper then the circuits are separate from the trucks running lamps.
Make sure you check your trailer ground going the plug. If it is not good then you can get the same thing to happen.

 

okay, this is very strange, put a new fuse back in and did the exact maneuvers but the lights didn't blow the fuse this time. I am dumbfounded. Guess it was just one of those wierd things. My truck has the 7 pin plug in the rear it also has a 7 pin plug in the bed for the gooseneck. Not really sure about the gooseneck plug, i thought they were all 6 pin plugs. Wonder why they put a 7 pin in. ???

 

7 Pin center is Aux and NOT ground and is used for back up lites on trailers.

 

Too many guys on here trying to add electrical goodies the short method, if you added the fog lights by simply hacking into the existing circuit for high beams indeed trouble will prevail. Use the existing light circuits only for the trigger circuit for a relay and wire the light properly to a battery or switched power source. Dodges typically have wiring that is adequate for existing factory options and newer trucks have computor controlled electrical which on certain circuits will sense voltage drops. Seperated trailer circuits is a step forward but should include a buss bar with switched and constant power easy connect terminals for accessories like lights and stereo boosters to prevent harness heat stress. PK

 

P. Kennedy,

Thanks for your input, although this guy hasn't tried to add any goodies. The truck came with Factory Fog Lights. I just removed the relay and added the jumper so that they stay on when my high beams are on. I am quite aware of what I am doing to my truck. I was just curious of why my trailer being hooked up in the gooseneck plug blew a fuse for my parking lights and dash lights. I never had a problem with the bumper pull trailer hooked up to the exact same kinda connector.

 

You may want to verify the goosneck plug that was installed and see if the may not have properly isolated all of the wires prior to sealing it off or the recepticle itself may be bad. Also try some of the electrical grease in the recepticle, same stuff used on plug wires, it will help cut back on corrosion and water shorting out the connectors.

 

I wasn't trying to be a sarcastic but even though you realize what you may be doing, with the relay bypassed the Dodge light system with the computor could be getting a high amperage reading. When 2 indentical plugs have different results like Supergrewel said there may be a wire or piece of the braid touching another contact inside. I have a 2001 on which we mounted a flatdeck and installed extra lights producing an excess of current draw on the factory tail light system. We could have overcome the problem it created by isolating the extra lights with a relay triggered by the original circuit. Opted for LED lighting instead (17 lights) drawing .03 amps less than the original 2 bulbs. My point was the older trucks were less sensitive to changes in the systems but would burn up wiring harnesses causing extensive damage before shutting down. Dodge wiring is very light and relays very cheap in comparison to a factory harness and the work to replace. So with a relay bypassed and a very small short in a trailer plug there is a possibility it caused the problem or the two are completely isolated from each other. PK

 

When the extra trailer connector is added in the box, quite often the installer will tap in to the wrong park light circuit in the truck's wiring harness. There are two wires in the harness that are powered by the park lights. One is 18 gauge and powers the truck's tail lights through the headlamp switch.
If this wire is tapped into for trailer lights, it will overload the circuit and the switch. The proper wire is 12 gauge and exists to power the trailer's park/tail lights through the trailer tow relay in the power distribution center.
To be sure both trailer connectors are wired properly, plug the trailer into a connector, turn the park lights on, remove the trailer relay, the trailer's park lights should go out. Try this again with the other connector.