AL-KO stability control fit

[4WDBucko]

Just joined and saying Hi to everyone.
Does anyone know how to connect an AL-KO stability control system to a D4 2016 model. My mechanic has taken a week to fit and still hasn't finished. Bit worried that he doesn't know how to do it.

[Roverlord off road spares]

Just joined and saying Hi to everyone.
Does anyone know how to connect an AL-KO stability control system to a D4 2016 model. My mechanic has taken a week to fit and still hasn't finished. Bit worried that he doesn't know how to do it.
Is he charging you by the hour or job?:angel:

[Tombie]

The van already has it?
The D4 already has a very effective trailer stability system.

There was a mumbling a while back on here that they can fight each other a bit.

[LandyAndy]

Welcome aboard Bucko
I think you need to get your head around the sytem.From what I have read here,the Al-Ko sytem is fitted to the van,if the van is over 2000kg(most are) you need to provide a 12v feed from your vehicle to the van,others have done this by buying a UK type white plug fitting(your vehicle has 2 plugs,the white euro fitting on the left and the black aussie fitting on the left.There are 2 12V feeds that are suitable in the white plug.
NOW.You MUST have an electric brake controller in your vehicle,this is where you auto sparky will struggle if he hasn't done a D4 before.He MUST wire it a certain way,normal methods are WRONG and WILL cause problems.
We have a thread covering the fitting of Electric Brake Controlers to D4 vehicles,its the only way it can be done,the original author,Sniegy is a senior Land Rover dealer mechanic,its a long thread,your vehicle comes in the upgrade so your "splice" isn't behind the LHS tail light,its in the rear LHS panel,reading the thread will shed light on this.
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/l319-discovery-3-4/97935-d4-electric-trailer-brakes.html
There is a diode in the system,its important to protect the computers,covered in the thread.Many of us have the Redarc Tow Pro.There have been discussions of its compatability with the Al-Ko system,you will need to look into that,Redarc say its OK.
ENJOY
Andrew

[simmo1]

From what I understand the alko also esc fitted to a caravan or trailer simply needs a live power supply usually from the towing vehicle to energise the trailer brake magnets. The esc is contained within the trailer and does not function together with the car esc. It is I understand a relatively simple device that detects sideways acceleration and at determined g levels applies the trailer brakes, tries to slam them on. A pretty crude set up really but they work to a degree. The alko esc doesn't relate with or work with the car brake controller, a separate system to trigger the brake magnets.
Simmo

[Tombie]

Correct Simmo1, but it does set up some interesting harmonics between the vehicle (D4) and van as both are trying to counter the same thing...

[drivesafe]

Just joined and saying Hi to everyone.
Does anyone know how to connect an AL-KO stability control system to a D4 2016 model. My mechanic has taken a week to fit and still hasn't finished. Bit worried that he doesn't know how to do it.

Hi Bucko and welcome aboard.

Think you may be right about your auto elec not knowing what he is doing.

If you can, post up more details of what he is supposed to be doing and what sort of setup you have in your D4 and caravan, in the way of a dual battery system if you have one.

The reason I ask is that, depending on the Dual battery system you might have, you actually do not need to connect the AL-KO system directly to your D4 and can simply connect to the power going from your D4 to your house battery in the van.

Also, does your auto elec know that if your caravan is over 2000kg it has to have both a Breakaway Battery ( National requirement ) and an in-cab indicator ( NSW State requirement ) in your D4 to show whether the Breakaway Battery is OK?

[Billy Bignutz]

Hi Bucko and welcome aboard.

Think you may be right about your auto elec not knowing what he is doing.

If you can, post up more details of what he is supposed to be doing and what sort of setup you have in your D4 and caravan, in the way of a dual battery system if you have one.

The reason I ask is that, depending on the Dual battery system you might have, you actually do not need to connect the AL-KO system directly to your D4 and can simply connect to the power going from your D4 to your house battery in the van.

Also, does your auto elec know that if your caravan is over 2000kg it has to have both a Breakaway Battery ( National requirement ) and an in-cab indicator ( NSW State requirement ) in your D4 to show whether the Breakaway Battery is OK?



If it is an off road van they have the Alko ESC connected to the tug using a special red Anderson plug. The reason they do this is because when you go off road the rock and roll of the van over rough ground can trigger the Alko ESC - the separate plug enables you to unplug the ESC function while keeping the rest powered. If it is not off road it is probably just wired to the 12 pin or van battery I am guessing.


It is a pain with the new van I have just ordered with a video cable, 12 ping connector, grey Anderson and red Anderson. Hence a bit of extra cabling of the D4 needed on top of the already wired Anderson and brake controller (Tekonsha which is compatible with alko). I will wire the Alko power in a separate run of 6mm2 cable to battery via a self resetting breaker. I will probably end up with alko unplugged permanently as I have heard that the TSA and Alko fight each other. Alternatively I may have TSA function disabled in the D4 config file (have to look into this further). At present there is a parameter called trailer stability assist or words to that effect and mine says undefined at present. so I may try disabled setting.

[drivesafe]

Hi Billy, you do not need a separate wire/cable loom run through your D4 for your ESC.

All you need is one of these STAR PLUGS placed between the dual battery Anderson plug on your D4 and the Anderson plug on cables going to your caravan house batteries, and you can then plug and unplug the ESC connection as you require.

Job done.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/10/256.jpg

[Bobc163]

Rather plug/unplug on the vehicle I fitted an additional Anderson plug on the van draw bar so that I could readily unplug the esc fitted it next to the indicator that shows the system working correctly
No stray plug floating around and ensured you check the system
Also no crawling around under the stone stopper to plug /unplug when you go off road
As a matter of interest if you remove the centre pin from a standard black plug and paint it white you can use the lr wiring for additional

[Briar]

It is a pain with the new van I have just ordered with a video cable, 12 ping connector, grey Anderson and red Anderson. Hence a bit of extra cabling of the D4 needed on top of the already wired Anderson and brake controller (Tekonsha which is compatible with alko). I will wire the Alko power in a separate run of 6mm2 cable to battery via a self resetting breaker. I will probably end up with alko unplugged permanently as I have heard that the TSA and Alko fight each other. Alternatively I may have TSA function disabled in the D4 config file (have to look into this further). At present there is a parameter called trailer stability assist or words to that effect and mine says undefined at present. so I may try disabled setting.

Firstly, I think it would be very unwise to either permanently disconnect the ALKO-ESC or the D4 TSA. I have heard people use the phrase as well that the systems would "fight each other", but if you think logically, that is probably a dumb statement. For 99% or more of normal driving neither the ESC or TSA would be operating especially in terms of trying to manage a Yaw or sliding event. The purpose of TSA is for the D4 to try and apply braking to the car to assist with a Yaw event of a trailer or caravan. ESC will operate only on the caravan brakes in the event of a yaw event that exceeds a certain G-force and repeats more than a set number of times.

Some folk on the caravan forum have reported feeling the vans ESC actuate in an extreme manoeuvre briefly. My brother in his jeep when towing the van was forced off the road by an overtaking vehicle and his ESC activated to keep the van straight and avoid a disaster. If his vehicle had TSA as does the D4 it's possible that the TSA may not have even actuated as the ESC minimised the sway quickly. Nipped it in the bud you could say. If it was me, I'd want everything working in my favour and would have both systems operating rather than de activating one of them. The TSA will only respond to help correct what the van is doing. ESC will make the van yaw less so the TSA will operate less.

As far as the Anderson plug, use the Traxide Star connector, it's what I did, works great as my van also came with the grey Anderson for battery and red for ALKO ESC.

As far as the 12 pin plug and caravan camera cable, I too had to get those. I already had the 12N plug modified to the australian standard with the brake controller on pin 5. I got a local auto electrician guy to connect in parallel my 12N socket (and a couple of pins from the 12s for the brake safe battery) to a separate 12 pin flat socket. He did the job in about an hour. As far as the camera cable I ran mine at the same time as I put the Traxide system in so ran it alongside, but it's a much smaller cable so you can easily get it up through the right rear tail light assembly and run it through the jack area and along the drivers side sill. That should only take an hour or so.

[Graeme]

I'd want everything working in my favour and would have both systems operating rather than de activating one of them. The TSA will only respond to help correct what the van is doing. ESC will make the van yaw less so the TSA will operate less.I totally agree and why I connected-up my van's ESC to the RRV even though the van tows as though it's on rails.

[Tombie]

Had a good read on how far the van needs to yaw for the system to kick in.. [emoji15]

If the van is that unstable - the combination isn't a good one and a band-aid shouldn't be applied.

I see recently they are now targeting the van makers for poor practices.

[LandyAndy]

Would this be far enough for it to kick in Mike????
ENJOY.
Andrew
Caravan Crashes (http://www.msn.com/en-au/video/watch/caravan-crashes/vi-AAjdQKY?ocid=spartandhp)

[LandyAndy]

Notice all the "tail wagers" were single axle vans,so much easier to get the loading/balance wrong.
The T junction prang with the tandem van was simply way to fast to try and stop in the wet,"the tail pushing the dog"
Andrew

[Tombie]

I have seen all of those videos before..
Quite scary isn't it.

Worse thing is the designs of the rigs allows / promotes overloading in many instances.

[Tombie]

Problem with a D4 combo is tail starts wagging and vehicle steps up to control it.
Van system also detects it and steps up to the plate..
The 2 systems now clash against one another setting the oscillations (yaw) into a different behaviour and 2 systems can potentially fight each other for control...

Better to have a properly designed and loaded van and a decent controller.

If for whatever reason the tail starts wagging the dog, accelerate gently and activate the vans brakes via the controller...