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View Full Version : Help finding Auto electrician to fit Tekonsha electric brake controller to my D3



Leecewah
16th October 2013, 12:48 PM
G'day all, have just bought a caravan and need to get set up to tow with my '09 D3 TDV6 SE. I have bought the brake controller (Tekonsha P3 online as they received consistently good reviews) and need to find a reliable auto electrician in the Mandurah/Rockingham/Perth area to fit it. LR want to charge me $700 to do it, which sounds excessive to me, however I have read that it can be tricky to do properly and I certainly do not have the technical expertise to do it myself. If anyone has had theirs done in this area and can recommend an auto elec guy or gal, that would be great. Will also need an Anderson plug, however that should be less tricky (once again LR want between $250 and $350 to do it!).

Cheers,
Leecewah

dominicbeirne
16th October 2013, 12:59 PM
Hi Leecewah

Don't know about the auto electrician but for what LR are quoting why not speak to drivesafe about a full 2nd battery set up. Only a wee bit more expensive but you can fit it yourself.

FenianEel
16th October 2013, 07:46 PM
Those quotes are crazy, and BS. P3s are an easy fit. If you can follow instructions & solder, you can do it yourself.

ADMIRAL
16th October 2013, 10:34 PM
Hi Leecewah,



Have a look at this thread. I think I have it correct. www.aulro.com/afvb/d3-d4-rrs/97935-d4-electric-trailer-brake. If you don't believe you can do this yourself, send a PM to me, and I will give you the name of a good auto leckie. ( he may be pretty busy though ) The hardest part of this installation, is running the wires through the firewall. Everything else is reasonably straight forward if you are handy with electrical work.

You will still have to give this detail to the auto leckie, as the D3/D4's have some specific wiring processes to follow, or your brake controller will not work correctly, and you will also get some nasty surprises. I suspect the D3 will also require a stent or resistor in the indicator circuit, if your caravan has LED stop/tail, indicator lights. If you do a search there are several threads on fitting store bought resistors setups, or you can get the auto leckie to do it.

Hope this helps.

Neil

shorty
5th November 2013, 11:57 PM
Hi Leecewah,

I am in Perth and am looking to add a brake controller to my D3 as well. i haven't bought one yet though so am not as close as you.

If you find someone good to do it let me know so I can use them too!

Thanks,

Matt

shining
6th November 2013, 06:30 PM
I understand that not all types of DIY work is for everyone but I had no problem fitting my brake controller a few weeks ago. Redarc with remote head. I spent a lot more time thinking about the job than actually doing it. Now that I have done one the next one would only take a few hours. A bit of skill with a soldering iron does help. Running the wires was OK. I took a few photos but haven't posted them yet.

jafir
7th November 2013, 07:13 AM
I just used all plug and play stuff when I added a brake controller to my LR3. No soldering required.

I had to get the electric brake controller, the ford style pigtail for under the dash, and the land rover harness for behind the left tail light.

Lotz-A-Landies
7th November 2013, 09:30 AM
The Tekonsha leads for the LR3/D3 seem to only be available in the US, nothing would stop you ordering them online and fitting when it arrives.

jafir
7th November 2013, 09:50 AM
The Tekonsha leads for the LR3/D3 seem to only be available in the US, nothing would stop you ordering them online and fitting when it arrives.

Just searching this site, I found a post where someone said that the AUS/UK spec D3 don't have the harness under the dash. I find that quite surprising, because the Discovery isn't a very common tow vehicle here, but it seems to be popular for that purpose just about everywhere else on earth.

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/d3-d4-rrs/112260-brake-controller-tekonsha.html

DISCO3.CO.UK Photo Gallery - NAS Trailer Socket Pin ID and Wire Colours/Tekonsha Ford Brake Controller Adapter part number 3035-P (http://www.disco3.co.uk/gallery/displayimage.php?album=4497&pos=16)

Lotz-A-Landies
7th November 2013, 11:28 AM
Its a conundrum why they would design a harness modification for one market but not include it for other markets.

In the UK it seems electric controllers are rare but in Oz, just like the US their use is very common.

The only difference I can see in the regs is that under Australian Design Rules (Federal Regulations) the stop lamps on the trailer have to illuminate when the brake over-ride is activated on the controller. It is why the Prodigy RF is not legal in Oz.

I don't know if that would affect the Ford interface leads however.

Rok_Dr
7th November 2013, 11:59 PM
Hi all

I've arranged for the local auto sparky in willetton to fit a p3 and a 12v power line into my Charlie late next week. I've used them in the past on the gtv6 and corolla with no dramas. So I'll report back once I've given the setup a test run with the van.

Cheers Steve.

Meken
8th November 2013, 08:30 PM
From a big lot of trouble having an inexperienced autolec fit a p3 in our freelander all I'm going to say is get someone who knows what they are doing (ie - has installed in d3 before)
The long & short is
It's straight forward.... Except for the pesky "red" wire which the p3 uses to sense brake (light) activation. The p3 instal instructions say pick up the brake light at the trailer plug, but unless you have it connected with reverse polarity protection on the brake light wire, the p3 sends 12v down the red wire to illuminate the trailer brake lights when you use the manual lever. If the trailer brake light circuit (where it is still in the car - before the trailer socket) is not protected the p3 12v will possibly blow something in the car ;(

The way landrover wired up the freelander2 (to correct the bad installation by someone else) was to install a diode protected relay that had the car brake light wire connected to the pull on the relay with a 12v source and the p3 red wire joined to the brake light wire running to the trailer socket coming off the relay. So if you braked the relay pulled in @ shot 12v to the trailer socket (which the p3 red wire "sensed" ) if you hit manual lever on the p3 the 12v went to the trailer socket but could not affect the car because relay is open & it's diode protected so you don't get reverse current across the relay when it releases.

Hope that explanation is as clear as mud - I can post a drawing if you want.

Rok_Dr
8th December 2013, 06:45 PM
A bit late in relying as I haven't been able to get van out until this weekend.

Schultz Automotive Electrical in Willetton did a very good, neat job installing to P3 into my D2 and wiring up a 12v line to the trailer plug. Works beautifully! After this I also left the Alfa with them and they were able to get the aircon working half decently again after the Alfa specialist admitted defeat. So it would be well worth having a chat with them about D3s and brake controllers.

Cheers

Steve

AnD3rew
8th December 2013, 07:33 PM
I took mine to the shop I always take it to, but I printed out the thread on brake controller from here and have it to him. So far so good it seems to all have worked fine.

crawal
8th December 2013, 07:39 PM
Admiral, tried the link just sent me to menu , tried to search but no luck
I am looking to get a d3 in the near future so wanting ti get my home work in place for the extra's need ie big list