LEDs on Trailer Plugs

[tenzing]

There is some discussion in a recent thread about trailer plugs etc and the subject of these came up.( Spaniard King)
Has anybody got these on at the moment?are they a good idea? Are they well made and/or likely to last any better than the cheap plugs and sockets out there.

It strikes me that as there is no particular seal with the plugs and sockets that corrosion is inevitable and quickly!

My particular interest is that I am in the process of hunting down my own problem with trailer lights and in the process virtually every thing I open looks corroded beyond repair.( trailer is less than 3 yrs old).
I have the socket on the car: Then the plug to plug cable that goes to the trailer;
Then the socket screwed to the trailer off which comes the power to the hydraulic brakes as well as the wiring to the lights.

How many LED plugs are necessary , and if just one, is it important in which location it is used?
Also can a plug to plug cord be purchased pre made or does everyone just make their own. I have noticed that the 7 core wire I have seen seems much smaller gauge than what is there at the moment, but I guess it is easier to get a neat finish with this size wire if it is capable of doing the job.
Any input would be welcome.
Brendan

[oldboot]

Some for of LED diagnostic seems like a wonderfull idea, but the products on the market seem to be cheap and nasty.

Possibly the best thing would be a 7 pin small round plug with a short tail and a box with the indicator LEDs on it.

You've stired me up I will probaly make one now.

the ideal companion would be a box with 7 switches that runs off a cig lighter or a small SLA battery

this way you can diagnose either a vehicle or a trailer.

I dont thing they would be a good idea on a vehicke permananetly.


as to the thin spindly trailer wire that is often sold in the chain stores.......yep its rubbish......price first.
There are some who would argue that the current carrying capacity isn't required especilay if LED trailer lamps are used...... but it ist simply too light to be mechanicaly durable.

as for corrosion.......use finga's idea.......when you fit up new plugs.....squirt them with lanolin spray before you put the plug together.

Then squirt up the plug and socket holes every now and then.

If you sheath the whole thing in hose, the boot on the plug fits much better and give the cable a bit of protection.

Almost ant trailer prewired wiring product purchased off the shelf will be cheap and nasty.

best to make your own.

If you need to get some good quality trailer wire there are people here who may help, or talk to a friendly auto electrician.

cheers

[TheRealAndy]

I just realised I posted an answer to this in another thread by accident! Here is the response cut out of the other thread.

If you are talking about those trailer sockets with the build in LED's for diagnosing problems then forget it. They are cheap rubbish. I bought one to fit to my car because i thought the socket was stuffed went to fit it and the screw are crap and strip out. Took it straigh back for a refund and fitted the original narva one back (it was just a bit corroded).

[tenzing]

Old boot, Thanks for the detailed and considered reply, I think you might have got me stirred up too.
Andy, Thank you, I had actually read your reply in the other thread. I wasnt sure this was topic enough for a new thread but did not want to hijack the other for my own purposes.
I am now looking for the better quality cable and I think the NARVA brand plugs and sockets which seem to be a better quality / finish than the others .
I have tried the chain style retailers to no avail. anyone know a northside location that might stock such things?
Brendan

[oldboot]

Old boot, Thanks for the detailed and considered reply, I think you might have got me stirred up too.
Andy, Thank you, I had actually read your reply in the other thread. I wasnt sure this was topic enough for a new thread but did not want to hijack the other for my own purposes.
I am now looking for the better quality cable and I think the NARVA brand plugs and sockets which seem to be a better quality / finish than the others .
I have tried the chain style retailers to no avail. anyone know a northside location that might stock such things?
Brendan

repco or burston.

If you can lay you hands on one of the new design all metal utilux plugs they are pretty good.

there are a number of pretty decent clones of the old metal utilux plug about.

if corrosion is a problem it might be worth looking at the utilux plastic bodied plug.

On of the problems with many of these plugs is the mixture of metals......it always used to be a brass pin that had a terminal socket machined into the back and a brass screw...... but many of them have a brass pin, maybe plated with a plated steel screw and you put a copper wire in it. to many different metals for me.

give em a regular squirt with lanolin spray.... even wd40 would help.

I had ocasion to replace a plug recently on a mowing trailer.....all the screws were visibly rusted and frozen solid......i've seen others untouched for 20 years and still fine.

cheers

[tenzing]

Oldboot ,thanks again mate.
I did notice a completely rusted out plug on the trailer end, yet the car end, both sides, 100%.
Cheers for the help.
Brendan

[tenzing]

Just to put this one to bed.
Got the Narva Plugs from Repco,Had to go to Autobarn for the socket though.
Got some decent Cable(4mm- not on display, had to ask for it specifically.)
Made myself a nice new plug to plug cable, Cleaned up the car socket after testing it ok, Replaced hopeless rusty socket on trailer. Problem ended up being corroded loop earth wire in the light fitting and some verdigris(?) on the other wires in the fitting too.
Thanks for the advice oldboot and Andy, I feel much better having given the rest of it a freshen up anyway. I would have taken the multimeter to the lights at the outset but the mounting bolts were well corroded and required some encouragement from a friendly hacksaw blade to let me at the lights
Cheers, Brendan

[White Pointer]

G'day,

Welcome to the recurrent nightmare. It's always the bloody trailer!

I had dramas with my trailer just 12-months after build when the stop and tails lights gave up. I bought a couple of new globes and went to work to remove the lenses. Rusted solid. After breaking into the lamp housings I found that all was rust and corruption because a couple of alternative mounting holes at the back of the lamps had never been plugged. The lamps just lived in salt water.

Ripped the whole lot out and put it in the bin and went to REPCO and bought Trojan LED lamps. Two separate and completely sealed harnesses joining only at the trailer coupling. Too easy. Make the joins and heat shrink it and about $150 later it all works brilliantly ... behind the Land Rover. But not the Rodeo. No brake lights.

Fiddled around until I discovered that the Rodeo needs resistance on the trailer circuit to light the lamps - and LEDs offer bugger all resistance. After doing some research and finding the solutions all very expensive I wired in an incandescent brake lamp under the winch on the winch post. Hey ... presto ... trailer brake lamps work.

More importantly, the drunk that I just that ran over can look up and see that I was trying to stop ... just before the propeller hit him on the head.

We are having fun.

White Pointer

[Mr__Bean]

I bought one of those LED light sockets and use it as a quick test device to determine whether any trailer light failure is due to the vehicle wiring or whether it is in fact the trailer wiring.

Mine hasn't and won't be wired in, just used as the quick test tool.

- Darren

[oldboot]

You would think that these " electronic gurus" that design these cars would have figured out that LED tail lights were going to be increasingly the norm.

Go Figure

cheers

[finga]

You would think that these " electronic gurus" that design these cars would have figured out that LED tail lights were going to be increasingly the norm.

Go Figure

cheers

Or they go the other way.
My BMW motorcycle has a red 'danger, danger Will Robinson' light that comes on the dash when a trailer with lights with bulbs is plugged in.
The light doesn't come on with LED's on the trailer.

[Heath]

LED trailer lights are definately the go in this day n age. I've had mine on for 3 years now with out an issue. All my joins are soldered & covered with liquid electrical tape, then covered in resin filled heat shrink. I then have a junction box up the front where the wiring is multipled up. The connector is covered in silicon spray, as is the internals of the trailer plug.

One thing about trailer plugs. When you push them in and pull them out, do it in one smooth motion. Don't rock them from side to side. What this does is closed up the gap in the middle of the pins causing a loose or intermitant connection.