Complete rewire

[Bubba1235]

I have a trailer thats around 25 years old. Stripped it, primed and painted, looks good. I am tossing all the old lights, wiring etc. so I have been looking at what I want to install and have to admit the LED based lights seem to have a lot of advantages but I seen nothing anywhere about dunking them in water for extened periods.

Anyone know?

 

[triumphrick]

Re: Complete rewire

Ummmmmmm, like overnight?

LED lights work great as a boat trailer light. Usually last much longer than bulbs. However almost all light housings have to be submerged for a short period of time while launching / retrieving and that will always have an effect on their operation.

I have used LED lights for both of my last two trailers and was very satisfied.

 

[cribber]

Re: Complete rewire

As long as the LED lights are sealed or water resistant (marine grade), they should be good to go. They draw less power and are less susceptible to vibration failure and last longer. I'd say upgrade... I'll never use incandescents again.

 

[tcindie]

Re: Complete rewire

LEDs have an average life of 10,000+ hours and are sealed by design. If you're concerned about submerging them you could encase them in resin or something similar... They use an extremely low amount of power versus incandescent bulbs, are incredibly bright, and produce virtually no heat.

 

[Lou C]

Re: Complete rewire

I boat in salt water and the way I keep my lights working is to smear OMC triple guard grease on all the bulb terminals (the lights are the bell jar design). I looked into LEDs but if salt water gets in they will not work and you can't take it apart to fix it so you have to toss it. The other thing that can really help is running a ground wire to each lamp mount point so that corrosion in the trailer frame does not cause grounding problems.

 

[CATransplant]

Re: Complete rewire

It probably doesn't need saying, but, if your wiring goes through the frame, be sure to leave the old wiring in place so you can use it to pull the new wires. I made that mistake once. Never again.