Led flood light mounted on back of trailer

Bumpyroad wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:

jjj wrote:
I mounted 2 small 50 watt driving lights under my rear molded bumper and also mounted 2 of them on the side just about 2 feet ahead of the wheels and angled them outward to shine on the ground so I can see the ground and the wheels. I mounted the switches,1 for the rears and 1 for the side ones,inside the battery compartment so when I was ready to back up I just turn them on while I was doing my maneuvering and turned them off when I was done. It works for me.

The problem with this is what RoyB eluded too.. Some states which have an "inspection" of your vehicle, the mechanics WILL FAIL the inspection unless you REMOVE said lights or PROVE that they can not be activated WHILE DRIVING IN A FORWARD GEAR. Some mechanics are worse than others so you might find one that is fine with it and others may be sticklers and force you to remove the offending lights on the spot.

Those states which do not have an inspection (and even the ones that do) your vehicle may be pulled over and you potentially can be fined and or or you may need to remove on the spot if your MANUALLY ACTIVATED LIGHTS ARE ON WHILE MOVING IN A FORWARD DIRECTION..

It is a safety thing, blinding other motorists is a bad thing.

It is for that reason any lights which are not facing forward SHOULD BE ONLY ACTIVE DURING REVERSE.

Even pickup trucks with a "cargo" light to light the bed area the lights can ONLY BE TURNED ON WITH THE INTERIOR LIGHTS.. It isn't like you are going to drive at night with your interior lights turned on..

There IS a REASON to the madness and if you understand the reasoning you can safely add additional lighting provided you follow the same rules as the manufacturer..

Pretty simple, rear facing lights if connected to the reverse light circuit and you PROVE they can not be activated in any forward gear will not be an issue..

"Scare" lights are a different creature.. They are not intended to be on during transit and the driver takes the risk of ensuring they are not on while traveling..

lots of double talk. you can have them but you can't have them but if you promise to not turn them on while driving, etc. the truck cargo area light is a perfect example. it CAN be turned on while driving. the law does not say that since it is unlikely, etc. etc. and SCARE lights won't flunk a vehicle.

bumpy

Bumpy, in order to turn on your cargo lights you MUST turn on the INTERIOR LIGHTS. That is the way the vehicle code has been since something like the early 1970s..

Last time I remember a truck with the cargo lights on a separate switch was my Dad's 1970 Ford.. Had a switch on the back wall of the cab above the drivers head.. His 1974 Ford they integrated the cargo light with the interior cab light.. Had to turn the dash light brightness adjustment control all the way to the right until it clicked. Once clicked the interior dome light came on and so did the cargo light..

It isn't like your are going to WANT to drive with your INTERIOR LIGHTS ON AT NIGHT. If you did you will not be able to see much if anything through the windshield!

Scare lights along with normal outside door lights can't be operated from the cab and typically do not face the rear so they are not really any concern for most inspections.

What does become a concern is when you place intentionally high powered white lights facing the REAR TOWARDS VEHICLES BEHIND YOU and you have no way of turning them on/off from the cab and worst yet is if they get turned on while you are GOING FORWARD. You have a potential to BLIND DRIVERS BEHIND YOU.

It is for that reason it is best to connect them via the backup wire which is already PRESENT on pretty much all factory wired vehicles for towing. Your trailer WILL already have the wire present and all you need to do is run additional wire from the tongue back to the rear.

This is not brain surgery and is not hard to do.. Just ONE single strand of wire run via the frame and you are done.. Wire tie the wire to the frame.. All told should not take more than an hr to run the wire using the frame..

I simply do not understand why folks think this is so hard or complicated.. You will do more work trying to run wire and rig/mount a manual switch to the trailer battery than if you run the wire from the already present backup line..

If you like flashlights, go ahead and use them but for myself I really love my automatic backup lights..

This entire train wreck of a thread makes me wonder as to why I bother reading and responding to this entire RV.net forum.. :h