Replacement Waterproof Boat Trailer Tails Lights and Switching from Incandescent to LED

Question:

I am replacing my boat trailer lights on my Shorelander trailer. I want LED WATERPROOF KIT that is easy to assemble and very bright. Would this kit work my current taillights are rectangular in shape but not LED. Also does this kit come with pig tail and connectors??? or is it just raw pig tails on harness.

asked by: Gregg S

Expert Reply:

You were on the right track with the Optronics LED Combination Trailer Tail Lights - Submersible - 40 Diodes - Driver and Passenger Side # TLL160RK, which are a completely sealed light housing so they're waterproof as opposed to submersible lights. These lights do come as bare pigtail wires, but there are twist connectors included in the kit to allow you to make the connections to the trailer wiring.

With that said, when it comes to mixing LED and incandescent lights on your trailer, it is not recommended since it can cause issues. The problem is the amount of power required by each type. LEDs require much less power than incandescents. If one of each where on the same circuit, the draw from the incandescents could damage the LEDs. It isn't a hard and fast rule, but we do either recommend keeping the same types of lights together, or switching all of your trailer lights to LED.

If you wanted to keep incandescent lights and avoid switching out completely, the # ST17RB and # ST16RB are a completely waterproof incandescent light that are basically the same as the # TLL160RK you were looking at.

If you want to switch to LED lights completely and you have any other clearance lights, please let me know what sizes they are and I can help you locate the LED equivalents so that you can use the # TLL160RK without any issues.