Major upgrades are coming

[carolina-rig-01]

I am getting ready to do some pretty big upgrades on the Triton with in the next week. First of all I am sick and tired of chasing around the ground problems on the boat trailer. All my clearance markers and both tail lights work fine, however brake lights and turn signals have a mind of their own. Last time this happened I was able to take a grinder to the ball and lightly grind the rust off of it and that cured my problem. The ball wasn't real rusty but I guess it was enough to cause ground issues. Anyways this time here the ball is a little rusty again but I really think it is clean enough that it isn't my problem, and the ground wire that runs to my trailer is in good shape. Just to be sure I bought a stainless steel ball and will be replacing the chrome ball that keeps trying to rust on me. But I am also going to back off and re-wire the whole trailer so I can be positive the problem is fixed. And in the process I am going to replace all of my trailer lights with LEDs. I told Britney I was going to replace them with LEDs so that I don't have to worry about lights burning out (which is part of the truth) but the main reason is because of the added bling of the LEDs lol.

Also I just ordered the Total Boat Package from Bluewater LED. The Triton already has lights in all the compartments but they are the single bulb lights that although functional, they don't offer much light. The Bluewater package means that I will have LED strips in each rod locker, all 4 tackle compartments, under each console, in the passenger rod ramp, glove box, cooler, and also ground effect lights on the trailer which will not only look cool but also let me walk around the boat in the dark and not step on anything.

I probably will start this whole process next weekend and I am excited to see the added bling to the Triton.

[rrw4258]

Awesome Kory... just be sure to post some pics of all the new lighting...

Ryan

[Embrey]

you must have a problem with your ground elsewhere. using the ball as a ground shouldnt be needed if the wiring is grounded.

[nofearengineer]

Kory,

A word of caution on the trailer LED's.

In many places, red LED's anywhere on the vehicle are illegal except in brake and running lights.

Let's hope you got some other color.

As for the ground, Embrey is right. The trailer chassis should be bonded to the "ground" wire, but should not be serving as an electrical current path.

(By the way, I really hate the use of the term "ground" in vehicle or boat wiring...as the whole system is essentially ungrounded. A ground typically refers to a solid connection to Earth...oh well, I'm not going to change that )

[Embrey]

well, just pretend the battery is earth. lol

[MIbasser]

Kory, that sounds great! I put LED's on my trailer last year (as I had a dumb move at a ramp) and they look great. They are so much brighter then just the standard bulb.

[bamabassman]

KORY.IF OYU DON'T MIND. TELL US HOW MUCH THIS COST PLEASE. adn do post pics of befroe and after, want to see the difference.

[keithdog]

So the boat monkey has your bling huh, haha. Looking foreward to seeing the pics!

[carolina-rig-01]

Originally Posted by Embrey

you must have a problem with your ground elsewhere. using the ball as a ground shouldnt be needed if the wiring is grounded.

I am not an electrician, far from it. But this is what I know from fighting this problem. A while back I had problems with one turn signal not working and the brake light on the other side not working. I checked the ground wire that is connected to the trailer and it was clean and tight. The problem with the lights would come and go throughout a trip. My ball was a little rusty so I cleaned it up real good and the problem went away for several months, until the ball got rusty again and it's now acting up again. I talked to a few buddies who have similiar issues and they all claim that although the trailer wiring is grounded with the white wire the ball it also needs the ball clean because the white ground wire isn't enough. I can't say whether that is the case or not but I do know that the ball being clean seems to be the difference between the lights working or the lights not working.

[Bender]

I've got some Blue Waters in my livewells and they are BRIGHT! I've thought about the whole boat kit but I have others in the lockers already and I'm worried about drilling holes in my boat to run more wires.

An officer that I know also told us that blue lights are illegal anywhere if you are on the road in Michigan. I think that generally a guy would only have them on in the parking lot or driveway if they are under the trailer so it wouldn't be an issue.

Edit: I'm not sure how you are going to connect all the wires you run but I would either solder/heat shrink them or use terminals and coat them up good with liquid electrical tape. If they are sealed up good it should keep them clean.

[carolina-rig-01]

Originally Posted by nofearengineer

Kory,

A word of caution on the trailer LED's.

In many places, red LED's anywhere on the vehicle are illegal except in brake and running lights.

Let's hope you got some other color.

As for the ground, Embrey is right. The trailer chassis should be bonded to the "ground" wire, but should not be serving as an electrical current path.

(By the way, I really hate the use of the term "ground" in vehicle or boat wiring...as the whole system is essentially ungrounded. A ground typically refers to a solid connection to Earth...oh well, I'm not going to change that )

I assume that you are talking about the LED strips I am putting under the trailer for the ground effects? If so then yes I am using blue for that. I wasn't aware of that law but I chose the blue because I didn't want someone to rearend me and use the excuse that they couldn't see my brake lights because of the red accent lights so although it was a stroke of luck, I guess I did make a good decision.

[carolina-rig-01]

Originally Posted by bamabassman

KORY.IF OYU DON'T MIND. TELL US HOW MUCH THIS COST PLEASE. adn do post pics of befroe and after, want to see the difference.

If I remember right the brake/tail/turn signal lights were around $40 for the pair. The clearance markers were $7 a piece (I needed 6 of them), and the light bar that goes on the bottom of the back of the trailer was somewhere around $20. As for the Bluewaters, the package I bought was $225.

[bamabassman]

thanks kory. now.......go clean the rust off yer ball. hahahahahhahaa!!! ahd ot man, jsut had to.

[nova385]

Hate them rusty balls!