1157 bulb replacement with LED

[kerryd15]

I never knew that they make a LED direct replacement for the 1157 bulbs on my boat trailer. Will these burn out if submerged? I forgot to unhook my lights before backing in and burnt the bulbs. Thought the LED's would be handy for when i forget again. Anyone else use these instead of rewiring the trailer?

[Cliff Wagenbach]

I do not think that the led's will burn out because they never get very hot. They may corrode though.

Cliff

[Eelpout08]

For the price of those leds that fit in the 1157 socket (unless they have come down since i last looked) i think you could replace the whole light assembly with a sealed LED unit. that way you wouldnt have to worry about the bulb socket corroding either. It is a reletivly simple switch.

[Tom7227]

Why would you bother? It's not like you're paying for the juice in your car/trailer.

[CAMAN]

Why would you bother? It's not like you're paying for the juice in your car/trailer.

Actually you are. Its called GASOLINE. Its funny how some people think the power in their vehicle comes out of the battery only. I switched all my trailer lights to LED fixtures a few years ago. And will never go back. Not for the tiny bit of fuel they save but for the fact I was sick of fixing them once a month. Haven't touched them since installation.

[CAMAN]

I never knew that they make a LED direct replacement for the 1157 bulbs on my boat trailer. Will these burn out if submerged? I forgot to unhook my lights before backing in and burnt the bulbs. Thought the LED's would be handy for when i forget again. Anyone else use these instead of rewiring the trailer?

If they are sealed they should be fine, its the circuitry inside you have to worry about. but like said above I would replace the fixtures with sealed units before just doing the bulbs. They are gauranteed to work for a boat trailer.

[Powerstroke]

ALso, LED's are much brighter and more resistant to a rough ride.

[Bigtom]

Also in most LED tail lights the LED's are red, so when some one backs into one of your lenses you still have a red light to get home at night. But you still could get pulled over for no red lens.

[Ed Carlson]

A big plus with the new LED trailer submersible kits is they are epoxy sealed and shock and water resilient. All those bulb connections and ground points that fail are a thing of the past. You do not need to unplug the hitch when submerged...no worries.

The added cost of a LED trailer light kit is well worth the piece of mind they will work and keep working. If your considering a new set, go with the LED system and your good.

[Tom7227]

I'm prepared to learn something every day. So I went to the Google and checked things out. Didn't do a lot of checking and I'm sure someone can argue with my numbers.

Looks like the LED blub replacements cost $18-25 if you want to put one into a standard socket and replace an 1157. A HSOforum wants $50-65 for a complete LED rewire kit. Can't see that it makes a lot of sense to drop the coin for the bulbs and stick them into an unsealed housing.

But please, don't try to rationalize the deal based on fuel savings. I took a class in physics and understand the no free energy thing. I guess I didn't take the one where they got to the point of being able to calculate the cost of the fuel needed to power a brake light on a boat trailer. Maybe someone can come up with that for me.

Thanks.

Tom

[Ed Carlson]

A 1157 is also a common bulb inside a 360 stern light.

That is an application where the cost often warrants the LED bulb upgrade over the whole receptacle replacement. In my view more so than a pair of tail lights.

I also think reducing your speed by 10 mpr and using the cruise control when safe to do so will save you much more in fuel costs then worrying about the trailer lights.