On Fri, 23 Sep 2011 20:04:24 -0500, Richard
wrote:

On 9/21/2011 6:24 PM, Karl Townsend wrote:
On Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:36:50 -0400, Ecnerwal
wrote:

In ,
Karl wrote:

i doubt there are firm rules. For me number one is put everything in
conduit, number two is no daisy chaining (run a separate wire to each
light and each brake from your central junction box at the tongue)I
also silicon seal all the crimp connections by putting the silicone in
before crimping and then wiping smooth.

I did this on the trailer I bought 22 years ago and sold last year.
Never had a failure the whole time.

iggy
Sounds like a great plan Karl. I will try to follow it.

Dod you use ground wires also?

i

the conduit was the ground run. Wires from each device bonded to it.
Might have been easier to use more wire.

Karl

What Karl said, but with PVC conduit and ground wires. A tube of
dielectric grease is handy too - dab on things to keep the water out
where stuff plugs together.

that would work well if it fits the weather tight junction boxes. I
didn't mention I use rubber gas line hose as the conduit to the
brakes. It has to flex. Also silicone every place that might possibly
leak.

Karl



Karl, I've become somewhat skeptical of silicone.
There are so many things that are do much better without the downsides.

YMMV, of course.

But I refuse to automatically slather silicone goo on things anymore.


Especially the acetic acid catalyzed stuff, corrodes metal all to
hell.

Drive-on boat trailers for salt water service are a special case, I
guess. At the first sign of trouble, I just pull all new wire and
replace the lights, so for that case a simpler installation is better.
Still, I've gotten 10 years with the original setup, don't know about
the new led's. They might be even better. By then, I'm usually
replacing springs and/or axles anyway.

One practice I try to follow is to unplug the lights before backing
in. The other is to try to remember to plug them back in before
hitting the road. That one's harder.

Pete Keillor