Trailer lighting

[Ozzi]

Hey guys,
Not exactly Navara related but would appreciate some guidance. I'm starting a new small business and am working inside a trailer with lifting roof and need some decent lighting. I just have the standard dual batteries. Was thinking some 5050 led strip lighting or similar and would like to have a switch on it and be able to run it with the car off.
Thanks in advance

 

[bods]

Hey mate. I'm assuming you are going to be using the trailer while it is hooked up to the car. I'd probably say the easiest option is to run wiring to pin 5 on a 7 pin trailer plug (black wire) as this is the aux or reverse light supply to the trailer plug, with a fuse up near the battery. Then on the trailer side just run that same wire to your switch and on to the lights. That is providing you haven't got reverse lights on the back of the trailer that you are using.

led strip lighting will be perfect for what you want, it doesn't really make a massive difference what size the leds are as they will give off plenty of light anyway. I have some under my awning and it is incredible the amount of light they give off. I think a 5m roll was about 10 bucks off eBay when I got mine... comes with an adhesive backing that sticks really well too.

 

[Ozzi]

Awesome thanks bods. Yeah the trailer has a 7 pin plug and no there aren't any reverse lights. Will I need to run a new heavier cable direct from the battery or can I just use that black wire to run them? And does this mean the ute will need to be in reverse for them to receive power? Sorry if that's a dumb question

 

[bods]

Lol nah all good. If you're supplying power direct from the battery it will have power all the time, so will work whenever plugged in. If you only ever want to use the power for lights, 4mm cable will be heaps for leds, if you may add extra stuff later then it might be worth running 6mm cable. That's up to you though. You will just have to join it in the harness under the tub where it goes to the trailer plug and make sure you heatshrink it so no crap can get in there and cause a bad connection...

 

[Ozzi]

Cheers bods

 

[Old.Tony]

I might point out a couple of things about LED strips: they're very omni-directional. That's great for area lighting, but if you're doing fine work, consider an MR16 3-5W LED downlight globe like from this supplier (3W MR16 = $2.05). Warm white may be better for close work than the white (almost bluish) that you normally get off "white" LEDs. I have a few of these globes and find them more than adequate. The extra bonus is that they don't give off any heat so you can have it close to your work and your face without drama.

Being such a low wattage also means you don't have to worry so much about cable size. If you have a dual battery, I'd invest in 15m of fig8 8Ga cable like this from Jaycar and a few 50A Anderson plugs (here is a seller with 10 Anderson plugs for $27). Run the cable from the dual battery (via a fuse, please, make it about 40A - inline is fine) to the rear of the vehicle and cut the cable so it will go into an Anderson plug that you can screw into the back underneath. Leave a little extra length (5-10cm) just in case and remember to cable-tie it up.

Then make another cable up that goes from the front of the trailer (through the hand loop for the towball) to the car-mounted Anderson plug. This cable runs into the trailer and provides your juice (use a distribution block inside).

The biggest advantage in this is that you can then make a hookup cable to a jumper battery, or to a generator, or a cable with alligator clips to go onto another battery or even a solar setup.

 

[Ozzi]

Thanks Old Tony that's a good option.