Cleaning Trailer Lights

[ZachO]

This won't be news to most of you, but I just had firsthand experience with this so I'll share it.

The blinker lights on my Bigfoot have been very dim since I bought it. Dim enough that they're only really functional at night. In the daylight, they're visible, but realistically someone following behind me could easily miss them. For whatever reason this has just stayed on the backburner and I only decided to do something this spring.

I figured it was a wiring issue, and possibly I'd even need to switch to LED fixtures, but I remember hearing that the contacts do need cleaning now and then. I finally got around to cleaning them. I was pretty shocked! There was a pile of accumulated dirt, almost a quarter of an inch deep in the bottom of the plastic cover. Even the sockets had accumulated dirt inside them. Honestly I'm not even sure how the lights were working at all. I drive a lot of dirt roads so if you mostly stay on pavement you probably won't have that issue.

I blew out the dust with compressed air, sprayed a bunch of electrical contact cleaner in there and lightly sanded the bulbs with emory cloth. The lights could still use a little more brightness, but the difference is incredible. They're perfectly acceptable now, and clearly just really needed a cleaning and nothing more.

If it's not part of your typically spring/fall maintenance, it's worth checking yours out. Certainly better than getting rear ended or having angry drivers behind you who think you aren't signaling or don't have brake lights...

[Wayne Collins]

That was a common problem with the old incandescent lamps.
Because you had to change a bulb, now and then, the cover lenses were not sealed. LED units are sealed, plus they tend to be brighter.
For better visibility the lamps need to be up higher than they are on many trailers. And, a high, center, brake light should be standard.
Lastly, turn signal/4-way flashers should be amber, not red.

[ZachO]

I agree, my lights are a bit low on the trailer. Someday...

[ststefan]

While you have the cover off you could also polish the metal backer plate for better reflection.

[Rzrbrn]

I have the LED Bargman back up lights. Supposedly they are sealed. The housing had one LED (Red) and a Back up (white) incandescent light which I replaced with a White sealed LED. There is a hole behind the incandescent fixture for the wires to pass through. I tried to seal as best I could. The LED light hole was very well sealed by the factory.

It is apparent that the LED lights, although sealed, fit into the black frame which is not sealed at all, and will accumulate dirt and water. I may just again pull out the White LED back up light and reapply sealant in the hole where the electrical wires run from inside the trailer.

I say supposedly sealed LED lights because I swear I see condensation inside the LED lens after a good South Eastern Rain...

My marker lights are sealed LED, but there also I think I see condensation inside the "sealed" lights.

However, just so you know...My wife discounts my credibility... just because I saw a UFO hovering in a remote mountain valley a few years ago...I did...I really did...(in my defense I never said it was a space ship from Mars, or some such...geez).

[Gilles]

I had this problem of malfunction with the original lights on my old Bigfoot 15B17G and I replaced them with submersible signaling and positioning LEDs to correct the problem.
I had to polish a back plate to properly cover the space occupied by the original lights.

https://addison-electronique.com/en/...-lighting-kit/

[Steve Hammel]

Just add LED light bulbs. An amazing difference.

[MK Evenson]

ZachO, I see your BF is a '91. How long since the lights have been attended to?

Mark

P.S. good post!

[ZachO]

The bulbs themselves? No idea. I'm sure they could use replacement, but with incandescent bulbs, I've always just assumed you run them till they break.

[John in Michigan]

ZachO, not bad, there was moss growing in my marker lights when I bought the Boler 17! PO had bypassed the towing lights altogether and was using temporary towing lights.

Actually I replaced all of the towing light fixtures on both the Trillium 4500 and the Boler 17. All LED now.

[ZachO]

Not sure why this didn't occur to me at the time and given the responses to the post...but just last weekend I decided to look at all my clearance lights. I pulled under a tree with a low branch two summers ago and cracked one front clearance light (along with the fiberglass), and finally got around to fixing the cracks and replacing the marker light. Traffic laws are pretty loosely enforced around here so it allowed me to procrastinate for almost two seasons...

Anyway I pulled the covers off all the lights. Some had always worked, some hadn't. I can't believe, with the design of these things, than any of them worked longer than a decade!

Most were moss-filled, muck-filled and dust filled. The actual contact between the socket and the bulb is just a very thin piece of pliable metal. In a couple of cases, it wasn't even touching the bulb anymore. No wonder they didn't work. I bent them back, but just the act of pushing the bulb back into the socket bent them away enough that it seems like one bump and it wouldn't surprise me if they weren't making contact anymore and those lights went out.

Anyway I bought all new LED fixtures to replace them. Should be here Monday. Just single diode, simple lights to comply with the law. 5 red, 4 amber. Lights.