My trailer “eats” 10 amp fuses (the fuses in my truck) on the trailer left hand turn signal and brake lights.
I plan on inspecting every inch of the wires to look for a nick in them but it may be hard to see if they are there, especially if it is a small nick. Any suggestions on how to do this or suggestions on what to look for would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. 
Don’t know if this is your situation or not, but I have to unplug the trailer everytime I back into the water or I will blow that 10 amp fuse also. It’s a leaky trailer light and it blows when I hit the brake. Could fix the light shroud but that would be too easy.
I have experienced the same thing with my shorelander. If I don’t unplug the lights before I back into the water…POOF…bye, bye fuse. I have also upgraded those fuses to a 15 amp. I know you are supposed to use the ones specified, but It seems like it has worked as I haven’t had any problems at all.
Does your fuse blow just while driving down the road, or at specific times??
Usually when driving down the road, especially if the road is wet. A rock may have nicked it somewhere(?). Someone also suggested checking the ground which is a good idea well.
Has it ever done this BEFORE you’ve launched the boat but is raining out…………like rain causing the blow? Just curious…….we’ve had another member ask about this and I forget what we were able to help him discover and repair.
I just had my left light on my trailer go out completely. What are your thoughts on this? Could it be a fuse for just the left light? If not, how do I go about fixing it?
Mustbe, check your fuse first. If you are using a late model vehicle to pull the boat with there is be a fuse dedicated to the left trailer turn signal, one for your brake light and one for headlight. Look in your vehicle owners manual to see which ones they are. Kind of strange that they would all blow at the same time.
Kid, driving on wet roads will blow the fuse. Could be a nick in the wire. But then if the light seal was bad it could let water in driving on wet roads as well. Frustrating. 
Some of the newer trucks also have a fuse block under the hood. On my ford there is a separate fuse for the left and a fuse for the right trailer lights. Check the fuses. If you blew one, most likely you have a bare wire touching somewhere.
Bigdog10, how are you getting along with your problem lights?
Thanks for the quick advice. Another question. My blinkers flash very quickly. I have heard something about a heavy duty flasher. What are these and where do I get them and where do I install them? I drive a ’94 S10 Blazer, if this helps. Thanks again for all of your valuable info. It helps us “rooks” out a great deal to tap into the knowledge of experience you guys have.
mustbefishing
I have the identical problem-I know that my right rear light is messed up and I need another one. I blow a 10amp fuse every time I tow, after the last one, I went to a 15amp and it was OK last time towing.
The fast flash is happening to me too. This often happens when you have a light that isnt working -the fast flash is a warning to check your lights. Mine only flashes fast when the boat is hooked up.
I hope a trip to Northern Tool and some garage time will be an easy fix. We will see!
Herb, have been quite busy the last week and haven’t had a chance to get at it. Will pull it out of the garage this weekend and give it a very close look.
All of you guys need to think about changing over to “Wesbar Trailer Lights”.
See link: Note that these can be purchased from many places, but this link has a good picture and product description.
The bulbs are sealed and never touch water. (Therefore the hot bulb don’t pop when it hits cool water.) Have a set on my current boat and no problems, now on third season. Have had them on the last two boats. Will be adding them to my 14 ft jon boat trailer soon.
Good luck,
Jon J.
You do need a heavy duty flasher .
Wesbar sure is a very good replacement light. The only one I go to. And yes, you do need a heavy duty flasher. Most newer vehicles that come with a trailer tow package already have them. For the older models, look in your fuse block. It’s usually a round metal fuse about the size of a half dollar. Very easy to replace.
Quote:
You do need a heavy duty flasher .
No special flashers needed. At least I did not change anything on my Chevy Pickup.
It’s nice to not have to worry about unplugging your lights each time you launch the boat…or….forgetting to plug them back in after you load up. All of the components are sealed. No water gets on the bulb, socket, wired connections. Totally sealed unit. It’s the water that is causing most, if not all of the trailer light issues for most folks.
J.
Ok. I checked the fuses. All good. I got the light bracket off of the trailer. The bulb looks black. Burnt bulb? Also, I can’t get to the bulb. It is surrounded by the red plastic. I don’t see a release to get at the bulb. What is the trick?
The bulbs on mine are also mounted too deeply within the red lens to get out, but they are mounted to a plastic slider that pushes up into the housing and clips in. If you pull the slider away from the housing at the bottom the whole apparatus slides out.
If I needed to replace my lights/housings, I would seriously consider using LED taillights. The LED’s are much more reliable than conventional bulbs as the light is not generated by a resistive heat element. I’m thinking I’ve seen them around at stores for around 50 bucks or so, and I would expect that they would be the last lights you’d ever have to buy (lifespan of an LED is, for all practical purposes, infinite).
As far as the fast blinking, it could be one of two things. Whoever posted that it could be an out light was correct in that some vehicles will flash faster when a light is out. If it only does this when the trailer is connected, then it is the flasher relay. If the ‘off’ time is constant, but the ‘on’ time gets shorter that’s a dead giveaway.
The stock relays most cars come equipped with use a timer circuit that relies on the amount of current that your bulbs take. This current decays a charge and kicks the relay off. When you add the trailer lights to the chain, it takes more current and dissipates the charge faster (thus disengaging the relay at a higher rate).
Any auto parts store, and even K-mart or Wal-mart should have a ‘heavy duty’ flasher. These aren’t really any more heavy duty per-se, but they rely on an internal timing mechanism that’s not dependent on the amount of current they pass – thus a constant blinker speed regardless of the electrical load.
On most cars today, the relay is in the fuze box and looks like a tin-can like Herb described. On older cars, you’ll have to look up under the steering column and dig around in the wiring harness to find it.
More than likely, you may need to replace the whole unit. I know on a utility trailer that I recently borrowed, that to change the bulb, you need to replace the whole unit. It wasn’t too bad, under 10.00 and took all of 20 seconds to replace.
Hope this helps,
Steve 
Steve’s correct. A lot of the new light assemblies come with non replacable bulbs meaning you have to exchange the whole unit.
Jon, light duty flashers will cause the blinkers to operate faster. That’s the reason for the heavy duty type. But, also if a trailer light is not working properly, sometimes your turn signal on that side on your tow vehicle will blink rapidly.
And as you said water, along with poor grounding causes us a lot of trouble here.
Been there too many times not to learn from it.
I got it!! I got it!! It was the bulb and was able to replace it. It was the sliding unit like Gianni mentioned. Got a new bulb and a “heavy duty” flasher. All is well now. Thanks to all who taught me a lot today. Even bought a new trolling motor mount in the process. Much better. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Thanks again,
mustbefishing
Well, I started this whole thing so I better follow up. Inspected the wiring this weekend and found a nice gash in the wire half way back. Put some tape on it, even drove it on wet roads Sunday, and and had no problems. SWEET!
I had this problem and almost lit my new truck up trying the upgrading to a 15 amp fuse. What I finally did was rewire the whole dang trailer and found that I had some wire exposed that was shorting. After running new wire I have had no problems at all. If you are shorting going into the water then your electrical system is not properly grounded. The problem is in the wiring on your trailer. After a time your wiring can weaken and this just happens. If you upgrade the fuse to a higher amperage, then you will certainly melt wire at best and in worse case scenario burn you vehicle.
Good luck!
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