Trailer wiring help

[Jesus_man]

I got the idea of adding LED pods to the rear of my trailer for when I am backing up in the dark. So I am seeking advice on how best to accomplish this. I have the pods, so I just need switched power. I had my trailer built with a 2" receiver and a 4-flat connector. My initial thought was to just wire the pods into a 4-flat connector and plug it in as needed, but we all know the effects of corrosion of exposed connectors. So perhaps I need to hard-wire them into a circuit (likely the marker lights) with a waterproof switch??

What would you do? Any known switches that would stand up to the abuse of road grime and weather? How best to tap into an existing circuit? Or is there a good way to use the 4-flat connector? Should the switch be in the power side of the ground side? Does it matter?

Thanks!

[Digger]

I would most definitely switch to a 7-round connector. They are the most universal type these days and most vehicles that can tow 3000k or more are equipped with this connector from the factory.

It can also be adapted down to just about any other style of connector. 7-rounds have a pin for backup lights, it would be a matter of stringing another wire on the trailer maybe adding one to the tow vehicle from the reverse lights.

[cpldavis37]

You could run it through a relay. Power to the relay have a switch run the ground and run it back to a quick disconnect to your trailer. Wire up as many LED lights as you want. Then you can flip a switch inside and light the whole thing up. I wouldn't even mess with trying to tie into the Bronco or the trailers existing wires.

[Jesus_man]

Digger - I wasn't clear. My trailer does have the 7 round and plugs into the factory connector on the F350 just fine. But I had the manf. make my trailer so that I could pull a small pop-up camper behind it so that is where the 2" receiver and 4-flat is:


But you are saying that I could find the center pin in the harness on the trailer and run that back to my LEDS and they would illuminate when I put the truck in reverse.... That would eliminate all sorts of issues. I don't want to add any aux connectors to the equation.

[Eck]

But what about when you add an ATV trailer behind the pop up?! I’m electrically challenged so I have nothing more to offer. Good luck!! Nice setup though.


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[Jesus_man]

That may require a longer trailer for the ATV to go on, or a toy hauler camper... LOL

Ironically, the only two pieces of equipment I still own are the Bronco and trailer. Everything fore and aft are long since gone.

[Jesus_man]

Success!! So being colorblind and doing wiring can be daunting, but with the help of my son, I was able to get the trailer project completed this weekend!

1st order of business was to replace the uber-cheap connector that was just 5 wires wrapped in electrical tape with a cheap plug at the end. After labeling everything, I bought a new pigtail and changed out this:



to this:


My son helped run a new wire for the reverse lights thru the existing conduit. Then we soldered and heat-shrunk all the connections and we then wrapped up the new junctions in electrical tape and then fastened them to the trailer. After drilling some mounting holes and zip tying wire up, we ended up here:




Hoping they throw enough light to make a difference, but if they don't it will be easy to swap to something that does. And also hoping this location is protected enough not to get torn off.

I was fairly shocked when i plugged it into the truck abd everything worked the first time! Thanks for the help!