Trailer lights

[the dude]

anybody have an opinion on what to use for trailer lights.

I am assuming oval LED but I got thinking, what if these fail, I need a whole taillight assemble but with the older bulb style housings I just need to carry a few bulbs (just like my truck) They could also be LED. The down side is that they are very deep and don't (or I haven't seen them) in a flush mount.

My other question is whether you prefer the rubber grommet vs the hard mount. The grommet may have better inpact due to some give but the hard mount looks more secure.

I was looking at the Grote Super Nova LED http://grote.com/product.php?product_number=53962 as it comes in 24V along with there smaller 2" LED lights.

 

[airlaird]

LED's

I put some LED's on my trailer yesterday. They look awesome and were as simple as plugging it up to my 4 prong harness. It cost me $89.00 from www.southwestwheel.com.....( I happen to live in Dallas where they are located). My tail lights have 15 LED's and my running lights have 2 LEDs'.
I would post pics but it appears to be a pain in the butt to do it on this site. I really don't see how the LEDS would fail...I guess I am not following.
airlaird

 

[Superu]

I vote for LEDs

I went with LEDs from West Marine on my trailer and have been very pleased.

The MTBF for LEDs is very high so I wouldn't worry much about having them quit on you. Besides, most LED strings are setup so one bulb failure won't take out all of the lights in the strip.

 

[Cruiser]

I like the grommet mount as that is what my company used on our big trailers. The sales guys back the trailers into bushes, hillsides, dumpsters,, you name it,, they will pop into the frame before braking.. The solid mount ones shatter.. Our old style(non led) bulbs go out all the time,, one salesman spent his own cash and did his trailer over in led's.. was really nice,, lasted 6 months with no lights out.. then somebody stole the trailer.. so We know the way outlasted the lights in our other trailers but for how long,, we wont know till he gets his new trailer.. Who steals a 24' zimmerman,, that is painted john deere green??
No taste,, or did the steal it just to paint it,, hmm..

 

[dieselandmud]

What happens when you are traveling home on a Sunday at 1100pm? All the part stores are closed and Wal-mart is no where in sight. You will have a better chance finding a truck stop just off the interstate and it will be open. Use what the big trucks use!
http://www.truck-lite.com/webapp/wc...10001&storeId=10001&productId=32131&langId=-1

 

[Martyn]

We have always used LED's on our trailers. Never had a problem with a light failing. Most of the incandescent light failures are due to road vibration breaking the filament, but that's a non- issue with LED's.

Grommet mounted have the advantage of being able to be pushed into the chassis or body if they are hit. If we have to surface mount we always add a steel protection bezel.

 

[lowenbrau]

I'd vote for oval, grommet mounted LED with one caveat. They don't melt snow and need to be brushed off regularly in bad weather.

 

[Martyn]

I'd vote for oval, grommet mounted LED with one caveat. They don't melt snow and need to be brushed off regularly in bad weather.

The interesting thing I find on my Jeep is the incandescent lights don't melt the snow off very well either.

In fact they seem to melt the snow initially until that turns to ice and then they get ice encrusted. I then have to hack away at the ice with my ice scraper.

It not only happens on the tail lights it happens on the much warmer headlights and fog lights.

Working along these lines LED's may be even better under the same conditions as they provide brighter light.

 

[absolute]

If you were to check out a truck stop, I see 4" LED lights for sale for as little as $15 a piece!

For that price I'm putting them on 2 of my trailers.

Just a thought!

 

[atavuss]

I have had good luck with LED trailer lights from Pep Boys. I have had them on two different boat trailers and a utility trailer for years with no problems.

 

[FourbangerYJ]

If you run LED's on the trailer and don't have them on your tow rig, do you need to swap the flasher so the blinkers work correctly?

 

[ntsqd]

Short answer: It should work fine as-is.

Long answer: The problem with LED's in indicating circuits is that they do not draw much current. Older flashers work by routing the current through a bi-metallic spring. When it heats up enough the spring moves and breaks the circuit. Then with the current interrupted it cools off and makes contact again.
If the current is too low then the spring never will get hot enough to open the circuit. As long as there are incandescent bulbs in the circuit that type of flasher will work. How many of them will determine the flash rate.
Newer flashers use electronics to time the flash rate and are not load dependent.

 

[toyrunner95]

Thats not true, I have a 12v relay in my truck and i use LEDs. The only effect is that the blinkers blink faster because it takes less amps to flip the relay. Nothing huge but it may wear out the relay a bit faster.

 

[ntsqd]

What's not true?

 

[Martyn]

If enough people are interested I can get some pricing on the LED lights we use;
6 inch Oval Stop/turn/running with grommet
2" round side markers with grommet, red and amber
Surface mount side marker with steel bezel, red and amber
Surface mount Jeep style Stop/turn/running with bracket, left and right

It needs to be a special Expo order all placed at the same time and shipped out on the same day to make this work for us.

I'll be down at our warehouse tomorrow and will take pictures of the parts and post pricing. I'll post details of how to order.