So we have  a 4 YO Exiss GN 3H trailer. Took it in for service- nothing's been wrong, just due for brakes to be checked and bearings... and they found the 'plunger' for the breakaway battery system was partly pulled out...they pushed it in, checked its battery, declared it all sound, and did the other work as directed. All was well.

Got it home, switched on the master disconnect so I could turn the LQ interior lights on to do something, and switched it off when I was done. The lights stayed on. Huh. SO disconnected trailer battery. Lights stayed on. Dim, but on. ???? trailer wasn't plugged in, pigtail of trailer wasn't plugged in to truck. Snipped the wires feeding the breakaway brake's battery...lights go off.

Never had this happen before in this trailer.  I am guessing- just guessing- with the plunger pulled out- it wasn't hot/didn't feed the juice to these lights...and many a time I've flipped the light switch and gotten exactly NADA to illuminate b/c the master switch was off. Now breakaway is 'fixed'...and the damn thing is feeding power to my LQ.

Is there a way to get the wiring schematic to this trailer? Is it going to be feasible to fish a new line from the breakway box to the brakes without tearing into the LQ? I don't really want to pay the dealer to do this, they didn't 'do' anything to tear it up... I believe it's been screwy from the start and we just didn't realize the plunger was partly pulled out all this time.

What would you do?

 (thinking out loud to myself) I thought when you pulled the plunger out...... That made the brake wire hot. When it's in the switch is not making contact, nothing should be feeding beyond the switch... Sounds like a wire is crossed with another in a junction box somewheres.... Need more info...

I don't have a clue..... But I bet I know WHY that plug was pulled partially out!!!

Here's the kicker...not long after we bought it..we were at a horse camp, and had dropped the trailer. Driving back from the barn to the campsite, there sat the trailer...with the running lights ablaze.

Did I mention we were IN the tow vehicle, driving toward said not-hitched-up-and-pig-tail-plugged-in trailer?

How were they on?

dealer retrieved trailer, kept it a week, couldn't find anything wrong. Returned trailer. (Returned it with all the stuff in the tack area flung on the floor, stuff in the LQ strewn all over). Had words with dealer about that. Never happened again re: running lights magically on without power. FF to now. Breakaway is repaired. Now here we are with interior lights powered off of it.

Fun, huh? I've emailed Exiss. SO is an electrician, it's the issue of where the hell the wires go, junction box locations/tips on doing this ourselves. I'm not keen on dealing with the dealer on this- esp since my gut realllly wonders about that breakaway being pulled.  

FWIW the dealer who fixed the breakaway last week is NOT the one who sold it/did the original troubleshooting noted above.

It appears your trailer has some wires misrouted or shorted out. Each LQ installer, wires his interior a different way, so the only wiring prints applicable to your trailer, would be through the original LQ manufacturer.

If you have some basic knowledge of wiring, it just takes time to do the trouble shooting. It can cost a bit of money to hire someone to do this work. Choosing whether it would be better if you did it or not, is best determined by your circumstances.

You mentioned cutting the wiring and running a new circuit. Sometimes this can be a cost and time effective way to handle the problem. However, when you do so, both ends of the circuit should be terminated, so that one end can't back feed the other. The original wiring can be physically left in place, but it should not be electrically attached at any point, and the ends should be capped. One use of the old wiring, is to use it to pull the new circuit through the wiring chases.

Whenever you start ringing the wires, it's handy to have tape or labels to mark the known wiring. This will eliminate the need to constantly recheck the same wire numerous times. By excluding the wiring of a known function, it becomes increasing easier to spot a troublesome circuit.

The obvious tools will include a VOM (multi meter) a test light with a sharp probe to penetrate the insulation, strippers, diagonal wiring cutters and a pair of crimpers. You will need an assortment of terminals, appropriately sized stranded wiring, tie wraps and tape.

It's not hard, but it can take some time to find a short. Using a battery charger as a power source, saves a lot of fuse replacements when you're trouble shooting.

BOL  Gard

The running lights work fine when the pig tail is plugged into the trailer.

Exiss/Universal was useless. I emailed them the original post...I get only 'this is all we have'...which is a diagram of how the pig tail plug is wired...doesn't help. I would need to know how those wires are routed, I got nada.

The original dealer/seller has been in communication with my SO over this since I posted yesterday. That's a nice step toward resolution. In toying with it we can't see that the breakaway even works, period. Going to test that on soft grassy ground this weekend, see if it's kicking on like it should.

There's some finger pointing at second dealer messing it up/rewiring the breakaway box. It wasn't rewired. The plunger was pushed in, the battery was checked. That's all.

At this point the first step is split open the wiring harness and look for something pulled loose in there (seller's suggestion) and then my next step is to test the breakaway system at a crawl on squishy ground, with an empty trailer. Just wonder if it works. Then...beyond that..take it to second dealer and look at it with them. They are very close to the house and my SO is an electrician, 30 years in the business- but he does commercial work, not horse trailers LOL ... he knows how to fix screwed up wiring...but it sure would be nice to know where they are routed, and junction boxes located. I guess we'll find out.