Trailer light help

D

Dean A

Member
I've decided to mount my trailer lights on top of the boat. I went out and purchased a new light kit. Installed the lights to a metal L bracket supported by a 2X4.
I put the ground wire to the trailer in the same place. I'm looking for any ideas because I'm not getting any power back to the lights. I've already checked the power to the plug on the truck and it's ok. Lights worked when I had the same set up on the trailer, only difference is the 2X4 and L bracket. Any ideas?

Dean
 
Had this problem many years ago and that was because I forgot to ground each light assembly. Your trailer pig tail needs to be grounded to the metal frame of the trailer and then the lights need to be attached to the same metal in some way. The back of the lights have a metal tab for grounding with standard placement. You will need to rig a ground wire to each and tie into trailer frame. That should solve it or as I did run a ground wire the whole length back to pig tail ground and have one attachment point so you do not go crazy when a light goes out and many more connections to check than you should.

Now I buy cheap Harbor Freight lights and replace as needed as the light bar always got wacked and broken more often than lights wearing out in salt water.

Good luck.
 
C Michaud,
Thank you for the quick reply. I will ground the lights to the trailer. Do you buy the magnetic lights from Harbor Freight and stick them to the trailer for travel and remove them before you put the boat into the water. Yes salt water destroys the lights.
 
Run a white wire from the 4 wire plug to each light and never worry about your trailer lights again. This works on permanent lights too. That and LED taillights and I never even look back. The trailer frame is a lousy ground.
 
It is always the ground. Never count on the ground through the hitch and ball. Wire it all the way.
 
Dean,

My first boat & trailer rig came with a 2X4 light bar & tie down, set up by my buddy. I continued to use it for a few years before switching to permanently rigging the light on raised guide-ons. The lights were mounted on "L" brackets as you describ, the left side light was rotated so it's clear lens was directed to light up the license plate, also mounted on the 2X4 on longer "L" brackets. Wiring was run through an old garden hose used as UV resistant flexible conduit. It was anchored to the center of the bar on one end and only the last few feet of plug and wire stuck out at the truck end. A cord was attached to the hose at the truck end, forming a loop that dropped over the winch post to keep it centered and to support the weight of the hose and wiring to minimize the load on the plug. The wiring run up the hose included the ground wire which was spliced at the 2X4 to run to both lights. As mentioned by everyone else, each light must be grounded individually as the 2X4 isn't conductive.

I mentioned the bar also served as the tie-down, it had chains hanging off each side with a retained spring set-up and hook that simply clipped into eye-bolts on the trailer. The pull was vertical and the springs kept everything snug. It held up very well and once unclipped, it was simply coiled up and stuck in the truck. Not too sure of the legality of the separately mounted license plate but the rig was used in most every New England state in the late 70's to the early 90's with no issues.

Scott
 
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I tried magnetic lights once. They were given to me and didn't last the first trip. Trailer frames just do not have enough surface for them to properly grab.
 
Run a white wire from the 4 wire plug to each light and never worry about your trailer lights again. This works on permanent lights too. That and LED taillights and I never even look back. The trailer frame is a lousy ground.
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Tom passed this wisdom my way sometime ago. It took a little longer to wire it as Tom suggests but I have not had one single trailer light problem since (well except for backing the trailer into ice and cracking a lens).

Do as Tom suggests and you'll never worry again. It is so nice to walk out to the trailer before every hunting season, hitch it up for a trial run and the lights work perfectly every single time.

Mark W
 
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