Trailer Back-Up Alarm Sounding when Brakes are Applied

Updated 06/01/2011 | Published 05/29/2011

Question:

I had to replace new wiring on the 2003 Intl 5900 PayStar that Ive purchased. The box had been stripped and painted prior to purchase. Non of the wiring was connected, so Im starting from scratch. I need to have 2 sets of stop/turn/tail light per side on this dump truck. It also has backup lights and an alarm whenever Im in reverse. I have a new 7 wire junction box mounted on the rear frame. Could you tell me the simplest way of connecting all of this. How many conductors are needed per side. I can wire in the 2 stop/turn/ tail lights with short tails into the junction box. There is one more stop/turn/tail light up the rear posts of the dump box and just below that light is the back up light. I used 14/3 to these lights. Do I have enough conductors to operate the stop/turn on one conductor, the tail lights on one and the backup light on the other. I grounded all near the lights themself rather than running the white wire back to the juction box for grounding there. There is a red marker light on each of the rear posts and one in the front of the box 18 away. New 14/3 has been run to those light as well.

asked by: Steven

Expert Reply:

The back up alarm feed should be tapped into your reverse lamp lead, it sounds as if it is wired incorrectly.

Each turn/brake lamp can be wired in series with a feed from your junction box, with one feed for the drivers side and another for the passenger. The same goes for your running lamps. You would take the feed for the drivers side brake/directional lamp which is usually a yellow wire, and run it along the rear of the trailer, feeding each of the two directional/brake lamps as you go. The green wire typically feeds the passenger side, which can be ran the same way. The same goes for the running lights, which are usually fed by the brown wire. The lamps you reference pick up their ground connection by their attachment to the trailer. Since you have a dump trailer, if the lamps are attached to the dumping portion of the trailer, you should run a ground jumper from the box to the trailer itself to keep a good ground connection.

We have a Wiring FAQ page that you might find helpful, to view it, use the provided link.

expert reply by: Mike L