75 Overlander Exterior Lights Circuit Breakers

[dbj216]

My Overlander has a 7 pin receptacle on the front of the trailer. So you plug the umbilical cord in to the trailer, and then into the tow vehicle. I have never seen such an arrangement before. You can take your umbilical with you into the restaurant. Hang it around your neck like a snake. I feel it doubles the chance of trouble due to a loose connection or corrosion in one of the plugs. My old 66 and our 86 are hard wired in to the trailer.

So I aim to hard wire the 75 Overlander 7 pin umbilical cord in the same way. This trailer has 12v circuit breakers on many of the 7 circuits from the tow vehicle to the trailer. They are 1. brake lights, 2 tail lights, 3 turn signals, 4 brakes, 5 marker lights, 6 back up lights, 7 battery charging, and ground wire. I believe these are old fashioned "thermo"style breakers than open when the element gets hot from an overloaded circuit. Then they close back up when they cool down. I much prefer fuses as they go open and stay open until you find the problem.

Most tow vehicles have fuse protection on the 7 pin circuits too.

Do I need circuit protection for the exterior trailer lights? Are fuses adequate? Has anyone else eliminated the trailer plug and hard wired the umbilical cord to the trailer?

David

PS I am "double posting" this question; both here as well as my Overlander Improvements Journal thread. I'm hopeful someone can help me out.