Help with tail light wiring

Hi everyone, I recently installed a Go Fast Camper on my Tacoma and tried to wire up the brake light that comes with it. The camper came pre-wired with a splice connecter which I connected to the main brake line. After connecting it the camper light worked great but the trucks brake light no longer works. I think the splice connecter may have severed the wire to the taillight and I have no idea how to fix it, I don't think I can splice the wire together because it was severed near the light itself. Any help would be much appreciated, thanks!

 

I typically use an add a fuse, or splice wires together but not cut one out.

When you added the splice did you just add the wire to the existing and then reattach both the new one and the splice? Or did you cut the wire and only add the new one.

I see blue attached to red but does that mean it was cut from the truck light? Then I see black added to the middle of white I think?

 

Thanks for the reply! All I did was insert the splices into the existing brake wires and screwed them on. I took the splices off this morning to see if that would make the tail light work again but unfortunately it did not. This is the instructions I followed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-sxB97tq8c

 

Did you by chance and check bulb, to see if blown? Also those splices are nothing but problems, corrosion.

 

Possible lesson learned here - don't tap into a wire so close to the fixture.
But I think you've got enough wire coming out of the fixture to redo the splice.
What I would do:
- Disconnect the negative cable to the battery.
- Remove the taps you installed.
- reconnect the battery.
- Have someone step on the brake pedal while you wiggle the tapped (original) wires to see if truck's brake light works. If it does (but intermittently), then your diagnosis is likely correct.
- Disconnect the battery again.
- Cut the existing wire at the splice location, strip off the insulation from each end, do the same for the camper's wire.
- See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST2i1uorUAk (6:40) for a way to do a "T" splice.
- Insure that no wires are touching any metal, reconnect the battery and test.
- After taping I would coat everything with a smear of silicone sealant. Let it cure for a bit before reinstalling your taillight.
It appears to me that the wire to the campers brake light are heavier gauge that. Makes me wonder what the bulb's wattage is.

 

I have ran into this before, when I was adding underbody lights by tapping into the bed light wiring. After troubleshooting, I concluded that when there are two different types of lights on the same circuit, the current can and will follow the path of least resistance and may only illuminate one of the lights(or one type of light). You could tie in both brake lights together, and leave the camper shell light connected to the other tail light wiring by itself. PITA, but it should work. This is for parallel wiring, not series.

What Cipher94 said is probably a better option though. Add a fuses are easy and reliable.

 

i prefer to recommend heat-seal splices. crimps are closer to the oem method, and with the proper crimping tool, tend to be nearly impossible for anyone to screw up, whereas solder has a dozen steps and thermal characteristics that need to be followed for a proper joint.

$20 TICONN 200PCS Heat Shrink Butt Wire Connector Kit, Insulated Waterproof Electrical Wire Crimp Terminals Butt Splice for Marine Automotive (200PCS)

https://www.amazon.com/TICONN-Conne...&sprefix=heat+seal+butt+splice,aps,93&sr=8-16