Electric trailer brakes & the RRS

[Mike_S]

Excuse my ignorance on this and the no doubt numpty question, but having read through sniegy's thread relating to electric trailer brakes & the D4, I'm after a bit of enlightenment. Can someone tell me if I'll need something similar for my RRS ?

I'm no novice to towing in the UK & Europe and have towed both braked & unbraked, but am used to mechanical trailer / caravan brakes with a breakaway emergency brake cable. We don't have electric brakes or chains attaching the trailer to the car and until coming here, I didn't even know they existed.

Yes I've read the FAQ, it doesn't mention electric brakes under the towing section or the need to add something into the system. I've done a websearch to learn about these things and from that, take it there are 2 different types (proportional & time delayed) of which one looks to be the sensible option, that being proportional. To my mind that reacts in a similar way to the mechanical brakes I'm used to, albeit via the installation of expensive box of tricks rather than a simple mechanical device on the hitch. They also look to be controllable by the driver, via some form of switching arrangement to allow application of the trailer brakes independent of the vehicle brakes ?

I assume from reading sniegy's thread that once my car arrives, if I want to tow a trailer with electric brakes I'll need to do 'something' with the existing factory fitted 7 pin plugs, as well as adding a controller into the system. Is this correct or is my 2005 car likely to already be wired up to activate electric brakes ? I'm assuming not and that it's something to do with pin 5 of the plug as it's the same as the D3 ? From that I've read about a Tekonsha plug & play setup, but I'm guessing there's loads of different brands. Would prefer plug & play so as not to bugger anything up.

Towing is something we'll be doing, SWMBO is wanting to hire a camper trailer once the car's here. Chatting to the Johnnos Camper trailer woman yesterday brought the subject of electric brakes to the fore, as only one of their trailers is unbraked. On asking about mechanical brakes she of course looked at me like I'd just dropped down from Mars :p I think SWMBO's idea of a trailer for Easter may be a little premature....

This is all part of my growing 'list of jobs' to do to the car once it's here and as money isn't growing on the tree in my backyard, I'm having to prioritise. I have the UK detachable towball and will be trying that on a friends trailer first to see if it's OK, whilst I look at the best options for a new one. The chains will be attached to my recovery shackle. Given I'll be towing trailers much lighter than anything that hitch has been used for, I'm not worried about it failing. This might fly in the face of some but I'm comfortable the hitch is up to the job, if of course the trailer hitch fits.

All help & pointers greatly received.

Cheers
Mike

[101RRS]

Hi Mike - the RRS is the same as a D3 in this regard. The Europoean standard has power going via the standard European plug to each of the tail lamps individually - in Aust we just have one power lead feedin tail lights and number plate light. The problem is that one of the European tail light feeds (not sure which one) is the spot that works the trailer brakes.

When I connected my trailer to my RRS (Aust cars are still wired the European way) I did not know about this so when I switched on the lights the trailer brakes came on.

I have not installed a controller as yet so just pulled one of the fuses at the rear that fed the appropriate tail light (brakes).

You will need a controller installed in the cabin that can also be reached by you. The controller will sent aything from 0v to 12v when you apply the brakes to the trailer and activate the trailer brakes when you apply the car brakes. The instructions are on here somewhere. The controller has to be accessible by the driver if the automatic system needs to be overridden. There are various systems which cost around $150 - $300 - the are two basic types - proportional which applies the trailer brakes proportionally to how hard you apply the car brakes. The other type applies the trailer brakes irrespective how hard you apply the brakes.

When I install my controller the trailer brake control wire will replace the current appropriate tail light wire on the power side of the rear fuse and I will just replace the fuse and it will all work OK.

Garry

[slug_burner]

There are a couple of different trailer brakes available, hydraulic, cable, electric and vacuum. I don't know if the vacuum is just used to disengage the brakes like air pressure is used on truck brakes (loss of vacuum means brakes come on)

Hydraulic and cable brakes are often referred to as overrun brakes i.e. the trailer must push into the back of the vehicle for the trailer brakes to come on. The lady at the caravan place may have been more familiar with the overrun description to what I think you may be referring to as mechanical brakes.

In Aus you need brakes for any trailer over 750kg GTM. The cheapest option are the overrun brakes and you can use these up to 2000kg GTM. Once over 2000kg you need breakaway brakes and electric brakes are favoured as the breakaway component is just a battery and a switch that is operated by a light (small/not heavy) cable connected between trailer and tow vehicle, when the coupling lets go the connecting cable pulls a pin that allows a switch to connect the battery to the electric brakes stopping the trailer from continuing down the road without a vehicle to guide it. The other options for breakaway brakes are electric over hydraulic. I don't know of mechanical brakes with a breakaway system and I have never looked into the vacuum brakes used before electric brakes became generally available.

Electric brakes are very good in as far as the ability to control them and the ability to apply the trailer brakes without the towing vehicle brakes. This allows you to stop a trailer from getting up a sway through the application of trailer brakes only.

Unless the van you are going to hire comes in at over 2000 kg it is unlikely that you will need to get an electric brake controller. If you do need to get one go the proportional braking system.

[Mike_S]

Thanks chaps

I wasn't very clear, yes when I talked of mechanical brakes I meant over run brakes with a breakaway cable, they're the standard in the UK. The breakaway cable is merely a cable looped round the towhitch or through an eye / shackle on the towhitch, if the caravan becomes unhitched the cable is yanked hard off the car and pulls the handbrake on on the caravan.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2012/02/508.jpg

Thanks for the descriptions though, looks like I need to do a change to the wiring inside the plug to keep all the lights working and stop the electric brakes from operating if we hire a trailer with them fitted. From Pete's thread that would appear to be pin 5.

I wish I hadn't given my 2 trailer lighting boards away now :(

[Lotz-A-Landies]

I'm seriously considering the Tekonsha Prodigy RF. Brake Controllers - Tekonsha (http://www.tekonsha.com/content/products.aspx?lvl=3&parentid=0&catID=1435&part=90250) It operates the same as the Prodigy models, but it doesn't require hard wiring to the vehicle, merely takes the stop light signal from the car. the Control unit plugs into the 12V power socket (cig lighter) and uses WiFi to communicate with the controller on the trailer.

The summary from Tekonsha.
"Utilize for rental businesses, fleet ownerships or multiple tow vehicles. Requires no leveling.
Remote Hand Held Unit No under dash wiring necessary – utilizes wireless communication
The original “Boost” feature allows for different levels of customized braking
System runs continual diagnostics and displays fault codes in hand held unit’s display
Plugs into standard 12-volt power accessory adapter
5 year limited warranty

Trailer Mount (Power Module) Unit Utilizes standard sealed 8’ blade style 7-way connector
Multiple mounting positions on tongue or front of trailer
15 year limited warranty on power module
1 year limited warranty on cord

[101RRS]

Hi Diana have you got any pricing on these? The site does not have it.

Cheers

Garry

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Buggar!

It seems (as of December 2010) Tekonsha was not releasing the Prodigy RF in Australia.

"Currently the Prodigy RF is not being released in Australia. We have not had the control’s radio frequency tested to the Australian Design Rule for radio interference. Also there is difference in the design of the trailer connectors that are on the Prodigy RF being completely different than the ones used there. This control does not illuminate the brake lights when the manual override is applied. These are some of the things that we must overcome before the Prodigy RF is ready for the Australian market. If I can be any help in the future please let me know." Track Trailer Forums • View topic - Electric brake controller settings (http://tracktrailerforums.net/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=64&start=10)

I wonder if anything has changed in 14 months?


Hi Mike - the RRS is the same as a D3 in this regard. The Europoean standard has power going via the standard European plug to each of the tail lamps individually - in Aust we just have one power lead feedin tail lights and number plate light. The problem is that one of the European tail light feeds (not sure which one) is the spot that works the trailer brakes.... If this is true, how can Land Rover Australia be marketing a trailer connection that doesn't comply with ADR 42/04 or Australian Standard 2513-1982? Left-hand turn - Yellow
Reversing signal - Black
Earth return - White
Right-hand turn - Green
Service Brakes - Blue
Stop lamps - Red
Rear lamps, clearance and side marker lamps - Brown
Battery charger/electric winch -Orange
Auxiliaries, etc/battery feed - Pink
Earth return - White
Rear fog lamp - Grey
Spare Only above Vehicle GVM 3.5 tonne and Trailer ATM 3.5 Tonne are they allowed to use the ISO 1185–1997 or SAE J 560–1998