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Electrical hook-up for towing

Yahoo Message Number: 16766
Made my maiden voyage three weeks ago with our new 04 Intrigue Ovation. Got to say, "This is one fine machine". I wish I had been smart enough a year ago to purchase a Country Coach rather than working up from a gas powered Gulfstream that self destructed on it's first trip from South Carolina to Buffalo. I returned that one and purchased an "Alfa, SeeYa" urghh! from bad to worse. Finally did some homework and went for the Country Coach. All within a year. This unit is 5 or 6 feet longer than the Alfa and gets about 25% better fuel mileage. The handling is absolutly great, not to mention the soft ride and phenominal power. Ok .... So all you people already own CC and don't need to listen to me wasting time ... sorry.

I do have a question though. When I initially got ready to leave, I connected my 04 Tahoe to the CC and discovered I had no brake lights. Drove to the CC dealership and was informed I had blown a fuse (Simple enough)! When the fuse was replaced, it instantly blew when I applied the brakes. We finally discovered that CC wires their system differently than most of the other manufacturers. I was running 4 flat and the CC brake light needed a different connection. I was then told that my Tahoe could not be configured to the CC standard, so they removed the CC control board and replaced everything with a standard 4 flat hook-up and a brake relay. Works fine, although it just doesn't seem like the right solution. Anyone have any idea how to do this hook-up correctly? I would like to reinstall the original CC equipment and make whatever changes are necessary.

Jay & Stephanie

04 Intrigue Ovation #11821

Re: Electrical hook-up for towing

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 16771
I hope I am not misunderstanding your post, but I hope you saved the parts. A very cool feature of our Affinity is that you can jumper configure your rear plug from a five wire to a four wire.

Most trailers are four wire ... left turn, right turn, tail lights, and ground. Brakes are both left and right. Five wire pulls out the brake lights as a separate circuit.

Our Journey was a five wire, and our Dutch Star was a four wire.
Sort of a pain if noone told you this.
CC just requires you to move a jumper, pretty cool feature. The nice folks on this forum helped me find it, it was not where the book said it was, but after that, even a dumb Swede could do it (I did).
Maybe your coach does not have his feature, but I sure would not like it if someone ripped out this board and tossed it.

John and Terry

2005 Affinity #6453
Honda Pilot Toad

Re: Electrical hook-up for towing

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 16772
John,

How did you wire that Honda? I have an Acura MDX that I am going to start towing (replacing my Suburban). I am wanting to determine if there is a clean and simple way to do this.

Thanks,

Mike

'95 Intrigue 10061

Quote from: John Keene
I hope I am not misunderstanding your post, but I hope you saved

the

Quote
parts. A very cool feature of our Affinity is that you can jumper > configure your rear plug from a five wire to a four wire.

Most trailers are four wire ... left turn, right turn, tail

lights,

Quote
and ground. Brakes are both left and right. Five wire pulls out

the

Quote
brake lights as a separate circuit.

Our Journey was a five wire, and our Dutch Star was a four wire.
Sort of a pain if noone told you this.

CC just requires you to move a jumper, pretty cool feature. The

nice

Quote
folks on this forum helped me find it, it was not where the book

said

Quote
it was, but after that, even a dumb Swede could do it (I did).

Maybe your coach does not have his feature, but I sure would not

like

Re: Electrical hook-up for towing

Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 16773
We have wired both our CR-V and our Pilot the same way.
We ran two wires (18ga) from the front plug and into each tail light area (left and right side). One wire from each side is common at the plug for the tail lights. Cut the wires from the two filaments of your choice (you can select tail and brake by watching which light up before proceeding).

A diode is placed in each leg, and in the car side of each wire, four diodes per side.

The diode theory is as follows ...
You want the current from the front plug to get to each filament, but not back to the car wiring. And you want the current from the car to get to the filament without getting to plug (and into the motorhome).
So, the current can come from the car thru the diode, and get to the filament, and the current can come from the plug, thru its diode, and get to the filament. Neither current can go the other way, car to the plug, or plug to the car.

Let me see if I can hack this out with ASCII characters ...

-->|-- = diode, band towards filament

car --------->| ------0-
Quote from: Mike

John,

How did you wire that Honda? I have an Acura MDX that I am going

to

Quote
start towing (replacing my Suburban). I am wanting to determine if > there is a clean and simple way to do this.

Thanks,

Mike

'95 Intrigue 10061

[quote author=John Keene"

> I hope I am not misunderstanding your post, but I hope you saved > the

> parts. A very cool feature of our Affinity is that you can

jumper

Re: Electrical hook-up for towing

Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 16775
Jay,

Save your self a lot of trouble and hook up a separate lighting system for your car. Don't tie the CC system into your car system just add a light bulb and socket to you existing tail light housings, run separate wires to the back and plug it into CCI system. Thats how Lazy Days and many other people do the tail lights, we have done this with 5 vehicles. It's simple and you do not need to worry about you car system.

Bill g. 2005 Magna #6425

Re: Electrical hook-up for towing

Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 16776
John ...

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I did keep the parts. The PCB they removed was undamaged and will be easy to replace. I had two mechanics working on this thing for almost 8 hours. Neither could agree on how it should be wired so as I said in my post .... They just removed the board and replaced it with a brake relay. When I had the Tahoe wired for towing, rather than install a diode system, I had them install separate bulbs in the rear tail lights. Figured this would eliminate any future problems ....(Was I ever wrong!) I would be interested in trying your wiring configuration if you remember how you did it. I would expect the wiring to be similar between the Affinity and the Intrigue, although I will check with CC. Really appreciate the help ....

Jay & Stephanie

04 Intrigue Ovation #11821

Quote from: John Keene
I hope I am not misunderstanding your post, but I hope you saved

the

Quote
parts. A very cool feature of our Affinity is that you can jumper > configure your rear plug from a five wire to a four wire.

Most trailers are four wire ... left turn, right turn, tail

lights,

Quote
and ground. Brakes are both left and right. Five wire pulls out

the

Quote
brake lights as a separate circuit.

Our Journey was a five wire, and our Dutch Star was a four wire.
Sort of a pain if noone told you this.

CC just requires you to move a jumper, pretty cool feature. The

nice

Quote
folks on this forum helped me find it, it was not where the book

said

Quote
it was, but after that, even a dumb Swede could do it (I did).

Maybe your coach does not have his feature, but I sure would not

like

Re: Electrical hook-up for towing

Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 16777
Quote from: gablerwh@a\.\.\.

Jay,

Save your self a lot of trouble and hook up a separate lighting

system for

Quote
your car. Don't tie the CC system into your car system just add a

light bulb

Quote
and socket to you existing tail light housings, run separate wires

to the back

Quote
and plug it into CCI system. Thats how Lazy Days and many other
people do the

Quote
tail lights, we have done this with 5 vehicles. It's simple and
you do not need

Quote
to worry about you car system.

Bill g. 2005 Magna #6425

Bill ....

Thats exactly what I have, separate bulbs mounted in the tail lights. It causes the brake fuse to blow on the CC when the brake lights are applied. This system worked with two other coaches with no problem. CC has a separate feed from the brake lights ... they are not common to the directional signals and cause a direct short when connected together. Perhaps Lazy Days knows to create the jumper connection John wrote about in a previous post.
Thanks for the reply ... this is a frustrating problem.

Jay & Stephanie

04 Intrigue Ovation #11821

Re: Electrical hook-up for towing

Reply #7 –
Yahoo Message Number: 16778
Don't know if your coach is like our 2002 Allure, but, the tow wiring board is under the bottom drawer in the bedroom cabinet stack (passenger side rear). We had to change the little jumper (per the instructions in the manual) to make the wiring correct for towing our GMC Yukon. Also, we elected, as you did, to forego the diode route and we installed auxilary lamps in the taillight housing. We ran wiring from these lamps all the way to the front of the Yukon for the hookup from the coach. Ours has worked very well for two years.

Jim and Mary Jo Brown
2002 Allure 30778

Quote from: panbox108

John ...

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I did keep the parts. The PCB they > removed was undamaged and will be easy to replace. I had two > mechanics working on this thing for almost 8 hours. Neither could > agree on how it should be wired so as I said in my post .... They > just removed the board and replaced it with a brake relay. When I > had the Tahoe wired for towing, rather than install a diode system, > I had them install separate bulbs in the rear tail lights. Figured > this would eliminate any future problems ....(Was I ever wrong!) I > would be interested in trying your wiring configuration if you > remember how you did it. I would expect the wiring to be similar > between the Affinity and the Intrigue, although I will check with > CC. Really appreciate the help ....

Jay & Stephanie

04 Intrigue Ovation #11821

[quote author=John Keene"

> I hope I am not misunderstanding your post, but I hope you saved > the

> parts. A very cool feature of our Affinity is that you can

jumper

Re: Electrical hook-up for towing

Reply #8 –
Yahoo Message Number: 16779
I agree the separate tail light is pretty easy, but I did not want to drill holes in my tail light assy. I just didn't think this was a very elegant solution.

Its pretty cramped and I am not sure I could find a good spot to drill anyway. Sort of depends upon your situation.

I am NOT necessarily suggesting anyone do what I did, especially if you do not feel comfortable hacking your vehicles wiring. It was pretty simple and clean for me, it does take some time however.
I called my dealer and verified this would not effect the electrical system.

Good luck ...
John

Quote from: John Keene
We have wired both our CR-V and our Pilot the same way.

We ran two wires (18ga) from the front plug and into each tail

light

Quote
area (left and right side). One wire from each side is common at

the

Quote
plug for the tail lights. Cut the wires from the two filaments of > your choice (you can select tail and brake by watching which light

up

Quote
before proceeding).

A diode is placed in each leg, and in the car side of each wire,

four

Quote
diodes per side.

The diode theory is as follows ...

You want the current from the front plug to get to each filament,

but

Quote
not back to the car wiring. And you want the current from the car

to

Quote
get to the filament without getting to plug (and into the

motorhome).

Quote
>

So, the current can come from the car thru the diode, and get to

the

Quote
filament, and the current can come from the plug, thru its diode,

and

Quote
get to the filament. Neither current can go the other way, car to > the plug, or plug to the car.

Let me see if I can hack this out with ASCII characters ...

-->|-- = diode, band towards filament >

car --------->| ------0---- filament > |
plug--------->| ------+

We used 5A diodes we got from our factory, about 0.4V drop when > forward biased, and soldered everything and used shrink tubing.

Or you get buy the little bulb thingies from Blue Ox and put

separate

Quote
bulbs in each tail light assy. This seemed messy to me.

The only concern here is with heat generated from the diodes, but

the
 

Re: Electrical hook-up for towing

Reply #9 –
Yahoo Message Number: 16780
I could not agree with you more .... Drilling holes in the tail light assembly is not a very elegant solution. My Tahoe was only 2 weeks old at the time and I was very concerned. The dealer that installed my Blue Ox tow bar told me that was the preferred method so .... "what do I know" Go for it. I found out later that the diode package that Camper World sells was a better solution. All in all, the drilled bulb sockets worked fine until the CC. I suggested converting my Tahoe to the diode system while at Camper World, and was told that would not resolve my problem. Guess I might have to address this problem directly to Country Coach. Seems there should be some simple solution without removing the control module permanently.

I really liked your diagram on the diode installation ... you obviously have an electronics background. How difficult would it be to add another diode and wire from the tow connection, directly to the vehicle wiring to act as a charging circuit? I use a Brake-Pro and on a long run tend to deplete the battery in the Tahoe.
(Happened only once, but was very embarrassing to pull into a park and have the thing just moan when I hit the key.)

Jay

Quote from: John Keene
I agree the separate tail light is pretty easy, but I did not want

to

Quote
drill holes in my tail light assy. I just didn't think this was a > very elegant solution.

Its pretty cramped and I am not sure I could find a good spot to > drill anyway. Sort of depends upon your situation.

I am NOT necessarily suggesting anyone do what I did, especially

if

Quote
you do not feel comfortable hacking your vehicles wiring. It was > pretty simple and clean for me, it does take some time however.

I called my dealer and verified this would not effect the

electrical

Quote
system.

Good luck ...

John

Quote from: John Keene"[/quote
Quote
>]
> We have wired both our CR-V and our Pilot the same way.
>

> We ran two wires (18ga) from the front plug and into each tail > light

> area (left and right side). One wire from each side is common

at

Quote
the

> plug for the tail lights. Cut the wires from the two filaments

of

Quote
your choice (you can select tail and brake by watching which

light

Quote
up

> before proceeding).
>

> A diode is placed in each leg, and in the car side of each wire, > four

> diodes per side.
>

> The diode theory is as follows ...
>

> You want the current from the front plug to get to each

filament,

Quote
but

> not back to the car wiring. And you want the current from the

car

Quote
to

> get to the filament without getting to plug (and into the > motorhome).
>

> So, the current can come from the car thru the diode, and get to > the

> filament, and the current can come from the plug, thru its

diode,

Quote
and

> get to the filament. Neither current can go the other way, car

to

Quote
the plug, or plug to the car.
>

> Let me see if I can hack this out with ASCII characters ...
>

> -->|-- = diode, band towards filament > >

> car --------->| ------0---- filament > > |
> plug--------->| ------+
>

> We used 5A diodes we got from our factory, about 0.4V drop when > > forward biased, and soldered everything and used shrink tubing.
>

> Or you get buy the little bulb thingies from Blue Ox and put > separate

> bulbs in each tail light assy. This seemed messy to me.
>

> The only concern here is with heat generated from the diodes,

but

Quote
the

> currents are low and we tested them (finger test) and they

didn't

Quote
even get warm.
>

> As usual, someone jump in here if I missed something, it has

been