Radex trailer light plug in systems

Trailer servicing schedule & maintenance checklist

Many people don’t understand a trailer needs Servicing in a similar fashion to a car.

In our Eyes this is more important than servicing a car for the following reasons.

• Your trailer is usually used for carrying heavy weights that can cause damage or injury at speed if there is a problem
• If a trailer becomes detached or has a major problem you are not in control.
• Your car is checked yearly (during an MOT) this is not currently need on trailers.
• Vosa are beginning to check trailers more often for roadworthiness This can result in Points, fines or a trailer being Seized.

Maintenance of the trailer is down to the trailer owner, transport manager of a company.

Poor maintenance of a trailer can result in Catastrophic results. Please read NTTA Article.

Opinions differ in the times a trailer should be serviced. We recommend the minimum checks that should be done on a trailer to the schedule shown below.

Every Trip

Check

• Lights work correctly
• Coupling has no play on towball.
• Tyre pressures
• Wheel nuts (correct torque)
• Breakaway cable / Secondary Coupling chain / cable
• All fasteners (ie doors and sides) are fastened and working.
• Correct Number plate displayed
• Load is secure

500 miles from new or after major service.

• Brake adjustment
• Taper roller Bearings
• Any bolted Connections / fittings (new trailers only)

Major Service (Braked trailers)

This should be carried out

3 months / 3000 miles on commercial trailers with intensive use & boat trailers

6 months / 6000 miles on light use trailers

If you buy a used trailer

• All items under Every trip
• Check Bearings
• Remove hubs
• Inspect Brake Shoes and springs
• Inspect Drum for damage
• Brake Expander
• Brake cables
• Auto Reverse Mechanism
• Taper roller bearings clean and regrease
• Adjuster operates
• Re assemble and adjust the brakes.
• Check condition of wheels and tyres
• Check uneven wear on tyres as this can indicate axle problems
• Visual check Wheel alignment for bent axles ( this is not easy on a single axle trailer.)
• Check for Vertical play in Drawbar
• Grease coupling
• Check coupling Linkages
• Check coupling bellows
• Check coupling Damper
• Check Handbrake Operation
• Check operation of jockey wheel
• Inspect wheel on jockey wheel
• Inspect wiring for damage
• Check all body fittings are secure and operate correctly
• Check all bolted connections as these can work loose especially axles and couplings.
• Check operation of props, jacks if fitted
• General condition (bodywork, chassis for bends and cracks)

 

Major Service (Unbraked trailers)

This should be carried out

3 months / 3000 miles on commercial trailers with intensive use & boat trailers

6 months / 6000 miles on light use trailers

If you buy a used trailer

• All items under Every trip
• Check Bearings
• Taper roller bearings clean and regrease
• Check condition of wheels and tyres
• Check uneven wear on tyres as this can indicate axle problems
• Visual check Wheel alignment for bent axles ( this is not easy on a single axle trailer.)
• Grease coupling
• Check operation of jockey wheel
• Inspect wheel on jockey wheel
• Inspect wiring for damage
• Check all body fittings are secure and operate correctly
• Check all bolted connections as these can work loose especially axles and couplings.
• Check operation of props, jacks if fitted
• General condition (bodywork, chassis for bends and cracks)

If you keep to this maintainance schedule you will probably find there is very little wrong with your trailer unless the trailer is abused but if it is neglected 1 problem can lead to another and end up costing a lot of money or cause an accident.

If the trailer is left to stand it is still recomended to service the trailer as brake parts, bearings and couplings can all corrode or Seize through lack of use, tyres can perish and electricals can corrode and stop working.

A couple of problems we regularly find on trailers that don’t come for service regularly are.

Brake cables seize and due to the lack of movement the expander seizes and the brakes usually rest in an open position rubbing the brake drum that wears the Shoes and in bad circumstances they damage the drums. This also effects the brake effiency and the amount of fuel used to tow, When you really need the brakes they are not there this can cause an accident for the cost of a brake cable.

Wheel bearings failing. With wheel bearings you usually will get a bit of warning (play) before a bearing fails. When a wheel bearing fails the whole wheel usually comes off this can damage the shaft as it comes off or if the shaft hits the floor this means a new axle / suspension unit at an high cost also a trailer wheel can cause a lot of damage/ injury if it hits something or a person.

AJ.BA Plugin Trailer Light system

AJ.BA are a popular manufacture of lights These are used on Erde and Daxara trailers amongst others they offer an in expensive light and wiring solution for trailers.

The cables have a 7 pin 12N plug on one end to plug in to the tow vehicle with 2 cables coming out of it.

On the other end of the cables are green and yellow 5 pin bayonet plugs these are similar to the ones used by Aspock although they are not compatible.

This system is an easy and cheap solution for trailers not requiring marker lights and it can be fitted in minutes.

This system does not have any provisions for marker lights.

Aj.BA offer 6 different lights to fit these cables.

for another in expensive range of plug in lights that offer a plug in system but only 3 suitable lights try the Radex plug in system.

LED Autolamps Generation II plug-in system.

LED Autolamps is one of very few Company’s that manufacture a plug-in system for LED lights on trailers. The system has been around over 10 years in Australia the system was Developed for the Australian market and the lights were approved for use in Europe in 2009 this system is now available in the UK.

The LED Autolamps System is very Simple it comprises of 3 cables in Various lengths to suit your trailer. See image below.

The first cable has a trailer plug with 1m of 5 core cable to a waterproof 5 pin plug.

The second cable is LED Autolamps class as a lamp to gooseneck Cable. It is available in 7 different lengths from 3.7m – 7.3m. This cable has a 5 pin socket to join to the first cable. it is designed to run from front to rear of the trailer along the right hand side. On the end of the cable is a Tee shaped plug, this plug plugs into the rear light on one side then has another plug for to accept the 3rd cable.  From the edge of this plug there are 2 cables (Brown Power and White Earth) these are approximately 100mm long and can be used to power marker lights from. these come sealed on the end. if a joint is made on these it is recommended that a water tight joint is made using a heat shrink seal or super seal plugs.

The third cable is LED Autolamps class as a lamp to lamp cable and is available in 6 different lengths from 1.1m – 2.1m. this has a socket on one end that attaches to the second cable and a plug on the other end to attach to the other light. if these cables are not long enough 2 cables can be joined together to make your desired length. This cable also 2 cables to couple up marker lights.

This system is only suitable for 5 LED autolamps Lights the 200BARLPM2 (Boat trailer lamp kit) the 150BARE Rectangular 12v, 150ARME Rectangular Multivolt, 100BARE Square 12v and 100ARME Square Multivolt

 

Aspock Trailer light plug in systems

 Aspock are one of the leading light manufacturers for Trailers used by a lot of manufacturers as original equipment.

These lights are one of the better quality lights but spare parts ie lenses are very expensive (almost as expensive as the light itself).

Aspock have an expandable Plug in system available that means that there is no need for junction boxes.

This is trailer light wiring made easy.

The Aspock system also makes Maintance and repairs easy.

The Aspock system starts with a trailer plug with 2 cables to supply the rear lights.

Most Aspock rear trailer lights have a 5 pin Bayonet connection / socket on the back of them, shown on the image below.

The 5 pin plug is designed for a cable like the one shown below to be plugged in.

Aspock also offer cables with a DC-Flat Cable that comes out of the back of the plug (shown below)

The DC-Flat cable comes with sealed (over moulded ) on the end to stop water penetrating and corroding the cable inside.

The DC-Flat cable supplies power from your rear lights for marker lights and number plate lights to be added.

This cable joins to other DC-Flat cables on lights or an extension cable using an Aspock DC connector (shown below)

The Aspock DC Connector clicks shut on 2 cables giving a water tight connection on to the 2 cables. Image below shows a connector Ready to Click shut on 2 cables.

Once the DC Connector is clicked shut pins inside penetrate the cables giving an electrical connection between the cable and small silicon seals around the pins keep the connection water tight.

This process can be repeated to add extension cables + additional lights.

Spare parts are available for the Aspock system such as plugs and sockets with single and double grommets to make adaptors to run more than 1 rear light and various length main cables and DC-Flat cables to make a bespoke wiring loom for your trailer.

The DC-Flat cable can be purchased separately to run Aspock marker lights from other lights

The DC-Flat cable is a fast and simple way to add additional marker lights to your trailer.

To purchase Aspock Lighting equipment please go to our Aspock Trailer light section on our Ecommerce shop.

Wheel measurements

We often find that some people are confused by wheel sizes when it comes to buying replacements. In this post I will explain what these measurements mean, and what to look out for when buying new wheels.

Trailer wheels are very similar, if not the same in some cases as car wheels. There are a lot of different wheels available, and as a trailer owner it would be useful to have some knowledge of them.

Wheel size

First of all you will need to know where everything is located and how to take some basic measurements of your wheels. The diagram below shows the basic layout of a wheel rim.

The diagram below shows how you would measure the nominal diameter and inside width of the rim. This distance is most commonly measured in inches.

As you can see form the diagram above, the rim width is measured on the inside of the wheel. If the markings on the rim are still readable the width in inches will be followed by a letter J, then the diameter.

For example 4.5J13 means the inside width of the rim is 4.5″ and the Diameter is 13″.

There can be several pieces of information marked on a wheel rim. This could include:

• The wheel manufacture. This should be marked on all wheels.
• Bead type. This normally follows the wheel size.
• Part number to get a direct replacement. Part numbers can sometimes be cross referenced in order to find similar wheels.

Other information that can be found may include:

• Rim offsets.
• Country of manufacture.
• Date or date code.
• Occasionally the manufacturer will give the PCD of the mounting holes.

The 3 most important measurements when looking for new wheels are the rim size, the PCD and the offset.

If you can get these measurements correct the wheel will fit.

Bead type

Beads are not really needed on smaller rims, therefore most small rims are manufactured without them. If your rim does have beads, the markings for each bead type and a description of each can be found below.

H – denotes one rounded bead on the outside of the rim.
H2 – denotes two rounded beads. The same as the image above.
FH – denotes a flat hump on the outside of the wheel
CH – denotes a combination of humps. One flat on the outside, and one rounded on the inside.
SL – these markings are used on wide wheels and mean ‘Special ledge’.

Generally in trailer wheels you will see a H, H2 or no bead at all.

Related posts:

Working out your PCD.
Trailer wheel offset.
Tyre speed ratings.
Tyre load index.

If you are looking to buy trailer wheels and tyres, choose from a large selection at

Problems with LED trailer lights on later cars

Known problems with LED trailer lights on later cars.

LED Lights are getting a lot more popular on trailers for the following reasons:-

• They save energy meaning that you use very slightly less fuel.
• There is no filament in an LED they last a lot longer than a bulb.
• They do not stick out as much as a bulb light meaning they do not get broken as easily.
• They are popular with plant and recovery companies as some will work on 12 and 24V systems meaning that bulbs do not need changing when changing tow vehicle from lorry to van or 4×4.
• LED lights are far brighter and look much better than most bulb lights

We do find compatibility problems with LED trailer lights and high-end vehicles since 2000 fitted with ‘plug-in’ wiring kits.

Vehicles fitted with aftermarket towbars usually are not fitted with these plug-in systems. Towbar fitters are usually trying to do the job as cheap as possible and use a bypass system instead as this is a lot cheaper. With all bypass relays fitted on cars the lights work as they should but LED lights do not draw enough power for the indicator buzzer to work on most of these relays.

There are 2 problems that plug-in systems can give. Some systems send test pulses to check that the vehicle lights are functional, this is what causes LED lights to flash. Other systems are not activated until a load is detected. The problem here is LED’s are so sensitive they don’t have sufficient load to trigger the sensors on the plug-in system. Therefore they are not detected, and as a result no lights work.

The vehicles that we have seen the problems on are as follows.

Mercedes. Most models from 2000 both problems dependant on the kit fitted.

BMW. Flashing LED lights on most models but some can be cured by introducing a load, others need bypassing.

Discovery 3. Flashing on indicators only.

Range Rover and Range Rover Sport. Flashing indicators only.

Iveco Trucks. All lights flashing.

We have had various other reports but we have only experienced the list above for ourselves.

Towing and Trailers Ltd will plug an LED Lightboard into your car at their premises to test your vehicle free of charge before you buy LED lights.

Working out Pitch Circle Diameters (PCD)

First of all what does PCD mean?

PCD stands for Pitch Circle Diameter. This is the diameter of a circle that is used to measure the spacing between the wheel studs on a hub or the stud holes in a wheel rim. In this guide are diagrams showing the most popular PCD’s and stud sizes used. These will help you measure your PCD before purchasing new hubs or wheels.

As shown on the diagram above it is easy to find the PCD on a 4 stud wheel. Just measure from the centre of one stud to the centre the opposite stud. This will work for any even number of studs.

Please note there are two PCD’s that are very similar. These are 4″ (101.6mm) and 100mm. As these are so close some people get this measurement wrong as they mistake 4″ for 100mm if they are used to using imperial measurements. The same goes for 100mm being mistaken for 4″ if people are used to metric measurements.

For other stud patterns i.e. 3 or 5 stud, the above method will not work. There is another way that will work on any stud pattern including those with an even amount of studs. The two measurements shown on the diagram below labeled as A and B are needed:

Dimension A is the diameter of the centre bore (hole in the middle of the wheel).

Dimension B is the distance from the edge of the centre bore to the centre of any stud.

To work out the PCD is easy. Simply add A + B + B. See example below:

To work the PCD shown above it is just 66 + 23 + 23 = 112mm

Below are a some of the most popular PCD’s used on trailer wheels.

This is probably the most common PCD used on small trailers. It has a 3/8″ stud. Due to the size of the studs it is limited to wheel size and weight capacity. This is not advised to be used on wheels larger than 10″ and weights above 750kg per axle. This is also the PCD used on old mini wheels. There has been a heavy duty 4″ PCD used in the past that gave extra carrying capacity and allowed larger wheels to be used. It had a 7/16″ (11.1mm) stud and was used on some Indespension wheels amongst others. This has been superseded by the 4 stud 100mm PCD shown below.

4 x 100mm can be used on smaller trailers that require larger wheels. The carrying capacity is higher as the studs are larger (12mm) and this gives a stronger fixing point. This PCD is often used on caravans.

4 x 5.5″ is a commonly used PCD, and it comes with either a 12mm or ½” (12.7mm) stud. This is a heavy duty 4 stud pattern, although we do not recommend using on weights above 1300kg per axle. We tend to use this on all braked suspension up to 1300kg per axle. A lot of trailer manufactures use this on their suspension units.

4 x 115mm is mainly used on European and flat-pack trailers such as Erde, Daxara and Franc. Other small general purpose trailers such as the Maypole MP711 also use this pattern.

5 x 6.5″ (165.1mm) is a very popular PCD as it will accommodate any trailer weight. It uses a larger diameter stud such as a 16mm or 5/8inch (15.875mm). It is commonly used by Ifor Williams trailers among other manufacturers. We try and use it on all wheels and suspension rated for 1500kg and above.

5 x 112mm is used on small wheels for building low loading trailers. These are often used by Brian James and Bateson trailers, mainly on large flat bed or beavertail car transporters where the bed needs to be low. This pattern uses a 12mm stud and we would not recommend using on axle weights over 1500kg.

5 x 140mm PCD is another common size and a good weight carrying pattern. It is used on some Indespension trailers.

Related posts:
Wheel Measurements
Trailer Wheel Offset
Trailer Tyre Load Index
Tyre Speed Ratings

If you are looking to buy trailer wheels and tyres, choose from a large selection at