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Started By
Message
Stupid boat trailer wiring question
Posted on 3/12/17 at 7:15 pm
Posted on 3/12/17 at 7:15 pm
Bought a flat bottom boat a few months ago. Was having trouble with one light being dim and busted the other one so I purchased led lights that came with new wires.
Here's the stupid question: on each light, it has three wires; red, black and white.
How do I connect these to the yellow, yellow/brown, green, green/black wires which are connected to the pigtail? My main question is how to handle the ground, and if it's tied to these wires which go to the pigtail which goes to my truck, do I still have to connect the ground by the ball to the trailer? I suck at electrical stuff.
Here's the stupid question: on each light, it has three wires; red, black and white.
How do I connect these to the yellow, yellow/brown, green, green/black wires which are connected to the pigtail? My main question is how to handle the ground, and if it's tied to these wires which go to the pigtail which goes to my truck, do I still have to connect the ground by the ball to the trailer? I suck at electrical stuff.
Posted on 3/12/17 at 7:39 pm to cbiscuit
The ground from pigtail will attach to trailer
Posted on 3/12/17 at 7:44 pm to cbiscuit
Ground is the trailer. But if you want to save yourself a a future headache, run a ground to each light and use non trailer wiring kit wire now.
The wire in the kits and proper grounding are about 95% of brake light issues.
The wire in the kits and proper grounding are about 95% of brake light issues.
Posted on 3/12/17 at 8:24 pm to NYCAuburn
Could you briefly outline what this would look like?
Posted on 3/12/17 at 8:26 pm to choupic
The ground wire coming from the lights- attach that to one of the wires that is connected to the pigtail? Any tips to help make a good ground connection to the trailer?
Posted on 3/12/17 at 8:32 pm to cbiscuit
Get 2 long arse pieces of wire
On the trailer side of the plug, connect both of them to the white ground wire
Run one to each light for a dedicated ground
This way you are not relying on the trailer metal to complete the ground from front to back.
*There might be a better way to do this but this has worked best for me on my jon boat trailer.
On the trailer side of the plug, connect both of them to the white ground wire
Run one to each light for a dedicated ground
This way you are not relying on the trailer metal to complete the ground from front to back.
*There might be a better way to do this but this has worked best for me on my jon boat trailer.
Posted on 3/12/17 at 9:05 pm to cbiscuit
best thing to do is go get a 50ft 16 gage extension cord (only costs $7 at home depot), cut the ends off then cut it in half and use that as your new trailer wires.
it stays flexible and is well protected, its a heavier gage wire then the crappy trailer wire kits give you, and it will last you a lifetime and be trouble free.
each side gets:
green to ground (mounting lugs for light)
white to light (running light)
black to blinker (turn signal)
also put a big blop of silicone all around where the wires to into the light fixture. because its not sealed there no matter what the box says and water gets in if you don't seal it yourself.
at the truck plug make these connections:
brown is the running light so it gets soldered to both white extension cord wires
the white from the truck is the ground from the truck so it gets soldered to both green extension cord wires
the yellow and the green are the blinker wires so now plug the plug into the truck connection and turn on a blinker to test to see which one is the correct black wire to connect to for that blinker and then you know the black goes to the other one.
now just wrap everything real good with electrical tap and use wire ties as needed so nothing hangs loose and it will last you 50 years and never need to change or replace your wires again (well maybe the truck plug in maybe)
after years and years of needing to replace trailer wires every few years I finally figured this out and it is the perfect solution and it solves the biggest problem with trailer wiring in that they try to use the trailer as a ground connection. my way eliminates that bad ground connection caused by rust and all sorts of other things like tilt connections
it stays flexible and is well protected, its a heavier gage wire then the crappy trailer wire kits give you, and it will last you a lifetime and be trouble free.
each side gets:
green to ground (mounting lugs for light)
white to light (running light)
black to blinker (turn signal)
also put a big blop of silicone all around where the wires to into the light fixture. because its not sealed there no matter what the box says and water gets in if you don't seal it yourself.
at the truck plug make these connections:
brown is the running light so it gets soldered to both white extension cord wires
the white from the truck is the ground from the truck so it gets soldered to both green extension cord wires
the yellow and the green are the blinker wires so now plug the plug into the truck connection and turn on a blinker to test to see which one is the correct black wire to connect to for that blinker and then you know the black goes to the other one.
now just wrap everything real good with electrical tap and use wire ties as needed so nothing hangs loose and it will last you 50 years and never need to change or replace your wires again (well maybe the truck plug in maybe)
after years and years of needing to replace trailer wires every few years I finally figured this out and it is the perfect solution and it solves the biggest problem with trailer wiring in that they try to use the trailer as a ground connection. my way eliminates that bad ground connection caused by rust and all sorts of other things like tilt connections
This post was edited on 3/12/17 at 9:08 pm
Posted on 3/12/17 at 9:07 pm to keakar
Damn thats pretty solid I will have to look into that
Posted on 3/12/17 at 9:11 pm to Polar Pop
quote:
Damn thats pretty solid I will have to look into that
it also gives you enough wire (roughly 24ft on each wire) to go up high without having a break in the wires anywhere if your lights are on top of posts to keep them out of the water.
for bigger boats just buy the 100ft extension cord
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