Oh Lord…..not another tail light MOD thread again

[TucsonJim]

Hi Tom,

The marker lights are still the original incandescent ones. I was thinking about replacing these (or maybe just the bulbs?) with LEDs. The reason that I hesitate is that TucsonJim did this and then had difficulties with the diagnostics in the truck thinking that the trailer was disconnected. Low current draw maybe?



Rob

Rob - the problem I had with the truck/trailer interface was due to using LED bulbs in the original brake/turn signal fixtures. I did replace all the marker lights with LED and they worked without any issues. Here's the lights I used:

Marker Lights

Jim

[Cate&Rob]

Rob - the problem I had with the truck/trailer interface was due to using LED bulbs in the original brake/turn signal fixtures. I did replace all the marker lights with LED and they worked without any issues. Here's the lights I used:

Marker Lights

Jim

Hi Jim,

Did your truck diagnostic error appear right away? I have hooked the truck to the umbilical cord and run through all the brake/turn/4 way/running light combinations without any problems. Of course . . . I have not done this for hours of towing. I am wondering if Bargman builds in enough resistance to prevent this diagnostic from triggering ? The LED marker lights are now in my Amazon cart .

Thanks
Rob

[TucsonJim]

Rob - The problem was encountered the instant I stepped on the brake pedal the first time. But then it was intermittent after that. But in five miles of towing and stopping, it was apparent that something was amiss. Then if you'll remember, I put the incandescent bulbs back in for several hundred miles with zero issues. So I put the LED's back in and the problem popped up again right away.


Jim

[Cate&Rob]

Rob - The problem was encountered the instant I stepped on the brake pedal the first time. But then it was intermittent after that. But in five miles of towing and stopping, it was apparent that something was amiss. Then if you'll remember, I put the incandescent bulbs back in for several hundred miles with zero issues. So I put the LED's back in and the problem popped up again right away.


Jim

Hi Jim,

I have come to learn that there are a lot of different "quality" LED bulbs. I have several that I can't use in either the RV or the boat, because they interfere with TV reception ! I will admit that I have no idea how to tell a "quality" bulb from a lesser one. Price is not the discriminator. I bought some expensive LED bulbs for the interior lights on the boat . . . only to discover that turning on the lights cut out the TV reception.

Rob

[GENESIS]

Hi Tom,

The marker lights are still the original incandescent ones. I was thinking about replacing these (or maybe just the bulbs?) with LEDs. The reason that I hesitate is that TucsonJim did this and then had difficulties with the diagnostics in the truck thinking that the trailer was disconnected. Low current draw maybe?

I am going to check the mounting screws on each one for water intrusion after what I found on one of my brake lights.

I dropped the rear underbelly a while ago, to track down why the outlet for my fireplace quit working. That whole story . . . and it wandered around a bit . . . is in this thread. https://www.mygrandrv.com/fo...y-Stuff/page13 Post 1 is the wiring rats nest you have seen as well. Post 30 in the failed 120V connector. Post 25 is how I used regular extension cord plugs and sockets to replace the OE Molex connectors. There might be something better, but these were easily available and seem to work fine. What were you thinking of using to connect the solid core wire to the stranded? I am not a fan of wire nuts anywhere on anything (car/truck/trailer/boat/etc) that moves.

Rob

I was tempted to replace those Molex connectors with this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ideal-Th...-203761581-_-N

The only issue is that makes the connection pretty dang permanent because the heat shrink tubing has a coating inside that, when heated up, it liquidfies and seals the entire splice. Awesome if splicing direct burial wiring. Not so much if ya wanna disconnect. I thought about your solution, but was honestly tired of running to the store, so I just left well enough alone. I'll be posting some before/after pics that'll be more telling.

Something like this (male and female) woulda probably been the trick. But like I said, I was tired and wanted to get it over with. HOWEVER......now that you've put that bug in my ear, I might be making a trip to HD tomorrow. Thanks bud. LOL

After I buttoned up everything, I called my finance guy and asked him to purchase a few shares of the company that produces zip ties. I single handedly increased the stock price by at least $5/share with the amount of zip ties I've gone through.

Tom

[Country Campers]

Tom

Could that connector be used with regular shrink tubing? I used an underground one that was single to joins hard wire, it was a crimp connector , plastic body , and screw on rubber sealed ends for underground wire. I would just use the connector in your link and use regular shrink tubing.

Brian

[GENESIS]

Tom

Could that connector be used with regular shrink tubing? I used an underground one that was single to joins hard wire, it was a crimp connector , plastic body , and screw on rubber sealed ends for underground wire. I would just use the connector in your link and use regular shrink tubing.

Brian

Brian - about 8 years ago I got electrical/lighting crazy and ran probably 800'+ of direct burial wire all over tarnation to have power for everything from Christmas yard blow-em-ups, to tree accent lighting (the canopy of a live oak lit up is awesome) to workshop to....well you get the picture. I tried several different economical (read: cheap bastid) methods of splicing wires. Over the years, every dang splice failed and ground moisture tripped breakers. So I bit the bullet and replaced every splice with that product. That's a long answer to say if you're not splicing wire that will be underground, regular heat shrink will probably do. But if you want an underground splice to last, that product is the only answer IMHO. FWIW, it takes a pretty decent heat gun to shrink that tubing and you'll know when the process is done because the goop inside the tubing starts oozing out the ends of the tubing. Hope that helped.

Tom

[GENESIS]

Well.....since it's raining outside and I'm bored, I've decided to beat this dead horse some more.

Here's some before/after photos. The before photos are intended for those of you who are too chicken to drop the coroplast on the arse end of your rig.





Tom

[GENESIS]

More photographic evidence:

Attachment 17911Attachment 17912Attachment 17913Attachment 17914Attachment 17915

Tom

[howson]

...for those of you who are too chicken to drop the coroplast on the arse end of your rig.

Oh I'll be looking, Tom. "POW" will just have to wait a bit before I tidy up how her rear end looks. (Stop that snickering--you know what I meant!)

Seriously, thanks for the pics. Really enjoy them.