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02-22-2019, 09:53 AM #1
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- May 2016
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- Walthourville, GA which is just outside of Hinesville, GA home of the 3rd Infantry Division
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Oh Lord…..not another tail light MOD thread again
Yes….indeedeedo….another out with old 1960’s boat trailer lights and in with new-fangled LED’s. But, BUT….I decided to take it up a notch to increase conspicuity (which, I’ve been told, you can say in mixed company).
Like other write-ups, I’ll let the pics do the talking and then bore you to tears with my drivel commentary. But, I’m gonna start backwards – i.e. show the end result and then back up to show you how I got there. At the risk of patting myself on the back, I think the solution I came up with to route the LED strip light wires was nothing short of genius (I know, I know…..I’m humble to a fault). Anyhow….on with the show.
The first few pics show everything buttoned up. One of the first things I needed to solve was how to cover up the original mounting holes for both the lights and the license plate bracket since the Bargman’s footprint isn’t enough to cover those existing holes. The solution was some ¼” ABS sheet I found at Home Depot. I traced the outline of the Bargman lights in the taped off area and from that, determined that I only needed to make a trim plate that was ¾” larger to cover the existing holes – AND, would fit inside the ladder support stand-offs.
From there it was just a matter of fabing the ABS trim plates, painting them black, centering/leveling the trim plates, pilot drilling the screw holes, and done. Then came the *#&^*#()@ wiring. Naturally, GD decided to hell with the conventional trailer light wiring color schema that’s on 5 bazillion boat/utility trailers and use, I dunno, whatever color wire they picked up. A big shout out goes to Rob for showing me what GD color wire goes to what color wire on the Bargrman’s.
Here’s an example. On the street side, there was a Red wire that goes up inside the back wall. Upon removing the old light, no such red wire was found. Digging out the wires revealed that there WAS a Red wire. However, GD pigtailed a Green wire to it (the same was true on the curb side. Brown wire pig tailed to Green). Ok, so now coming out of the RV I got Green/White/Black wires. On the Bargman I got Green/White/Black wires. Seemed simple at that point. Hooked up the wires color-for-color, plug in the RV to the truck and????? No turn signal. WTH??? That’s when my plea went out to Rob. The solution was so simple. You attach the Green from the RV to the BLACK on the Bargman and attach the Black from the RV to the GREEN on the Bargman. Are you kidding me? C’mon man. ARRRRGGGGGGHHHHH…. So that was that. BTW…..I reconfigured the wiring coming from the RV to match the Bargman.
******* CONTINUED ******
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02-22-2019, 09:56 AM #2
- Join Date
- May 2016
- Location
- Walthourville, GA which is just outside of Hinesville, GA home of the 3rd Infantry Division
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Next came my wild ****** idea of strip LED’s like I’ve seen on RV’s that are at the same price point as GD offerings (I can only assume GD didn’t get the sales brochure like the other manufacturers did. Or maybe GD is to cheap…..awwwww….nevermind). Now, the biggest hurdle was how to get the wires from the strips to down to the existing wiring. After several hours of trying, it became clear there were too many internal obstacles to fish the wires down inside the walls. I had pretty much given up until something prompted me to remove that plastic trim piece on the corners to see if three 18ga wires would fit. And BY GOD they did! I was back in business. Then the next reality set in on how to get the strip’s wiring over to the edge trim. So I threw caution to the wind and step drilled at an angle from both the rear wall side and the edge trim side until I achieved a diameter large enough for the wires plus some loom to guard against chafing. I repeated the process at the base of the edge trim, ran the wires down inside the trim, poked them through and tied them in. So now I got the LED Bargman’s and the strips that function as running/stop/turn. Personally I think it looks cool as hell.
My final mod was tying in a 4-flat trailer wiring harness into everything because my RV comes with a receiver hitch. Not knowing what the future holds, I figured while I was doing all this wiring, I might as well make provisions should I haul a simple trailer.
And that’s a wrap folks.
Tom
Last edited by GENESIS; 02-22-2019 at 10:59 AM.
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02-22-2019, 10:03 AM #3
Tom - Superb work and very well documented. I assume you drilled a hole for license plate wiring? Do you have a source or model number for the lights? Thanks much!
JimLast edited by TucsonJim; 02-22-2019 at 10:05 AM.
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02-22-2019, 10:03 AM #4
- Join Date
- Dec 2017
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- NW Florida
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Last edited by howson; 02-22-2019 at 10:07 AM.
2017 Ford F-350 DRW 6.7L Platinum
2019 315RLTS (purchased 16 Jul 18 from Campers Inn RV in Byron, GA)
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02-22-2019, 10:06 AM #5
- Join Date
- May 2016
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- Walthourville, GA which is just outside of Hinesville, GA home of the 3rd Infantry Division
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Oh.....one last thing. And this is just MHO. If you're using crimp connectors and standard stranded wire, some of this stuff squeezed into the connector will protect the wire from the elements. Personally, I like to use marine grade wiring since all the strands are tinned to guard against oxidation.
Tom
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02-22-2019, 10:08 AM #6
Hi Tom,
Great write-up and pictures! You do have a talent for telling the story .
I never thought of running wires inside the corner moldings . . . now you've got me thinking of how else I could use this idea . . . hmmm . . .
RobCate & Rob
2015 Reflection 303RLS
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02-22-2019, 10:11 AM #7
- Join Date
- Jun 2014
- Location
- South Dakota
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Well done as always, Tom ! Once again, you are costing us all money and taking us to school.
DanDan & Carol
2014 303RLS Reflection #185 (10/2013 build)
2012 Silverado LTZ Crew Duramax 2500HD
2700/16K Pullrite Superglide
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02-22-2019, 10:19 AM #8
- Join Date
- Jan 2019
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- Oregon
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Nice work, I like how you did the main lights on the back. Not sure I would go to the extreme of adding the additional side lights but it looks cool.
2019 Imagine 2600 RB
2016 Ford F350 CCLB SRW
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02-22-2019, 10:45 AM #9
Awesome mod!
This is almost exactly what I was picturing in my mind for my first mod!
Those LEDs look very similar to the ones I had found on etrailer.
In the end we decided to only tow the trailer during the day so the mod lost its momentum. Even now after a year of towing, we never move the trailer at night, mostly because the places we camp have no lighting and I’m too afraid of running into something and screwing up my perfect record!
Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkResistance is Not Futile, It's Voltage Divided by Current.
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02-22-2019, 10:46 AM #10
- Join Date
- May 2016
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- Walthourville, GA which is just outside of Hinesville, GA home of the 3rd Infantry Division
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Thanks guys for the compliments. I only wish it was as easy as it looks in the pics. On the street side up underneath the unit there's a whole bunch of terminated wiring. The hardest part was planning out the wiring runs, making sure what color went to which (other) color and tidying up everything. For those of you who've dropped that coroplast, you know what I saw. There was a decent bundle of wires for the audio and tail lighting that was waaaaaaaaay too long and just jumbled up like spaghetti. As much as I tried telling myself over & over, "Tom - just let it alone. It's working." My anal self just couldn't be stopped, so I almost re-did that entire bundle taking out probably 2' of excess wiring which still left me with at least a foot of service loop excesses.
Have any of you bought copper wire lately? It's gone through the roof. I probably deleted 2lbs of excess. And that's not counting the stupid excess of romex that could be eliminated. So just think how much cost GD could save by eliminating all this unnecessary wiring. That's why I got kinda wigged out during the factory tour when I saw one of those bigazz dumpsters full of scrap wiring. Knowing how wiring harnesses COULD be built, I bet I could save GD well over $100K in copper wire costs per year. OK - I'll STHU now.
I also found two of the three coax cable splice connectors loose. Of course, me being me and never being satisfied, I encased ALL the wiring (except for the romex stuff) in split loom and tied it off with zip ties. And yeah......I know that no one will know it's there or what I did. BUT - I will know and that makes me sleep better at night (along with most booze).
The license plate is LED lit too. Got it from eTrailer IIRC and tied it in to the tail lighting wires that run from street to curb side. I'm not sure I'd do that again (but it's easily relocatable) and I'll tell you why. If I ever connect something up to that receiver hitch, it will block the license plate from view. The wife said I shouldn't worry cause she's seen plenty of RV's that have their plates centered. I'll tell you what's bugging me though. In that one pic, that mounting plate looks unlevel. So you can bet that once I get done here, I'm gonna go out and put a level on it. Yes....it's a sickness.
The strip lights and Bargman's I bought off Amazon. The strips are from PartsAM and they come in pairs and are 17" long and contain the most LEDS (that I could find) in that length.
The next biggest hurdle is to try and turn a blind eye to those round 3-conductor cables that terminate to the 14/2 romex with those funky connectors.
TomLast edited by GENESIS; 02-22-2019 at 10:53 AM.
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