Trailer lighting boards

Ru88ell

Ru88ell

Well-Known Member
Joined
14 Oct 2010
Messages
2,354
Visit site
Does anyone have any good experiences of these? The last few I've had from Indespension have been tat, including their top of the range UK and EEC Type approved one:-

http://www.indespension.co.uk/Traile...rds/EL542.html

After under 500 miles I've already got bulbs flickering and in need of coaxing into action.

What do you have to do to get something which works properly these days?
 
Ru88ell said:
Does anyone have any good experiences of these? The last few I've had from Indespension have been tat, including their top of the range UK and EEC Type approved one:-

http://www.indespension.co.uk/Traile...rds/EL542.html

After under 500 miles I've already got bulbs flickering and in need of coaxing into action.

What do you have to do to get something which works properly these days?
Click to expand...

Mine is home made. ca 1975. Couple of bits of wood, commercial vehicle light units, stick-on number plate, reflective triangles

Bin rewired once I think also had a rear fog lamp added in place of the old 50 sign
 
Last edited:
Recently I have converted a Maypole light board to LED. I sed a pair of LED clusters that I got on Ebay. The only thing is that with the LED's the trailer warning lamp on the dash does not light up as the load from the LED's is not heavy enough. The buzzer still works though.
Don't get any issues with blown bulbs anymore. The only thing that needs any care is the plug and socket. I just give both a dose of ACF50 everynow and then to keep corrosion at bay.
 
pvb said:
I think all trailer lighting boards are built down to a price, and are less than satisfactory, so the odd poor contact perhaps has to be expected. Having said that, the Indespension one you linked to is fairly expensive. Seamark Nunn offer a similar sized board at less than half the price - http://www.seamarknunn.com/acatalog/trailer-lighting-board-2130mm-9m-cable-3661.html
Click to expand...

That's not EEC Type Approved. I had one of the ones you linked to and it fell apart very quickly, which is why I bought the more expensive one. I'm currently having a go at Indespension about selling EEC Type Approved tat at 3 x the price of their regular tat.
 
Ru88ell said:
That's not EEC Type Approved. I had one of the ones you linked to and it fell apart very quickly, which is why I bought the more expensive one. I'm currently having a go at Indespension about selling EEC Type Approved tat at 3 x the price of their regular tat.
Click to expand...

OK, just noticed that Seamark Nunn are selling an Indespension board. So what's the problem with not being EEC Type Approved? Is it illegal to use, if so, why are they selling it? I bet VicS's homemade board isn't type approved, but it will do the job.
 
I made my own using light units from Towsure. Same old problem that the contacts corrode in no time.

I think the best thing is to remove all the bulbs when the unit is new and smother them in vaseline or similar.

Another problem with commercially available boards is they use rubbish cable which has a great voltage drop when you tow a 6m boat.

I changed my cable for heavy duty which has bigger conductors and the earth is double the size.
 
pvb said:
OK, just noticed that Seamark Nunn are selling an Indespension board. So what's the problem with not being EEC Type Approved? Is it illegal to use, if so, why are they selling it? I bet VicS's homemade board isn't type approved, but it will do the job.
Click to expand...

All the parts have relevant approval/ type numbers on them.

£90 for a lighting board that fails in under 500miles .

9de80c77.gif


Mine fell off the camping trailer once and was towed along by its cable .... scraped some paint off one corner. Improved the fixing but not bothered about the paint!
 
I've had the same problem too. They're all "cheap tat". There's also no such thing as an "EC Approval" for a trailer board! The individual lights and reflectors will have EC approval markings on them (or they should have!) but the entire assembly won't have one. I'm pretty certain they all use the same carpy light units too. As has been said, truck lights is the way to go. If someone wants to be really picky, I guess the e-marks on the light components for a truck light might be different to the same component designed for car use, but so long as you have the prescribed mixture of red and yellow ones I think that would be good enough. Note that the trailer as a whole will have to comply with the Road Vehicle lighting Regulations but without knowing how long or wide the trailer is, there is no way the board manufacturer can ensure the board will comply (e.g. the lights have to be within a certain distance from the extreme outer edge of the trailer so if you have a 3' wife board on the back of an 8' wide boat, you can be certain the lights won't be in the correct places)!
 
pvb said:
OK, just noticed that Seamark Nunn are selling an Indespension board. So what's the problem with not being EEC Type Approved? Is it illegal to use, if so, why are they selling it? I bet VicS's homemade board isn't type approved, but it will do the job.
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with not being EEC Type approved, but I liked the idea of being able to see that the light is on when I'm towing which is what the EEC one would if the bloody thing worked. We all know that VicS is the resident electrics expert too, so making his own would be easier than it would be for me, an electrics numpty.

And VicS - that's £90 PLUS VAT!, which is why I'm having a go at Indespension about it. I would expect it to last forever for that much. :mad:
 
Ru88ell said:
And VicS - that's £90 PLUS VAT!, which is why I'm having a go at Indespension about it.
Click to expand...

You might also draw Indespension's attention to their terms & conditions - "All prices displayed are in £'s sterling and include VAT at 20% with the exception of some Trailer Price Lists available as PDF downloads within the "Literature" section of the website. These price lists will be clearly labelled ex-VAT on the respective download links."
 
The one that came with my boat is wider than the cheapo ones you get from the motor factors.

I suspect it's home made as the reverse side of it has red and white reflective stripes and looks just like one of those bits of plastic that workmen put round holes in the road.
 
Back when I used to live in house and towed the boat about the place, the lightboard on the trailer started off as a 'proper' job all nicely finished. Then of course it got dropped, wet, driven over etc. I used the wiring harness, got 2 light clusters and a fog lamp from the local caravan place and a length of wood the right size and rebuilt it myself. Cost about £20 for the new light and a fiver for the wood. I used hot glue to seal where the wires entered the lights and taped the joins for the lights, all in an effort to minimise water entry. I also stored the thing in the dry when not in use on the trailer. It lasted several years until I sold the boat when we gave up dry land. Mind you, I'd put so much effort into making the thing that I did get a bit obsessional about looking after it, which may be why it hung together so well........
 
After years of dealing with poor quality trailer lights I ordered some waterproof led ones from on ebay, that came from Australia. Never had any more problems, even left them on when launching. That was a few years ago and they probably were not strictly road legal in UK. If my memory serves me correctly they were sold as resin sealed and fully submersible. They didn't cost much more than the rubbish they sell here.

Had a look on ebay and similar ones are still for sale
 
Buy the cheapest you can from ebay ( I just paid £14 for one ).
Open it up an spry everything with CorrosionX.
If it packs up after a year or two then just buy another.

Trailer boards are like barbeques. It's better to treat them as disposable items.
 
Ex-SolentBoy said:
Buy the cheapest you can from ebay ( I just paid £14 for one ).
Open it up an spry everything with CorrosionX.
If it packs up after a year or two then just buy another.

Trailer boards are like barbeques. It's better to treat them as disposable items.
Click to expand...

That's probably why the quality of all lightboards is so poor - a race to the bottom. It's OK if you tow now and then, but I tow thousands of miles per year and need reliability. I don't need to be gifting the Gendarmerie reasons to pull me over in France.

Cost isn't the issue for me - I just want one which bl00dy works long term.
 
Ru88ell said:
That's probably why the quality of all lightboards is so poor - a race to the bottom. It's OK if you tow now and then, but I tow thousands of miles per year and need reliability. I don't need to be gifting the Gendarmerie reasons to pull me over in France.

Cost isn't the issue for me - I just want one which bl00dy works long term.
Click to expand...
In that case buy some Durite light fittings and a piece of pvc facia board and make your own.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-Amber-I...Durite-21w-Festoon-/390542930951?pt=UK_CarsPa and http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stop-Tail...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item4cfa3b817b
 
Ru88ell said:
Cost isn't the issue for me - I just want one which bl00dy works long term.
Click to expand...

You are hoping for something that you will not pay for. That's why you spray the cheap ones with corrosion x. They all work when they are new. It's damp and rain that mess with them. Protect from that and even cheap electrics work almost forever.

If you're worried about Plod, just carry a complete spare. You are still quids in from buying the classy stuff that might fail anyway.
 
Ex-SolentBoy said:
You are hoping for something that you will not pay for.
Click to expand...

I have paid for it, but not got it, that's what this topic is about. It seems that too many other people don't want to pay for it, and the manufacturers adopt their offerings to meet this. My biggest regret is not looking deeper into buying a Brenderup trailer as they seem to have this conundrum sorted. Indespension, and barely anyone else, seem to give a damn. The fact that so many recommend making one is testimony to the fact that what is on offer commercially doesn't do the job expected of them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top