LED Trailer Lights

[Berleyguts]

I busted my boat trailer on New Years Eve. I thought I could weld it up but I decided to invest in a new trailer. So, I picked one up at a trailer place in Rydalmere today.

It has nifty submersible LED lights. When we tested it on my vehicle ( a '94 VW T4 Transporter), they didn't work. Hooked up to the battery tester thingy, the trailerlights worked. The T4 has a 7 pin round plug and I have an adaptor to convertto the 7 pin flat plug on the trailer. The adaptor tested OK, too.

The trailer guy said some of the newer Europeancars need a transformer for LED lights - try VW. So I go to the spare partssection at a VW dealer down the road and he says I won't need that for a '94 T4.It's only needed for the newer VWs with LED lights and computers - you have toprogram them in (or something like that).

The adaptor looks a little old, so I bought a newone at Supercheap on the way home - this one has little LED test lights on it -they don't light up either. The old trailer lights (non-LED) work fine.

I rang my auto-electrician to see if he's heard ofanything like this - he hasn't - but he will look at it tomorrow for me.

However, has anyone else experienced thisproblem? Any ideas?

If it is a problem, the trailer guy will swap overto normal "old-fashioned" lights for me but if I can sort it out thatwould be better, as LEDs seem to be the bee's knees.

Appreciate your help, in advance.

Thanks,

Baz

[BFB]

You do not need a transformer or anything to run LEDs on your trailer. I would be looking at the arrangement of the wiring for your plug. Especially look for any joints which are not good. Is the plud wired up correctly? Especially if the LEDs on the adaptor do not light up I would start by loking at a problem with the vehicle wiring or plug socket. It may not be wired correctly.

[Berleyguts]

You do not need a transformer or anything to run LEDs on your trailer. I would be looking at the arrangement of the wiring for your plug. Especially look for any joints which are not good. Is the plud wired up correctly? Especially if the LEDs on the adaptor do not light up I would start by loking at a problem with the vehicle wiring or plug socket. It may not be wired correctly.

Thanks. Yeah, I now suspect a short at the socket on the van. I've only had the van a couple of weeks - I towed the box trailer with it last week and those lights worked fine but I hadn't towed the boat yet due to the mangled trailer. I plugged the old (non-LED) light board in again this afternoon and with the tail-lights and indicators on at the same time, both blinked. My auto sparky should sort it out tomorrow when I tell him the symptoms - I might as well get him to wire the van with a 7-pin flat socket anyway, rather than muck around with adapters.

I didn't need that curve ball about transformers from the trailer place though!

I'm champing at the bit to get the boat in the water - I busted the old trailer on New Years Eve and haven't been out since - thought I could repair it but I decided to bite the bullet and buy a new one.

Cheers,

Baz

Edited February 21, 2011 by Berleyguts