Should LED Trailer Lights be Mixed with Incandescent Trailer Lights

Question:

Is okay to have a mixture of incandescent and LED marker lights on a trailer and even on the same line? I have a broken incandescent fixture and if I want to switch to LED do I have to replace all of them at the same time?

asked by: Ken S

Expert Reply:

One main difference between LED lights and incandescents is the amount of power each one draws. I did a little research and found that if you were to have LEDs and incandescents on the same circuit, it would be too much power draw for the LEDs without using the proper resistors to compensate for the differences. It would be best to replace all the lights to one type or the other.

However, if one of your stop/turn lights was LED and the other was not, that should be fine (provided both were designed to work on a 12 volt system, 24 volts for some applications) because they are not on the same circuit. But running lights all share the same circuit so it would be best and easiest to keep them all the same type.

expert reply by: Michael H