Review of etrailer Hitch Cargo Carrier Accessories - LED Light Kit - 98174LED
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Ellen: Hey, everybody. I'm Ellen here at etrailer.com. And we're going to be talking about the LED Light Kit for your cargo carriers.Now, these are specifically designed to work with certain cargo carriers that you can find here at etrailer.com. That's the list of them right there. So if you have one of those, they should work out great. You can use them on other cargo carriers, and I'll give you a part number for brackets to make that happen.But basically, what these are going to do is allow you to have your brake light signal, turn signal, and running light signal, go through these lights so that people can see what's going on, even if there's a bunch of stuff stacked up behind or in your cargo carrier that's blocking your taillights.It helps to keep you safe, helps to let other drivers know what's going on, and should also keep you DOT-compliant so you don't get a ticket; always important.The main thing that I find a lot of customers have complained about is that these don't fit very well into those cargo carriers.
So I'm going to give you a tip on how to make sure that these do fit in.It's something that if you're not really looking very closely at it, you can easily miss. So I definitely want to go over that with you to make sure that these fit really well.We'll also talk a little bit about how the install works, and some things you might want to pick up while you're looking at these guys. So let's jump in and discuss.The main thing is that you want to make sure that you put in the grommets first. That's going to be the first step to making sure that these lights fit in there properly.The really important thing to pay attention to is this lip on the back side of that grommet. I've got some pictures here to show you what that looks like, and make sure that you get that.
Where those arrows are, that's going to be that lip.You want to make sure that that goes all the way through, or you push the grommet all the way through so that lip comes out on the back side, and it seats around that oval opening. Because if it doesn't do that, it's just going to fall out and it won't really fit in there properly.Once that lip fits around the inside edge of that oval, it should sit in there all on its own. Then whenever you go to put in the light, it should push in there as well and hold really tightly. So that's going to be the big thing.Just to show you again, what that little grommet looks like, or what that lip looks like on the back side of the grommet here, it's this lip. You want to push it through until this seats all around the edge, and it's pushing all the way through.When you're first pushing it, it might stop on this little ridge, so it can feel like it's all the way in.
You just want to make sure that this gets all the way through to the inside edge.That was something, whenever I was putting this on the cargo carrier that I discovered. Because at first if you would set it in there, it does just flop right out. And you're like, well, "Hey, this doesn't even work." But you got to make sure you push it all the way in.Then same thing with the light; make sure that that also pushes all the way to the back of the grommet. It will again stop halfway through, and just keep pushing until it gets completely seated or it's sitting flush with that grommet. That's going to make the big difference on whether or not this is going to sit in that opening.If you don't do that, again, it's just going to flop out and it doesn't really seem like it fits.
But trust me, if you follow that, it should work out just fine. You shouldn't need any kind of glue or zip ties or any silicone sealant. I saw some folks tried that out.If you want to go the extra mile and add it just for peace of mind, of course you can; nobody's going to stop you. But it shouldn't be necessary at all. It really holds very tightly once you get that lip all the way seated around there.Now, as far as the wiring, it works just fine, but it's not the prettiest thing. That's another issue that a lot of customers are not so happy with.It gives you about 88 inches overall. That's just over about six-and-a-half feet or almost seven feet of wire total. So it should be just enough to get this from your four pole on the back of your vehicle, out to the cargo carrier.But again, it's not super nice, or it's not really that attractive. If you don't care, it doesn't really matter. It's going to work. You just plug these ends