Trailer Trick

[jet]

Simple idea I used this year on my trailer poles and wanted to let yall know. I added reflective tape (Red Only) (and Its REALLY bright) to my trailer poles at the top, it comes in real handy for night time loading (we do a lot of night time riding) and they really light up at night on the hwy so people can see your towing something. Jet

[03bamaGT]

I did something similar on mine. I went out and bought some led lights that go on a bike or something and just mounted them on top.

[jet]

I thought about that but the poles spin when your boat leans on them and I thought that would keep twisting the wire till it broke. Are your batt operated??

[03bamaGT]

I thought about that but the poles spin when your boat leans on them and I thought that would keep twisting the wire till it broke. Are your batt operated??

Yea...I just turn them on when I tie the transom straps on the way home.

[mapleleaf]

Bama, You got any pics??? sounds like a great idea.....

[stinky_1]

Cool idea.

I have been wanting to install LED's into the trailer down the side of the bunkers like the Axis Wakeboat has. They get a bit more fancy with the float switch so they turn on when in the water, and off when your not. I want them hard wired in to the trailer lights. That way my whole boat hull will light up orange or red or blue as you drive down the highway. Nobody will miss the trailer then!:mrgreen:

[03bamaGT]

Bama, You got any pics??? sounds like a great idea.....

The boat is in storage or I would post some pics :(

[mapleleaf]

winter.......

[mapleleaf]

Cool idea.

I have been wanting to install LED's into the trailer down the side of the bunkers like the Axis Wakeboat has. They get a bit more fancy with the float switch so they turn on when in the water, and off when your not. I want them hard wired in to the trailer lights. That way my whole boat hull will light up orange or red or blue as you drive down the highway. Nobody will miss the trailer then!:mrgreen:

Ok this sparks another idea I've been wanting to do. How can add LED"s to the trailer frame that I can switch on and off from the dash in my truck, but still use the my OEM trailer harness? Its switching them that I'm hung up on, would love to light up the hull on the way home at night.....

[stinky_1]

just throw it on the same circuit as the marker lights/park lights.

No real way to "shut them off" other than to turn off your lights though. I am fine with that.

There is no other easy way to do it. You would have to add another wire into the harness somehow. You dont want to be messing with the factory wiring on your truck to add a switch into the harness. And if anyone else towed your boat it could cause problems.

The axis uses a float switch so when its in the water the lights all come on. When you pull it out they shut off. They grab their power from the marker light circuit.

[stinky_1]

Problem partially solved!

http://www.princessauto.com/trailer/truck/truck-accessories/electronics/8003441-12v-dc-wireless-remote-kit

So, you wire this unit into your marker wiring on the trailer side. You then wire your LED's (up to 4 different outputs) to the switched line out from the box. Your key chain has 4 buttons. Push any of them one time to turn on. Push second time to turn off.

You could get fancy with adding lights to your bunkers, on the sides, on your guide poles. All over the place. Turn on just one set, or all sets, or anything in between.

I have a drawer FULL of multi color LED's. Red, and green and orange. So using the same lights and only 2 - 12V signals I could create red or green or orange lighting up the hull.

Biggest problem with this setup is that it MUST be on the trailer side to make it work right all the time. And you MUST find a way to waterproof the system. I dont think the waterproofing will be all that hard. They sell project boxes that are pretty tight. You just need to find one big enough to put the whole unit into. Silicone the crap out of the hole that your wires are going through. And silicon the crap out of the lid as well. It should hold up.

Let us know how it turns out.:cool:

[stinky_1]

on to the part about the poles spinning.

I have only seen a few setups, so I am not sure how yours are. The ones I saw had metal for about 1 foot, then a second metal pipe that slipped into it. Then the PVC was slid over top the length of the whole thing. The metal under the PVC did not spin, just the pvc did. It should be a pretty easy job making the metal not spin if it does, And then just mount the LED into the top of that.

The ones I mounted on the nautique trailer only had metal for 1 foot, and the PVC went up the rest on its own. Something like that could look even cooler with the LED right at the top of the metal. It would make it look like a light saber floating on the side of the boat.

Just a thought

[jet]

Is there any worry with the po-po on running trailer neons or leds while driving??

[jet]

I also wanted to add the led-runway lights like the Axis boat has. But, after exchanging all of my regular trailer lights for led's like side markers, rear markers and tail lights, it LIGHTS up the water 10'-15' around the trailer. they just arent need anymore. The float switch sounds cool though.

[mapleleaf]

Similar to 18 wheelers being covered in LED's, I'd imagine you'd be hard pressed to find someone willing to give you a hardtime for adding light to a dark trailer....
Stinky, Good ole PA, not exactly what I was thinking with the wireless, but def. on the right track......I'll have to go take a look....

[stinky_1]

maple, unfortunatly the only way you could keep the factory wiring, and simple hookup through the regular trailer connector would be to go wireless. Maybe you dont need the princess auto device. But you would need something like it.

Only other solution is to run a seperate switched wire up and have a quick connect by the trailer plug for that as well. Which would not be hard, but means your the only one going to get it working with your truck. I have 2 tow vehicles and there is no way I am running a switched wire from the dash to the back of both of them to do this.

As for the police, as long as you stay away from certain colors you should be ok. If your have blinking red or blue you will be in deep kaka. Solid red or orange is ok. Solid blue may be attracting too much attention.

Thats why the 4 channels is nice. You could have blue for meet and greets, or when your showing off, but light it up all red or orange for driving down the highway. No one should give you any grief over that. Especially since your making it more visible. Less chance of getting run into while driving home after dark.

[mapleleaf]

My original thought was to add a fused wire with a disconnect near my trailer plug, Do i really have enough time for this? lol
My boat's running gear is thrashed, I gotta get my priority's straight.....

[stinky_1]

fused wire would work. You would not be using your factory harness though. It is prolly the cheaper way to go. and less point of failure for problems.

I still like the wireless remote though. then anybody can have the lights no matter who is towing, or who you eventually sell the boat to.

[mlyoung83]

I would check with your local laws about this. I know in Texas, this is a no-no unless you're "off road". That means if you're at the lake or in the campgrounds still, it's ok to have them on. But as soon as you're on the road, they must be off. It's a $110 ticket. Texas is very specific about where lights are mounted and what color lights are on the trailer. Got a ticket back in 2005 for this from a State Trooper.

[stinky_1]

I would agree with you if the lights were blue or green or purple or some other funky color. If they were red or especially orange I would take that to court. No judge in their right mind would convict on a charge for adding orange lights to a trailer. If that was the case every semi driver on this continent would be avoiding Texas.

For clarification can you tell us what color your lights were?

[mlyoung83]

They were red in color. They didn't flash, strobe, or do anything fancy. Just lights mounted under the trailer to give it a glow, and to be honest, they weren't even that bright either. He gave me the ticket, and then a TxDot pamphlet that correctly showed how to wire lights on a trailer like mine and what was acceptable, and what was not. I ended up paying the ticket. Judge said the lights were a distraction that could cause a wreck, and someone could mistake them for my brake or signaling lights. They were firm too, wasn't much arguing about it. Hope this helps.

[stinky_1]

wow, that is harsh!

I know underglow neon and led is illegal in most places in canada. I could see if you had the lights pointing down like that how it could become a problem and lumped in with the same laws.

I would still try to fight it. Maybe remind the judge that your concerned that people wont see your trailer from the side while switching lanes or something.

I dont buy the distraction story though. In the summer do they outlaw all the half naked girls walking down the street?? Give them tickets for distracting the drivers for showing cleavage?