I bought replacement amber running lights for my Hilo assuming that it would be obvious how to wire them up.

It's not, and they didn't come with instructions.

I have a green wire and a white wire sticking out of my camper.

The LED lights have 2 terminal looking things ( with no markings), a small black wire with a fitting on one end and a black housing with a little metal fitting in it.

How does all this stuff work?

johnpeace -

A picture of the connections on the LED would help.

I only know a little bit of electricity, I’m sure others can tell you more, but it should be a simple job, so here goes.

The two wires coming out of the trailer should be positive and negative (ground). I think the white is the positive. This is easy enough to check using a volt meter.

First connect the trailer to the tow vehicle (TV), and turn the TV lights on. Connect the voltmeter between the green and white wires, it should read something in the neighborhood of battery voltage. This tells you that the circuit is on and is working properly.

Next, connect the black lead of the voltmeter to the frame of the trailer, use a bit of scrap wire if it won't reach, and the red test lead to the white wire on the trailer. If the white trailer wire is positive, the meter will read battery voltage, if the white wire is ground, the meter will read nothing or very little (it will be way less then battery voltage).

Do the same test on the green trailer wire, only one of the trailer wires will give you battery voltage on this test. The one that gives you battery voltage is the positive wire. If neither gives you battery voltage then your meter is not getting a good connection at the frame, we know this because we already tested that the circuit was good and turned on in the first step.

So now we've got the trailer wires identified, a known good circuit, and the circuit is turned on.

LED stands for "Light Emitting Diode", there are all kinds of Diodes, but they all share one thing in common, and that is they only allow current flow in one direction. To us, this simply means that if you hook it up backwards it won't light up. If I understood your description of the LED light, you have two connectors. If you have more than two, then I think you may have bought the wrong type of light because three and four pin are used with turn signals and brake lights etc. So, press the trailer wires to the LED connectors with your fingers, you won't feel anything, and see if it lights up, if not, swap the wires and try again. The black wire on the LED is most likely ground.

Once you know the circuit is good and where the wires should connect, then you can deal with the connectors. You can rig the connectors anyway you like, there are many to choose from. I would not recommend twisted wire and black tape, but it does work.

That's my two cents, hope it helps

Neal

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2001 Hi-Lo 22TL
2010 F150

Also, when you replace the light, make sure to seal it properly. I just finished replacing three sections of the wooden framework on the drivers front side of our trailer due to soft inside walls. As I traced my way up to the source of the leak I ended up at the 2 clearance lights. The previous owner had not kept up with maintenance and I was surprised at how much water leaked in. I would use "rope" caulk on the top of the light along with sealing the wire and screw holes. Just a thought...

I agree with Towlighter about the need for caulking. It's a messy, tedious job that's easy to put off, but by the time you see the damage it's too late.

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2001 Hi-Lo 22TL
2010 F150