Trailer Lights

[Donald Tyson]

I tend to go through a lot of trailer lights...I have four trailers and all four visit unspeakable places and suffer much harm.

Do you always unplug your lights when backing them down the ramp?

For the most part I connect my lights with standard crimp fittings or standard twist on wire nuts. It doesn't seem that the heat shrink connections are totally waterproof or at least there is no way to visually tell if they are. and they are not convenient to do in an emergency. The standard nuts are now available with waterproof goo in them. Some folks use the nuts with epoxy or 5200 in the nut.

Some folks use liquid tape and others solder.

Some run the lights to a fuse block up on the winch post.

I just finished repairing/cutting back my trailer wires and it is clear that the wires were not tinned and also that the are slightly corroded. It may be the last time I can cut them back and over the winter I hope to replace the wiring harnesses. Is it worth the price to buy tinned wire or will properly waterproofed connections negate the need for that higher expense.

How would you approach this?

[Tom Hruby]

There are marine grade heat shrink connectors with hot melt glue inside that waterproof the connection. For emergencies I carry the wire nuts with the goo inside. Problems I have had with lights have originated with leaks into the box. Also, only tinned wire should be used. If not you end up changing your wires every 4 to 5 years. I speak from experience

[Donald Tyson]

Yes I usually get a new light set with cheap wire every 3-5 yrs.
have you tried the liquid tape?

[Tom Hruby]

Yes I have tried liquid tape but it has never provided a waterproof seal.

[thataway]

I use marine grade wire. Ancor heat shrink/adhesive crimps, AND a heat skrink tubing over that.

I run LED trailer lights, which are sealed into the fixture, and leave the lights plugged in. (Including running lights. I also put tail and brake/turn up on the top of the pvc guide-ons.. It makes the lights far more visible to to vehicles which are following the trailer.

[Donald Tyson]

Clearly written. My guides are to short and the rear guides often goes under. it wouldn't take too mush to change that a little higher.

So, Bob and Tom Both like the heat shrink crimps and regular heat shrink over that?

What do you do for the three-way junction created at the side markers?

[Tom Hruby]

If you get on websites that cater to electricians you can find 3 way connectors. What I often do however is to use a slightly larger connector and double up the wires on one side and then remove a larger piece of the wire cover on the single side and fold over the bare wire before inserting it into the connector.

[thataway]

I use the 3 way connectors--they are not that hard to find, but no heat shrink wrap--So I use electrical tape, and then the stretchy kind of rubber sealing tape available and used by electricians for out door use. You can make the commection waterproof with that.

There are issues with putting two smaller wires into a larger crimp size fittings, unless. you unravel the wires, and then blend them. Still you have to be sure there is a good melt of the "glue" that flows when heated.

Another very common way to connect a 3rd wire is the spade piggy back connector--and that works, but not ideal for the trailer. If used, then you can put heat shrink over each leg, and then over the entire bundle easily.

Guide poles are easy to extend--they are just PVC pipe over a square tubing (most of the time). Buy a longer piece of the pipe. I fix mine so they don't rotate, and then run the wire up the inside of the pipe so it is not exposed. The idea is that you can see them when you back up--and use as a refenernce when you put the boat on the trailer. That is why they are there!

[Donald Tyson]

That'll work.

[Donald Tyson]

I had the long lengthwise carpeted plank guides but they both fell off on the maiden tow home from Florida. First the carpet and then the planks themselves. At a Home Depot I bought a twelve foot piece of PVC schedule 80 pipe, then cut into 4 - 3' pieces and they fit over the existing mounts perfectly.

Guide poles are easy to extend--they are just PVC pipe over a square tubing (most of the time). Buy a longer piece of the pipe. I fix mine so they don't rotate, and then run the wire up the inside of the pipe so it is not exposed. The idea is that you can see them when you back up--and use as a refenernce when you put the boat on the trailer. That is why they are there![/quote]

[colbysmith]

I always unplug my pigtail, but once in a great while will forget. Probably ancestry worship from days of incandescent lighting. Now days the LED lights are sealed. I also use the waterproof connectors if I'm repairing something. Any problems I've had with lighting, usually falls to a bad ground wire, or mice eating the wires over winter... Chafing has caught me once, towing it from the factory as the rear vertical posts were rubbing the wire where the wire and upright bottoms go into the main frame channel. Colby