Boat Trailer Light Installation
When transporting your boat on the land, use trailer lights so that other motorists can see that you are hauling a boat. If other motorists aren’t made aware of the trailer, you might cause a serious accident. As such, here’s how you can install your own boat trailer lights.
Familiarize yourself with the wires on the connector. On a standard connector, the brown wire goes to the tail or parking lights. The green wire goes to the right turn signal and right stop light. The yellow wire goes to the left turn signal and left stop light and the white wire goes to the common or chassis ground.
Access the tail light wiring in your vehicle. It is usually accessible from the trunk or near the rear bumper. Afterwards, find a place to connect the quick connect harness. Make sure that the harness is long enough. It must reach the connector on the trailer.
Then hook up the parking lights. To do this, connect the test light’s clip end to a clean metal chassis ground. Turn on the headlight switch. Don’t forget to probe the wires with the test light until it comes on and stays on. Connect this wire and the brown wire with a quick connector.
From there, turn on you ignition and switch on your right turn signal. Use the test light and connect the green wire to the wire that lights up the test light. Do the same thing for the left turn signal and the yellow wire. Attach the white wire to a good metal chassis ground with sheet metal screw. You can also attach it to a ground wire. Afterwards, turn on your car and check all of the lights to make sure that they are working properly.
Boat Trailer Light Safety, Maintenance and Repair
Boat trailer lights are critical and under-discussed components. It seems that trailer lights fail at the most inopportune times. Don’t risk getting a ticket or in an accident because you neglected your boat trailer’s lighting. Most light fittings are vehicle types with incandescent lamps. They are easily flooded and waterlogged, with resulting burnout and failure.
For safe travel, and to meet transportation laws, the lighting on your trailer must work at all times. Before towing, ensure all signal and brake lights are functioning. It’s a good idea to carry spare bulbs if you need to replace one. If a light isn’t working and you can’t isolate the problem, a small accessory can be plugged into your vehicle’s 4-way plug. If the unit’s lights go green when signals and brakes are used, the automobile wiring works and the trailer’s wiring is the problem.
Moisture is the enemy of all electrical systems and connections. Water quickly and easily corrodes electrical connectors, and can wreak havoc on lighting systems that were seemingly working just fine a minute ago. Don’t worry though, because most boat shops carry complete trailer wiring kits, lamp covers, lenses, bulbs, light bars, plugs, pin connectors, side marker lights, low profile lights, clearance lights, waterproof lights and more trailer lighting components for all boat and utility trailers.
To replace wiring or lights, you can buy the aforesaid spare parts individually or in a kit. Most kits include the necessary mounting hardware. Lighting fixtures come in a variety of models with different features, like submersible trailer lights, corrosion resistant materials, and LED light sets for longer burning hours. You can also purchase reflectors for your trailer to replace broken ones or to simply increase the unit’s visibility.