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Old September 19th 15, 02:23 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
son_of_flubber
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Default General Questions (Trailer/Trailering)

On Saturday, September 19, 2015 at 7:21:57 AM UTC-4, Casey Cox wrote:

7) anyone rewire their trailer with led lights? and did you put any on side, and source, ect


Reliable trailer lights seem a very cost effective upgrade to avoid LEO stops and rear-ending.

Two thumbs up for LED lights. Brighter, more reliable, cheap and easy upgrade. Peterson offers lights at several price points. Make sure that you buy lights that are legal for your country (DOT approved in the USA). Peterson sells some lights that are not USA legal. You can buy no-name lights for somewhat less. I know one thrifty guy who soldered raw LEDs and resistors into his old trailer light fixtures.

The wiring harness to the trailer is a single-point-of-failure. My solution is to wire a second redundant harness in parallel, periodically test the harnesses, and connect both while trailering.

I upgraded the harness connector to Powerwerk Powerpoles as the old style connectors are unreliable. I have the old style connectors wired into the trailer harness in parallel should I need to tow with someone else's vehicle..

Side lights as required by law in most states.

The LED lights are so cheap, reliable, and compact, I added small forward facing indicator lights mounted on the trailer fenders. The indicator lights are wired in parallel with the rear lights. I can see the indicator lights in the side view mirror. They confirm that power is reaching the rear mounted lights.