New taillights, submersible or not

[pointblank1000]

Just bought some blazer lights from walmart for $30 and the box said submersible but I opened the lens to see if they were really water tight and they were not. They were completely exposed to the water/elements. Other lights I have bought had a lens over the bulbs but these I'm confused.
Will these bulbs blow if water gets on them?

 

[NYBo]

Re: New taillights, submersible or not

This type uses the bell jar principle. You can demonstrate the concept by inverting a glass and then submerging it in a pan of water. Air remains trapped under the glass. However, any air leak at the top of the lights will let air out and water in.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: New taillights, submersible or not

I would return them and but a set of LED lights. Only a few bucks more and no worries. Too often submersible trailer lights aren't if the water at the ramp isn't perfectly flat, which doesn't happen often.

 

[Grub54891]

Re: New taillights, submersible or not

Any light can be submersed once.^ +1 with the led's i unplug any light before backing in,hot bulb+ cold water= blown bulbs sooner than later.
Grub

 

[sweet addiction]

Re: New taillights, submersible or not

One other thing to consider is if your trailer has side marker lights on the fenders and the width identification lights on the back of the trailer(below the transom). If you are going to put truly submersible tail lights on.... you should do
the same to the other lights as well. I see people NOT doing this all the time and not doing this will cause problems just the same.

 

[izoomie]

Re: New taillights, submersible or not

Submersible lights work fine if you remember to unplug your lights from the truck each time you back into the water. You only have to replace your bulbs once or twice and then you will remember to unplug the lights. I've done it for years.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: New taillights, submersible or not

LED's are the ONLY way to fly... do it once and be done with it... not much more money for a vastly superior product.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: New taillights, submersible or not

Nothing is waterproof.

Nothing is true on a Walmart label, either.

Unplug, as said. LED is a great modern invention.

Salt water use is double the problems. see if you can avoid dunking.

 

[agallant80]

Re: New taillights, submersible or not

Yeah the new lights on my trailer were waterproof lasted about 6 dunks in to the lake before water got in. One of them fell off and broke so I will be upgrading to LED when I get around to it.

 

[dingbat]

Re: New taillights, submersible or not

I've spent my entire career designing, manufacturing and installing electronic equipment in an industry that would classify "intermittent submersion" as an arid condition.

Nothing stays sealed forever and when a seal fails, so does the light. Over the years, we've found that a water "resistant" enclosure housing a "water proof" lamp is more reliable and cost effective than a so-called "sealed" solution.

I installed Wesbar Low Profile Tail lights on my trailer 5 years ago. Saltwater only. Never unplug (disc brakes) and still going strong even though one of the side lenses is cracked from a parking lot incident.

FWIW: I had Optronics LED previously. The LEDs started to burn out after just one season. A stone throw by the lawn mower cracked the "sealed" housing and sealed their fate the following season. Installed the Westbars and never looked back.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: New taillights, submersible or not

If you are in fresh water then unplug before dunking. The faster water gets in there the faster it gets out and dries off completely as well.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: New taillights, submersible or not

I NEVER unplug with my LED's .... after hundreds of launch/retrieves they are still going strong.... PLUS I have landing lights to see the trailer at night in the muddy river water.

 

[JimS123]

Re: New taillights, submersible or not

I have 28 year old "bell jar" tail lights and have never even removed a bulb, much less had to replace one. Two of my other trailers have waterproof lights (gasket around the lens) and I usually get about 10 years out of them. All fresh water usage, always unplug and all bulb bases are coated with vaseline before put in the socket.

 

[Brian 26]

Re: New taillights, submersible or not

I've never understood unplugging trailer lights, what are the reasons behind it? I've never done it and have never had a bulb shatter do to cold water immersion (that I know of anyway).

+1 with the led's i unplug any light before backing in,hot bulb+ cold water= blown bulbs sooner than later.
Grub

LEDs don't' get hot.

Funny story, I bought a boat one time that had tail lights with drains in them BUT they had been installed upside down so the water came in but didn't drain out. They were shot.

 

[Grandad]

Re: New taillights, submersible or not

I upgraded to LED's about 5 years ago, purchased from Princess Auto (similar to Harbor Freight in the US). The package for the main tail lights was not marked submersible, nor were the packages for 9 additional clearance/marker lights. I wasn't expecting to submerse them while lit, so I wasn't concerned whether they were submersible, but after several times forgetting to unplug as had been my habit with incandescent lamps, I found that they survived just fine. They've been submersed many times now in fresh water and I haven't had one fail yet. I'm not sure now just what submersible means in regard to LEDs. - Grandad

 

[sphelps]

Re: New taillights, submersible or not

I bought some H/F non-submersible led's that I thought were . Sat in the garage for a year before I was ready to use them so they would not take them back . So not wanting to waist the money I paid for them I just sealed all the lens's with 3m 5200 caulk . So far they have stayed dry inside and have been dunked many times with no problems so far . I will see how long they last then get some submersible LED's when they go south on me ..

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: New taillights, submersible or not

Since LEDs burn cool, I would think they would be fine n water....

 

[limitout]

Re: New taillights, submersible or not

Any light can be submersed once.^ +1 with the led's i unplug any light before backing in,hot bulb+ cold water= blown bulbs sooner than later.
Grub

LEDs don't get hot because they run on a lot less power and they are made of plastic not glass. only glass bulbs have issues with water because they get hot and sometimes crack when they hit the cold water if they are hot enough but in most cases they just get "smoked" which is they turn a blueish grey inside the glass that frosts it so even though the bulb may still work, no light comes out that you can through the tail light lens because of this "frosting" of the bulbs.

with LED lights there is no benefit or advantage to unplugging them before backing in

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: New taillights, submersible or not

I've never understood unplugging trailer lights, what are the reasons behind it? I've never done it and have never had a bulb shatter do to cold water immersion (that I know of anyway).
.

I'm a salt-water boater and always knew to unplug th elights; occassionally I remembered. I never heard the "hot bulb theory" until a couple years ago here. But we do it b/c salt water on a live connection is a bad idea. And nothing is waterproof. You may get a short; you may speed up the inevitable corrosion at the contact points, cracks in insulation, splices, etc.

It also brings up an aspect of boating: we have better quality stuff now so a lot of the old rules no longer pertain. We don't have to replace canvas PFD's every five years, for example. So although the equipment is sometimes worse quality being cheaply made crap from China, we have things like shrink wrap, better splices, waterproofing, sealants, LED, etc.

In short, the way we grew up doing it is not necessarily necessary any more, for lots of boating methods.

 

[Grub54891]

Re: New taillights, submersible or not

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