So one of the metal prongs on my trailer connection for my lights broke. I ordered a new one with 18 inches of wire that’s coming in 2 days. I’ve done some research and looked at you tube but hopefully some great electrical mind can confirm that this is what I need to do. I stripped back the plastic covering on each individual wire (1 yellow, 1 green, 1 white, 2 brown) so that the copper is exposed. I need to cross the exposed copper with the end of the copper wires I ordered, twist them together, and apply a waterproof coating with a mild heat source. I attached a photo for reference and you can see the missing metal prong. Is this correct?

For now sure. You have peeled back enough of the outer insulation to access the wires and have enough exposed to make the new splices. When dealing with crimp splices you don't want to crimp too tightly because you can mash cut through the wire. Or, crush it to the point a couple of bends of the wire and it breaks off. Crimp just enough to make tight connection but not too tightly that crushes or damages any wire. Check them by pulling straight out on wires. A good crimp will stay in place. A not so tight crimp and the wire slides out. Redo. I like to double up the wire going into the crimp because of this. When you strip back the wires, go about 1/2" and twist wires some to form a more solid wire and fold it over so you have a double sized 1/4" exposed wire to slide into crimp splice. ADDED: You have 5 wires going to that connector. It is the single wires I would fold over double if you can fit that into the splices you buy for the white, green, and yellow wires. The two brown wires can be twisted together with 1/4" wire exposed for sliding into the crimp. The two wires makes double anyways. The reason I prefer to fold the wires over for double size going into a crimp is because it doubles the surface contact area, and may make a lower resistance connection because of the additional surface contact area, but it also provides twice the material to crimp down on for a better grab on the wire with slightly less possibility of over crimping too tightly and damaging wire leading to breakage down the road. I like to use a wire treatment to prevent corrosion. And it would be a good idea to use heat shrink or tape it up good once done to try and prevent any shorts and help keep the wires from bending at the crimp joint. This does not have anything to do with the connector you are working on, but on the trailer wiring. I stopped using the frame for the ground or negative connection to lights and took an old 50 foot household extension cord and cut it in half and ran half to lights on one side and half to the other side. Larger wire with better doubled up insulation. I now run the ground or negative directly to the lights through the wire and never have any trouble with my lights ever. Usually the screw to the frame near hitch causes a bad ground connection, or the screw connections to frame at the lights eventually makes a bad faulty connection. Running ground wires to the lights has solved that issue for me. Just a suggestion. I'll bet you the wires on the new connector are not as heavy a gauge as the wires in your harness now. ***Just saw the photo below... he's on the same page.

4 prong trailer plug replacement

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August 28, 2025Aug 28

My trailer doesn't do any swimming but I've had a lot of issues with the incandescents that came with the trailer. Maybe they were just poor quality lights. The bulb contact points were iffy and a constant source of irritation. Swapped over to LED's and all is well.

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August 29, 2025Aug 29

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I'd be pretty shocked if any boat trailer these days came with incandescent bulbs. They should all be coming with LEDs.

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August 29, 2025Aug 29

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1 hour ago, gim said:

I'd be pretty shocked if any boat trailer these days came with incandescent bulbs. They should all be coming with LEDs.

They still have incandescent, they are $20 vs $50 ish for LED

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August 29, 2025Aug 29

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Super User

13 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

They still have incandescent, they are $20 vs $50 ish for LED

So you're saying that they're still making boat trailers and selling new ones with incandescent bulbs?

The boat I bought new in 2015 came with LEDs. That's a decade ago already.

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August 29, 2025Aug 29

2 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

They still have incandescent, they are $20 vs $50 ish for LED

Harbor Freight. LED kits are $40 but individual LED light are about $17.00

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August 29, 2025Aug 29

7 hours ago, Dogface said:

Harbor Freight. LED kits are $40 but individual LED light are about $17.00

I can beat that price! At that place mentioned you are paying for convenience of already having the lights in your neighborhood. But if you order them through the mail, I can get a pair of LED trailer lights for $17. Half of the local convenience price. And that's a set sale price to my door with free shipping.

If I were to wait on an auction I could probably even cut that price down some. I'm such a cheapskate!

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