Trailer Lighting

LBZ_Duramax

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2011
Location
Benson, NC
Im looking for some ideas on trailer lighting for loading/strapping at night. Has anyone successfully done this? Also looking for the best reverse lights for the back of the trailer.
 
As for reverse lights most 7 pin plugs on trucks have a provision for reverse lights already. The issue I ran into was the plug on my trailer did not have the pin for it. The center pin is the one for reverse lights. For loading lights I've thought about wiring loading lights to work off of the 12v constant. I was thinking about just using a light bar harness and connecting it to the 12v constant instead of battery.
 
Probably not exactly what you're looking for, but it might spark some ideas. I've got some running board LED lights to mount under the fenders on my trailer when I redo the deck...going to wire them to reverse, parking & turn signals.
link
 
Cheapo Amazon LED floods off the +12v and reverse pins. Can have a switch box on the tongue to flip between always on or reverse triggered. Easy peasy.
 
I figured I'd eventually mount some work lights on the neck of my gooseneck trailer so they're up and out of the way. I also want to add some backup lights to it too. It's a long way to the ass end of a 26 foot gooseneck! I think something flood light-ish with a wide pattern would probably work best for a backup light. I've thought about mounting some under the trailer so it would illuminate a good bit of area, not be blinding, be out of the way, and hopefully let me see more of the tail end of the trailer. I'd have to do some tests on the placement to see what would work best.

If I had a bumper pull, I'd 100% have work lights up top busted or broken off. I can't really think of anywhere to put them where they'd be both protected AND throw usable or helpful light. Maybe on the steps fore and aft of the fenders, kinda 45'd inward, if it has fenders/steps. I might would grab some magnetically mounted lights and move them around as needed or just wear a headband light.

All that said...I vehemently try to avoid, if at all possible, loading or unloading in the dark. Truthfully, I'm not even a huge fan of towing in the dark, but if such is the case, I always make sure I'm loaded well beforehand and will usually wait until the next day to unload. That's just me though!

For sake of conversation, what kinda trailer are you working with here? Post some pics, that'll definitely help with ideas. Everybody already hit the wiring aspect dead on, just gotta figure out what to use and where to put them.
 
paradisePWoffrd said:
Ive seen others do it before, but you could put some flush mount ones in the deck like he did: Car Trailer Rebuild, How to Increase the Load Capacity of your trailer.
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I ordered some rock lights, I will probably recess them into the wood deck in the center. I think the light shining up under the sxs's will be plenty to be able to strap them down. Also got some flush mount cube lights for reverse lights. Going to cut them into the rear rail between the ramps.
 
Croatan_Kid said:
I figured I'd eventually mount some work lights on the neck of my gooseneck trailer so they're up and out of the way. I also want to add some backup lights to it too. It's a long way to the ass end of a 26 foot gooseneck! I think something flood light-ish with a wide pattern would probably work best for a backup light. I've thought about mounting some under the trailer so it would illuminate a good bit of area, not be blinding, be out of the way, and hopefully let me see more of the tail end of the trailer. I'd have to do some tests on the placement to see what would work best.

If I had a bumper pull, I'd 100% have work lights up top busted or broken off. I can't really think of anywhere to put them where they'd be both protected AND throw usable or helpful light. Maybe on the steps fore and aft of the fenders, kinda 45'd inward, if it has fenders/steps. I might would grab some magnetically mounted lights and move them around as needed or just wear a headband light.

All that said...I vehemently try to avoid, if at all possible, loading or unloading in the dark. Truthfully, I'm not even a huge fan of towing in the dark, but if such is the case, I always make sure I'm loaded well beforehand and will usually wait until the next day to unload. That's just me though!

For sake of conversation, what kinda trailer are you working with here? Post some pics, that'll definitely help with ideas. Everybody already hit the wiring aspect dead on, just gotta figure out what to use and where to put them.
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Well, when we ride in WV we usually leave first thing in the morning to come home. This leaves me loading the night before. Id rather load in the daylight but the riding is usually too good to quit early enough to load, lol
 
LBZ_Duramax said:
Well, when we ride in WV we usually leave first thing in the morning to come home. This leaves me loading the night before. Id rather load in the daylight but the riding is usually too good to quit early enough to load, lol
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True that. I went last October. We stayed at the Appalachian Outpost in Lyburn. Pretty sweet place, if you've never checked it out. Reasonably priced and the cabins are actually really nice!

Put some rock lights on the SXS and you don't need lights on the trailer :D
 
Croatan_Kid said:
True that. I went last October. We stayed at the Appalachian Outpost in Lyburn. Pretty sweet place, if you've never checked it out. Reasonably priced and the cabins are actually really nice!

Put some rock lights on the SXS and you don't need lights on the trailer :D
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I have some friends that just stayed there. They were really pleased. We have a place in Welch so we mostly ride around that area except the few times a year we ride with our big group. Not sure how good the rock lights on the machine would shine thru all the mud, lol. Most trips back ours are rotten. We did a little over 300 trail miles last trip over 2.5 days. I guess this shows I took you guys advice, sold the small trailer and just bought a 26 footer.
 

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From looking at that, maybe mount a pair under the rub rail and drilled through the upright brackets. Then possibly in front of and behind the fenders like I mentioned earlier. I think that would pretty well cover all your nocturnal luminescent requirements!
 
LBZ_Duramax said:
I have some friends that just stayed there. They were really pleased. We have a place in Welch so we mostly ride around that area except the few times a year we ride with our big group. Not sure how good the rock lights on the machine would shine thru all the mud, lol. Most trips back ours are rotten. We did a little over 300 trail miles last trip over 2.5 days. I guess this shows I took you guys advice, sold the small trailer and just bought a 26 footer.
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Is that front rail solid? Put some flush mounts in it so they can't be hit from the front.
 
Like @shawn said…. On my previous trailer, I mounted a short (8”?) NiLite LED bar onto the crossbeam maybe 1 beam behind the rearmost axle. It was wired into the reverse circuit and lit up the world. The location protected it from rocks and avoided clearance issues. I’ll do similar on my new trailer.

Regarding deck lights, I have a pair of NiLite 2”x2” led work lights to mount onto each side of my headache bar. I’ll wire them into the 12v winch battery so they’ll be available any time and keep the battery charged using the engine‘s charging system to keep it topped off.
 
 
shawn said:
Cheapo Amazon LED floods off the +12v and reverse pins. Can have a switch box on the tongue to flip between always on or reverse triggered. Easy peasy.
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Did this 6 years ago during trailer rewire with a pair of NiLite cubes... allows trigger from truck backup circuit (reverse) or manually firing them and is awesome!
The only issue was constantly driving over them... mounted to the boxes the outboard brake/signal lights are in... so they're getting moved underneath like @Jeffncs along with a 2nd set further forward shining back towards the wheels.
 
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