Replacing Taillights with LED

Me_and_My_Dog

I'm going on my longest trip so far, down to Key West from New Orleans, and was concerned about the relative dimness of the taillights. So I just ordered 2 replacement lights from Elsie at nuCamp for $27 each. She said I have to "cut the socket where the tail light rests in and then reconnect the wires." I googled socket to see what she was talking about. If it looks too daunting when they arrive, I'll hire someone to come over here and help me. I'm hoping for the best. I found a tutorial by Richard Lewis and the image above.

jkjenn

Me_and_My_Dog said:

I'm going on my longest trip so far, down to Key West from New Orleans, and was concerned about the relative dimness of the taillights. So I just ordered 2 replacement lights from Elsie at nuCamp for $27 each. She said I have to "cut the socket where the tail light rests in and then reconnect the wires." I googled socket to see what she was talking about. If it looks too daunting when they arrive, I'll hire someone to come over here and help me. I'm hoping for the best.

You might go take a look in the T@b Yahoo group - this is a more common mod over there since they have a lot of members with older T@bs. I think you will find photos and write-ups.

Estancio

They do make LED replacement tail/stop bulbs that fit your existing socket. Much less costly as well. 

rfuss928

I'm pretty sure Richard Lewis has a instruction video for this conversion.  He posted several photos in the the " *Electrical " photo album on the Yahoo forum.  Screen name "Merliniac".
Unfortunately the photos are displayed in random order and you have to search the folder to find all the entries from a single post.

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/tabtrailers/photos/albums/561338276

There are also some descriptions in that same folder on adding a third center mounted brake light.

I also added reflective tape across the back and sides for better visibility at night.

Me_and_My_Dog

rfuss928 said:

I'm pretty sure Richard Lewis has a instruction video for this conversion.  

You're so right! He has a tutorial! It's a PDF I downloaded from the FB page 


This is it, complete with images. Sounds so complicated. I'm hoping my own installation is not this complicated.

T@B Trailer LED Taillight Modification.

Here is a video for a different item but it shows how bright these lights are in daylight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6DaK2XhNQ8 .

This installation is specific to 2010 and earlier T@B trailers. It may or may not be applicable on LG T@B

trailers.

Parts needed:

4” Sealed LED light unit:

http://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Lights/Optronics/STL23RB.html

Wiring pigtail connector:

http://www.etrailer.com/p-A45PB.html

Also, Silicone sealer, misc crimp connectors and ratchet crimper.

1. Disconnect the trailer from your tow vehicle so no electrical power is coming to the lights. You

will need the tow vehicle for testing in a few minutes so keep it nearby.

2. Remove the trim piece that contains the light from the trailer. This will be held in place by many

tiny screws and a few large ones. Note the location of any rubber spacers on the larger screws.

3. Note the wiring connections on the old light. The connection to ground is usually made by

bolting to the back of the housing. Note that connection. Cut the 3 wires off as close to the light

bucket housing as possible so you have as much wire as possible to make the connections.

These wires will not have power running to them unless the T@B is hooked up to the tow

vehicle and some lights are on so if the wires touch each other at this point that is no problem.

The battery in the T@B is connected to the T@B electrical system so power in it is never routed

to these wires that handle trailer warning lighting.

4. Carefully inspect where the wires enter the trailer. This area will have a lot of mastic or silicone

looking stuff just blobbed in there to seal where the wires enter the body. If you see any holes

or gaps in the mastic fill these with silicone or other appropriate sealer. This is a place people

have had water enter their trailer when washing their T@B or in bad storms. Be sure there is no

way water can get in before closing this area up. Mine had a big hole in this that could allow

water in.

5. The old light bucket will need to be removed from the trim piece. It will likely be held in by the

same glue or mastic you saw on the T@B wire entry area. If you have not already done it

remove the red lens. Tap the bucket out with a rubber hammer striking the inner area near

where the wires entered the bucket. If you are unable to remove the bucket this way you will

need to cut or break it apart. Mine came out with a few taps. The trim piece is pretty tough but

don’t use excessive force or it can be broken.

6. After the bucket is removed from the trim you will need to enlarge the hole to accommodate

the larger diameter sealed LED unit. The LED unit will be slid in place from the outside to the

inside and then glued in place. I used a sealed LED unit from e-trailer because they had the

smallest diameter on the back portion and would require the least amount of reaming on the

T@B trim. If you buy a different unit it may require a lot more reaming. The lights are normally

used on large trailers and installed with a large rubber grommet. These grommets are not used

in our installation. I used an electric drill with a 2” sanding drum attached. After you remove the

old light red cover and housing there is a slight lip visible on the molded trim part. You remove

material down the lip material and that is about the 1/8 inch you need. It is not too hard to keep

this round unless you are using a small tool like a Dremel tool and then it is easier to gouge out a

spot. The old housing on mine was glued in with some mastic material and this does not need to

be removed so you are enlarging the hole in this material along with the trim piece itself. Once

you get the hole large enough it is close try start marking the high spots with a felt marker and

grinding those away carefully until you make it a tight fit and use a small amount of silicone to

glue the new sealed LED light in place. Don’t let the sanding disk slip or you can damage the

outer trim finish. The trim part is an odd shape and will not easily be clamped down so what I

did was clamp the drill and moved the trim around it holding it by hand.

7. Wiring up the new light is not a big problem. The pigtail you buy with the new LED light (it is a

separate part) may have wire colors that don’t match the T@B wire colors or match 2 out of 3

but it is fairly easy to work out the connections by close observation. The standard pigtail colors

are Red is turn signal, Black is running light and the White is the ground wire and may have a

terminal #10 ring terminal on its end which you will cut off.

On the old unit, generally, 2 wires will go into the black housing (connecting to the light bulb

socket 2 poles) and one ground wire will attach to a bolt on the outside of the housing. The

outside of the housing wire is the ground wire and you connect that to the ground wire in the

pigtail. Use a connector and crimp tool to attach that one permanently. That will leave you with

two wires. One will be brake/turn signal and the other running lights. Strip those down and hook

up one combination and test with trailer hooked to car. Be sure the bright light comes on when

you turn on turn signal and the less bright light comes on when you turn on running lights on the

car. Disconnect the trailer connector to the car and make those connections to the light pigtail

permanent with crimped connectors. Tug on the wires moderately hard and be sure they don’t

pull out of the connectors. Use electrical tape to wrap up each of the completed connectors.

This will prevent vibration loosening the wires. Heat shrink and solder connections can be done

if you have those tools.

8. Put a dab of silicone on any of the large screw holes in the T@B body. Install the large and small

screws to close up the trim and you are done. Don’t overtighten the screw or you can crack the

trim parts. The trim itself is not water proof where it touches the T@B body shell so don’t

bother to silicone the trim – just put little screws back in place.

Here are a few pics of the LED units

Me_and_My_Dog

Estancio said:

They do make LED replacement tail/stop bulbs that fit your existing socket. Much less costly as well. 

Yep, that's true. I got a little excited about the multitude of bulbs.

Me_and_My_Dog

jkjenn said:

Me_and_My_Dog said:

I'm going on my longest trip so far, down to Key West from New Orleans, and was concerned about the relative dimness of the taillights. So I just ordered 2 replacement lights from Elsie at nuCamp for $27 each. She said I have to "cut the socket where the tail light rests in and then reconnect the wires." I googled socket to see what she was talking about. If it looks too daunting when they arrive, I'll hire someone to come over here and help me. I'm hoping for the best.

You might go take a look in the T@b Yahoo group - this is a more common mod over there since they have a lot of members with older T@bs. I think you will find photos and write-ups.

Thanks.

Cyclonic

It has been covered here as well

http://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/19/led-tail-lights-for-the-t-b

Me_and_My_Dog

Cyclonic said:

It has been covered here as well

http://tab-rv.vanillaforums.com/discussion/19/led-tail-lights-for-the-t-b

Excellent resource. Thank you!