Battery directly to lights?

I need to fix a few running lights that are out on my trailer, but to do that, I need power to them to find where the problem is. I can't really back my truck up to the trailer right now, so can I connect a trolling battery directly the the trailer plug? As in, connect the positive to the brown running light wire and the negative to the negative. Will that work or will I fry something?

Re: Battery directly to lights?

yep it will work just fine..... one male crimp bullet connector for the negative and a female bullet for the positive and you can plug into each circuit.
BTW

ground, ground, ground

Re: Battery directly to lights?

smokeonthewater said:

yep it will work just fine..... one male crimp bullet connector for the negative and a female bullet for the positive and you can plug into each circuit.
BTW

ground, ground, ground

Click to expand...

I have something better than bullet crimps, an old lighting kit came with a car side plug with lots of wire so I'm just gonna strip the ends of the necessary wires and use that. Thanks!

Re: Battery directly to lights?

no prob... have fun

Re: Battery directly to lights?

I wired a male plug with alligator clips to use with a jump box. Works perfect as long as you don't short something ...:facepalm:

Re: Battery directly to lights?

Ya know, that's a good point..... an inline fuse or circuit breaker would be a good idea although I've never bothered

Re: Battery directly to lights?

Eugh, this is a nightmare. Everything's corroded and rusted. Plus the lights are spliced in at weird places and the rear lights use some sort of propreitary plug.

My old trailer was so much easier to work on! :facepalm:

Re: Battery directly to lights?

Flynny said:

Eugh, this is a nightmare. Everything's corroded and rusted. Plus the lights are spliced in at weird places and the rear lights use some sort of propreitary plug.

My old trailer was so much easier to work on! :facepalm:

Click to expand...

Ayuh,... Trailer light kits are pretty cheap,...
Rip all the junk off, 'n replace 'em...

Re: Battery directly to lights?

Sounds like a new set is in order. Just a lot easier to replace than repairing the old.
If you're going to use a battery to check, then GET AN IN-LINE FUSE/HOLDER, 10 amp should be more than enough.

If there is a bad ground then the lights/bulbs will protect the wire, if it's a dead short the battery will put out way more amps than the pos wire can take, melting the wire/insulation, even welding the wire to the trailer in places you may not be able to get to.
huts

Re: Battery directly to lights?

ALSO if you're gonna replace, do yourself a favor..... get LED's..... you'll NEVER regret it

Re: Battery directly to lights?

Seems you have a bit of a mess on your hands that even if fixed this time it will probably let you down sometime soon. I'd agree with Bond-o in that it would be best to replace it. Some people mount their lights above the trailer submersion point. Good luck.

Re: Battery directly to lights?

I agree, time to replace. Had a light problem, rusted, fixed and made trip, next time I wanted make a trip, I had to fix again, new light, no more trouble.

One more thing, ground every light, if you can run a ground wire down each side of the trailer.

Re: Battery directly to lights?

This trailer doesn't need to be completely re-wired. The taillights are actually brand new. The problem is that the the right-side running lights on the fender and taillight don't work. The running light wire splits at the tongue so I just have to track down where the break or short in the right wire is. I'll probably just run a new wire for that.

The taillights are brand new because the seller misunderstood when I told him about the running lights, and instead of fixing the actual problem, he replaced the perfectly function high quality tail lights with crappy walmart ones. :facepalm:


I will probably end up re-wiring this trailer by the time we sell it. I had to do it with my last one, but for now I have too many projects inside the boat.

Oh, I realize I called it a nightmare and then turned around and said it didn't need to be rewired. What I meant is all the connectors between the lights are wiring harness have corroded, but I'll just cut out the ones on the right side and the left side works fine so I'm not touching it. Otherwise the trailer is in excellent condition.