Trailer lighting/grounding

[250_money_pit]

Maybe it's too early in the morning and I am not awake yet. Just wondering what is the benefit of using the the trailer metal as a ground path for the lights rather than just running the ground wire directly to the lights ? Seems like it would be easier to make decent corrosion resistant connections that way. Maybe I will wake up and figure it out later......

 

[Sorrento 25]

I agree, and wired my trailer with dedicated ground wires to everything. Nothing is grounded to the trailer.

 

[MLauman]

The 'benefit' is simplicity - one less wire to install and possibly go bad.

But I also chose to run a dedicated ground wire to all my lights because ground-related problems are the most common types of failures of trailer lights. I read a suggestion somewhere to use outdoor extension cords and cut the ends off for a rugged and inexpensive source of wire. I did this several years ago when I rewired and it has been foolproof.