A simple plan to relax and enjoy the outdoors in a RV can quickly turn into a day troubleshooting under a trailer when towing lights fail. After years of encountering problems and being forced to rewire trailer lighting in the spring, SailTimer Inc. founder and CEO Craig Summers said, “There must be a better way to do this.”
SailTimer Inc. will release Speedy Trailer Lights in February 2023. The lights can eliminate rewiring RVs and towables using innovative technology to sense and transmit a towing vehicle’s lighting signals to permanent trailer lights, the company said.
“You can spend those hours at the lake rather than in your driveway playing with wiring,” Summers said.
According to Summers, trailer lights have not changed much in 100 years. He said the new Speedy Trailer Lights operate with sensors mounted on the vehicle’s brake pedal and turn signal arm to activate the lights. Consumers can install the lights with minimal tools.
“This is just a little box only about the size of two postage stamps. It uses the same motion sensor that we already use in our wind sensor for sailboats to measure wind speeds and direction,” Summers said.
He said the lights are an improvement over existing lighting systems because common issues related to trailer lighting sockets are gone. Often, consumers who own a trailer with a four-pin connector try to connect to a vehicle that has seven pins.
“You have turn signals, brake lights and taillights, and you have two sides. There are maybe 15 or 20 wires back there that somehow have to be connected to four wires,” Summers said. “Basically, it is impossible without a special adapter. This avoids all of that. There is no wire cutting needed, you just put the sensor with two zip ties on the turn signal and similarly, two zip ties on the sensor on the arm of the brake pedal and that’s it. It takes three seconds, and you are good to go.”
According to SailTimer, the light receivers are submersible, designed to be indestructible and can be mounted permanently with built-in stainless-steel bolts and nuts, unlike magnetically mounted towing lights which can become detached due to vibration. The lights have a 280-foot transmission range and can be used with various sized trailer models. The lights contain a 7,000-milliampere-hour carbon fiber battery pack enabling weeks between charging.
“They go on in one minute for the left side and one minute for the right side…with two wing nuts on each side and then you are ready to go,” Summers said.
He said all of SailTimer’s products are from their employee’s own needs.
“Originally, our electronics were developed before smartphones existed to solve problems with difficult marine electronics. We needed to do a lot of R&D to be able to detect when the turn signal moves or the brake pedal moves, separate from when the vehicle moves,” he said. “There have been thousands of miles of driving and testing. When we release a product, it is well-tested and ready to go.”
The Speedy Trailer Lights are the company’s first RV market product. The lights will be available for purchase online, but Summers said SailTimer would like to connect with retail channels to sell the product wholesale.
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