Community Forums

radshooter · 10-15-2007, 07:30 PM

The taillights, turn signal lights and brake lights on the back of our fiver are getting pretty dim. Need a poor-mans fix if any of you have any ideas. Eventually I would like to convert them to LEDs, but unfortunately, that is not in our budget right now.

My plan is to remove the lenses, clean them on the inside thoroughly, try to clean the bulb receptacle with sandpaper or something like that for better contact, and put in new bulbs, even though the ones there still work.

Any other ideas are extremely welcome.

Thanks for your help.......Steve

radshooter · 10-15-2007, 07:30 PM

The taillights, turn signal lights and brake lights on the back of our fiver are getting pretty dim. Need a poor-mans fix if any of you have any ideas. Eventually I would like to convert them to LEDs, but unfortunately, that is not in our budget right now.

My plan is to remove the lenses, clean them on the inside thoroughly, try to clean the bulb receptacle with sandpaper or something like that for better contact, and put in new bulbs, even though the ones there still work.

Any other ideas are extremely welcome.

Thanks for your help.......Steve

CD · 10-15-2007, 08:28 PM

radshooter
If what you mentioned doesn't help, check ground. That can cause all kinds of trouble.

Rocky Larson · 10-16-2007, 04:34 AM

As long as you are going to replace the bulbs anyway check out this site. You don't have to replace the whole fixture to go LED.
Good Luck.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/carbulb-notes.htm

JimmyDee · 10-16-2007, 06:03 AM

New bulbs probably won't help. You have a wiring problem and like has already been said, check the ground.
Jim

camper1b · 10-16-2007, 07:22 AM

I have heard this many times. My lights are also getting dim and I figure it's a "ground" issue, but......

How do you go about troubleshooting the ground? Thanks.

JRNOLL · 10-16-2007, 09:39 AM

Take a wire with a clip on it attach it to the ground side of the light fixture and attach the other side to a clean (no paint or rust) area that you know is grounded. Or to the - post on the battery. Turn on the lights and look at the difference in the tail lights.

radshooter · 10-16-2007, 07:17 PM

Thanks everybody. Our frame is completely enclosed by the underbelly. Could I try grounding to the rear bumper? Other than the pinbox (which is 36 feet the other direction), there is no frame or wiring exposed on our trailer.

The more I read about this, the more I agree with the grounding theory. All the lights on the rear of the trailer are dim, but they are all the same brightness (if that makes sense.)

Thanks again......Steve

xc-mark · 10-18-2007, 04:39 PM

if you dont get a ground issue and its just lamps , a 2057 is a few watts brighter then the 1157 that are in tail lamps normaly. Are your lamps burning white or yellow ? if its yellow you have a voltage problem poss bad connections on ground or power wires or maybe just to small of wire for the distance the voltage has to travel. Any voltage lower then 11 volts will make your lamps yellow when they burn .

Ray,IN · 10-19-2007, 05:10 PM

Over 90% of all wiring issues are traced to poor/open ground. If your lights once were bright, I'd first clean the bargman plug terminals. If that wasn't the problem you might try this: obtain an adequate length of 10ga automotive wire to reach from the trailer tail-lights to the truck battery neg post, and connect it to these. If the light becomes bright you have confirmed a poor ground condition.
This calls for removing and cleaning ground connections to the trailer frame (usually next to the house battery), and the truck ground connections.

Alpenliter · 10-24-2007, 10:23 PM

My last rig needed brighter tail lights, so I cleaned up the lenses and put aluminum (hi gloss) tape against the back wall of the fixture. This reflected the light better and made a remarkable difference. I put LEDs on my new rig and they will sear your retinas!

Ray,IN · 10-25-2007, 07:02 PM

Alpenlighter, my son-in-law is a shop manager for a large trucking company. He said they are moving away from LED tail-lights back to incandescent, because the light is so directional. From a 45* or greater angle they are hard to see, and the replacement costs are now beginning to show up on the financial end.