Led clearance lights on trailer fenders

markct

Well-known Member
On my trailer the Amber led clearance lights on the front of the fenders are so bring it's difficult at night to see beyond them, I know I'm required to have them and they are the smallest ones they make,3/4 diameter, what do you guys do about this. Nearly impossible to back up with them on and difficult to see in the mirrors what's behind you
 
Take them off and put on the old-fashioned dim ones. You have to have clearance lights, but they don't have to be LED.
 
True,but I like the reliability of led, and nothing mounts in the same 3/4 hole that's not led
 
My truck came with a switch in the cab where some body wired in a separate running light source for the trailer . Not sure why they did this except that possibly it might overload the dodge wiring for all those extra lights on the trailer . If you ran a extra wire from the bat through a switch to the back trailer coupler then when you are backing up you could shut off all the trailer lights(running lights) . I think that semis have a feature like this where you control the trailer lights separate from the tractor lights as well. Course you have to remember to turn them back on --- as long as you can see one of the lights in the mirror then it shouldent be a problem. They should go through a relay controlled by either you ignition switch or the light switch as you may forget and leave them on and kill the battery when you arnt using the truck.
 
Are these facing forward or to the side?
If forward, I would move them to the side of the trailer toward the front, facing the side.
If the lens is clear, find one than defuses the light. Looking directly at the center of a non-defused LED will be very bright and blinding compared to looking at a slight angle to it. Makeing it face the side also means it is not pointed at you sitting in the truck.
You could dim the LED by adding a resistor in series with it. You would need to try different values until you found one to produce the light level that you like. I would start with a 500 ohm resistor. However, if the LED is aimed directly at you, it will still be too bright, but too dim for off angles and maybe below the minimum DOT level.
 
You don't need center lights unless your trailer is more than 30' long. So if they are on the fender you can remove them. You do need front corner lights tho, but those should face the side. If they face the side you can put a block in front to block them from the front.
 
The center side light is fine, it's the ones facing forward which I'm pretty sure I need to have since the fenders stick our and are the widest part
 
I guess I assumed you are in the US. If your in Canada the rules are a little different and I would need to look that up.
 
Did some research and the rules have changed for trailers over 80" wide and fender mounted lights are required.
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Yes I guess I do need them, will have to find some not as bright or put a resistor in or such
 
I'm in the US, and basically followed what I was made to put on the trailer when I built it 16 years ago and had to be inspected,they actually made me add a side center light then, which isn't a bad idea anyhow. I recently changed them all to led since the old type are a constant hassle of course
 
Spray them over with some orange or yellow spray paint. The light should still come through but it should really cut the light output.
 
That is interesting because that's about when I quit building them as a business. I have built several since then with no lights there and had no trouble with licensing. What state do you live in? Obviously I've been slipping through.
 
VHT nightshade brand spray paint can be used to tint/darken them. I have used this paint for the same reason you have and with good results. The good thing is you can spray light coats to get the desired effect you want, I think I did 2 or 3 coats to dim some overly bright marker lamps.
 
Jon F you know where I live and I have never seen a trailer with light on the fenders, You go looking at new trailers on the dealers lots and they do not have them. The only lights I have ever seen mounted on fenders are tail lights and usually on tow dollies. And Ohio has no inspection to get a homemade trailer licenced.
 
This was in Connecticut, and unfortunately often with the dmv it's what the inspector feels like, and back before widespread information online it was difficult to know otherwise, at the time it was easier to screw on the extra two lights and pass inspection!
 

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