I want to upgrade my trailer lights . Mine are the 2006 originals that came on the trailer . I'm tired of the salt water corrosion and the lights not working every year when I start towing my Grady . Question is: what are the best sealed L E D lights to go with ?
L E D Trailer Lights
- Thread starter 2006 Adventure 208
- Start date
Parthery
GreatGrady Captain
None of them are real good....
Do you have guide posts on your trailer? If you do, have you considered moving the lights up top and out of the water? Do that and they will last forever....
These came from Walmart....mounted on $15 brackets from Eastern Marine.
Do you have guide posts on your trailer? If you do, have you considered moving the lights up top and out of the water? Do that and they will last forever....
These came from Walmart....mounted on $15 brackets from Eastern Marine.
Wesbar, Anderson, Optronics. All seem to be about the same from my experience over the years. One of the things I'll caution against is if the light is 'self-grounding'. Meaning, it grounds by using it's casing against the trailer. It needs to have a pretty clean contact with the trailer. Galvanizing makes that hard. I had a set like this and I ended up taking each light apart, soldering a short lead to the ground on the backside of the light, then using SS Tek screws to attach the lead to the trailer. Before I did that, every once in a while a light would go out (losing ground) and I'd have to loosen it/play around with it/retighten (although I found out too tight was worse) to get it to work again. Since I added the leads, they've been perfect.
Parthery said:None of them are real good....
Do you have guide posts on your trailer? If you do, have you considered moving the lights up top and out of the water? Do that and they will last forever....
These came from Walmart....mounted on $15 brackets from Eastern Marine.
Just be sure that you meet your state's regs for tail light placement. The Federal regs state that the lights must be mounted no lower than 15 inches and no higher than 60 inches. State regs often differ.
DennisG01 said:
Good advice. I might also add that some of the newer LED systems are fairly well sealed but often the weakest point is the wiring connections both at the tail light and in the trailer harness (that includes grounds as mentioned). Good ground should always use a wire and not the frame ( or the hitch ball!!)
LEDs are a joke. Save your money...get the Dry Launch brand. Don't rely on the frame for your grounds. Run a dedicated ground wire down each side of the frame from the pigtail and make your connections with the adhesive lined heat shrink crimps.
http://www.drylaunch.com/
http://www.drylaunch.com/
Thanks for all the feedback. I think I will go with the recommendation of replacing with "Dry Launch " lights and make sure they are grounded properly as recommended.
I just realized that the way I responded may have to lead people to think I don't like LED's or that they are not reliable. That's not what I meant. LED's vs regular... neither is more or less reliable. It's the QUALITY of manufacturing that makes the difference. Actually, a point could be made to say that a quality LED is MORE reliable than regular since the LED is not as susceptible to vibration and corrosion. I've worked in the marine industry for over 25 years and many of our trailer manufacturer's have switched over to LED's over the last 5 years. They have been, hands down, MUCH more reliable, than the regular lights.
Now, with that being said, I like that those regular lights are Made in the USA and if you decide to go that route, that's certainly a nice thing.
Now, with that being said, I like that those regular lights are Made in the USA and if you decide to go that route, that's certainly a nice thing.