2009 RRS (D3) Electrics Interface to Kimberley Karavan?

[Lobster]

Hi All,

I am seeking advice from those "experts" who may have done this before me.

I have an unmodified 2009 RRS TDV8 with a Land Rover tow pack with rear park sensors, and I need to set it up to tow a Kimberley Karavan.

As a retired electrical & electronic tradesman I am aware of the difficulty interfacing the RRS & D3s with caravans.

The Karavan has the following:

1. Carlisle electric / hydraulic disk brakes option.

2. 50A Anderson plug for vehicle or solar feed to 300Ah of SLA Batteries, Vitifrigo Frig etc.

3. LED Brake & Turn Lights.

I have have trawled the forums to become familiar with common problems & fixes. But I still seek some answers to my questions below:

1.
For the Carlisle electric brakes. I intend to connect a Tekonsha P3 Controller picking up switched +ve, brake signal & earth from behind the trim panel behind the rear LHS wheel arch.

I will remove the brown wire from the fuse block that goes to pin 5 in the trailer socket, this will join up to the electric brake control signal.

As this is a high current circuit is there a preferred cable size that is recommended?

2.
I plan to Install a 150Amp battery isolator cabled to a 50A Anderson connector on the rear bumper. This Plug will only accept a maximum of 6AWG cable (13.3mm Squared) possibly 50Amp max current rating. This may have problems with a high volt drop to a level below the voltage required for proper charging of the battery bank.

I have heard of people running 2 x 6 AWG or 1 x 25mm squared cable through the chassis rail from the engine bay to the rear bumper.

Can anyone here advise me on this or a better routing method of this cable/s?

3.
LED Brake & Turn Lights on the trailer & incandescent lamps on my vehicle problem. I have found various devices to stop the trailer Turn LEDs from pulsing.

I have a several more questions below:

I want to stop the LED lights pusing but don't want to have suspension height issues, or reverse parking sensor problems .

Can some one advise me how the vehicle detects that a trailer is connected. Is it a link on the 7 pin plug, or a current through the brake or turn lights?

Last question, do the trailer Brake LEDs pulse too or only the Turn Signal LEDs?


I hope I haven't asked too many questions, & look forward to some interesting feedback.

Cheers,

lobster

[sniegy]

1.
For the Carlisle electric brakes. I intend to connect a Tekonsha P3 Controller picking up switched +ve, brake signal & earth from behind the trim panel behind the rear LHS wheel arch.

I will remove the brown wire from the fuse block that goes to pin 5 in the trailer socket, this will join up to the electric brake control signal.

As this is a high current circuit is there a preferred cable size that is recommended?

2.
I plan to Install a 150Amp battery isolator cabled to a 50A Anderson connector on the rear bumper. This Plug will only accept a maximum of 6AWG cable (13.3mm Squared) possibly 50Amp max current rating. This may have problems with a high volt drop to a level below the voltage required for proper charging of the battery bank.

I have heard of people running 2 x 6 AWG or 1 x 25mm squared cable through the chassis rail from the engine bay to the rear bumper.

Can anyone here advise me on this or a better routing method of this cable/s?

3.
LED Brake & Turn Lights on the trailer & incandescent lamps on my vehicle problem. I have found various devices to stop the trailer Turn LEDs from pulsing.

I have a several more questions below:

I want to stop the LED lights pusing but don't want to have suspension height issues, or reverse parking sensor problems .

Can some one advise me how the vehicle detects that a trailer is connected. Is it a link on the 7 pin plug, or a current through the brake or turn lights?

Last question, do the trailer Brake LEDs pulse too or only the Turn Signal LEDs?

I hope I haven't asked too many questions, & look forward to some interesting feedback.

1.Correct. 4mm2 is sufficient to control the variable voltage.

2.I have run all the cables (normally 6 B&S x2) down the passenger side of the vehicle atop the chassis rail & in corrugated tubing.

3.Current draw & only the indicators pulse. There is a variety of dummy load devices, I use LED adaptor modules unit.
It is mounted in the vehicle with a switch that turns in on/off depending on which trailer/van I am towing.

Cheers

HTH.

Sent from my iPad using Forum Runner

[TDV6]

G'day Lobster,

I used the Labtronics? Phase shunt for my Led problems, works well.

I would run the heaviest cable I could manage down to the back of the car then join this into the largest cable that the anderson plug can handle for the last 50mm. I used twin lots of 6mm battery and starter cable.

I ran my cable inside the passenger side chasis rail, but I think I should have run it on the outside, much easier to do.

Regards,

Ryall

[Ashes]

2.I have run all the cables (normally 6 B&S x2) down the passenger side of the vehicle atop the chassis rail & in corrugated tubing.



Sniegy, would you mind giving some more details on this cable run. I assume you run this from the 2nd battery, back across the engine bay then down to the chassis rail. Is this 2 lots of red/black from the battery and do you use circuit breakers front and back on each red wire.

[drivesafe]

Hi Lobster and Ashes, it’s easy to run cable through a D3, D4 Or an RRS, inside, down along the drive’s side door sills.

The link below is to an installation instruction thread for one of my Dual Battery Kits for a D3 but it’s the same for a D4.

There’s plenty of pictures to make it simple to follow.

Lobster, just out of curiosity, what isolator are you planning on using?

Also Lobster, the industry standard size cable for the break controller to trailer wire is BLUE 6mm Auto.

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/verandah/62580-traxide-full-power-cable-kit-d3.html

[drivesafe]

Hi again Lobster and just in case you don’t have the full trailer brake wiring instructions, you will need to fit a 25 amp AUTO RESETTING circuit breaker in the BLUE cable as close as practical to your break controller.

NOTE, for safety reasons it MUST BE a 25 amp AUTO RESETTING circuit breaker.

[Ashes]

Just curious about running 2 lots of 6B&S and how/why that was done (extra amp capacity I guess).

I already run some 8B&S from the 2nd battery to a blue seas fuse box inside the car (and also a UHF arial back through the grommet) which is a pretty tight fit. This setup works pretty well and it powers my fridge, 2 additional 12v sockets, UHF, GPS and a small inverter (never all live at once).

In future I'll be looking to run a rear anderson for my camper trailer so just looking at options as to whether I should change my accessories setup to be fed off 6B&S which would then continue to a rear anderson or just run new 6B&S from the battery to the rear (via the chassis rail) and leave my accessory wiring in place.

I should also consider a future expansion to include a electronic brake controller so may need to run some cable at the same time for that.

[drivesafe]

Hi Ashes, if you already have the cable in place for your equipment in the rear compartment and run a new cable.

You can replace the existing cable but you will have a better set up by running a new cable and save yourself a lot of additional work of removing whats already there.

[sniegy]

Hi Ashes,
Yes customer requirements.
He asked, we fitted!

We ran them via 2 maxi fuses from the 2nd battery in front of them brake booster, across the firewall, down the hole behind the the coolant bottle (again in corrugated tubing) & basically followed the loom & sitting all the cables (using cable ties to hold everything in) on top of the chassis.
Obviously having a hoist is very very easy, but the air suspension helps if you not have a hoist.

Cheers

Sent from my iPad using Forum Runner

[Lobster]

Hi Lobster and Ashes, it’s easy to run cable through a D3, D4 Or an RRS, inside, down along the drive’s side door sills.

The link below is to an installation instruction thread for one of my Dual Battery Kits for a D3 but it’s the same for a D4.

There’s plenty of pictures to make it simple to follow.

Lobster, just out of curiosity, what isolator are you planning on using?

Also Lobster, the industry standard size cable for the break controller to trailer wire is BLUE 6mm Auto.

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/verandah/62580-traxide-full-power-cable-kit-d3.html

sneigy & drivesafe, thanks for your advice, it was very useful.

For my 2009 RRS I ran the 2x twin sheathed 4mm2 conductors from the Tekonsha P3 down to and along the lower RHS edge of the console (using a spatula to lift the lower edge). There is a duct that crosses the console just in front of my rear sliding cup-holder. I fed the loom through to & under the passenger seat frame and secured it to the rear cross-tube on the fixed seat frame. I "Dremmelled" a clearance hole to bring the loom through the rear LHS corner of the hard plastic seat trim, across 20mm of carpet & under the rear LHS door sill trim & up the wheel arch to the connectors etc near the rear LHS tail lamp. This was reasonably quick & easy to install once I had found this route.

drivesafe, sorry I just noticed your question. I ended up using a 25mm2 double insulated cable through the passenger chassis rail, fed via a programmable Voltage Sensing Relay that I can fiddle with the voltage switching points. Sorry its not one of your products, its a bit too complicated for most people but Ausie designed & made.

http://www.intervolt.com/