Trailer not recognised?

[David F]

I had the tow bar and associated wiring upgrades fitted by the dealer when I got my 103 TDI Tig in Feb 2012.
I also had genuine reversing sensors fitted by the dealer at the first service - let's just say they were learning how to do it ......
Hardly towed anything until recently, but have been towing a 6 x 4 trailer with LED lights. I notice the LED's flash intermittently when the rig is parked - so I assume it's the electronics looking for a connected trailer.
Infrequently when the trailer is connected lamp failures are reported ( can't remember the specifics ), but it's by no means consistent. What is constant and very irritating is the alarm every time I reverse, obviously the parking sensors don't recognise the presence of the trailer.

I hate but can live with the proximity alarm, but the justification for the $ in the genuine tow pack is the changes in the vehicle handling - stability control etc. Hardly an issue with the 6x4 and a bit of rubbish going to the local tip on dry roads!
Longer term I'm looking to tow a caravan - so is the reversing sensor noise an indication the car is not recognising the presence of the trailer, and if so how should I go about sorting this out. I've been thinking of making up a dummy trailer harness but don't know what value resistors would ensure the car sees it as a trailer.

Ps Love the tig!

[Umai Naa!!]

There's an LED emulator module you can buy through the dealership that should eliminate the bulb error issues.

As for the reverse sensors, you may need to refer back to the dealership on that one, once you get the emulator.

[dmn]

I had the tow bar and associated wiring upgrades fitted by the dealer when I got my 103 TDI Tig in Feb 2012.
I also had genuine reversing sensors fitted by the dealer at the first service - let's just say they were learning how to do it ......
Hardly towed anything until recently, but have been towing a 6 x 4 trailer with LED lights. I notice the LED's flash intermittently when the rig is parked - so I assume it's the electronics looking for a connected trailer.
Infrequently when the trailer is connected lamp failures are reported ( can't remember the specifics ), but it's by no means consistent. What is constant and very irritating is the alarm every time I reverse, obviously the parking sensors don't recognise the presence of the trailer.

I hate but can live with the proximity alarm, but the justification for the $ in the genuine tow pack is the changes in the vehicle handling - stability control etc. Hardly an issue with the 6x4 and a bit of rubbish going to the local tip on dry roads!
Longer term I'm looking to tow a caravan - so is the reversing sensor noise an indication the car is not recognising the presence of the trailer, and if so how should I go about sorting this out. I've been thinking of making up a dummy trailer harness but don't know what value resistors would ensure the car sees it as a trailer.

Ps Love the tig!

Hi David F - I grabbed one of the first MY11 147 tigs in October 2010 and asked for a towbar/wiring to be fitted prior to delivery, it also had reverse sensors anyway to cut a long story short I had to take it back as they incorrectly wired the harness as the warning lights were coming on + the reverse sensors would go all the time when backing up driving you nuts - I complained at the first service and they fixed the bulb warning problem (not sure what they did) but I did notice there was a capacitor/resistor near the 7 pin plug but when plugging in the trailer harness there were no more bulb warning problems + I have LED lights on my 6x4 trailer.

The reverse beeping was another issue in fact I got so sick of it I disconnected the OPS system (I also have a reverse camera). It was only recently that I had the inlet manifold replaced under warranty (it was 6 months out of warranty) so I complained again and low and behold they fixed everything relating to the reverse sensors i.e. I plug in the harness it is detected and when I select reverse the beeping is disabled + the picture of the car appears on the RVC - this was all done at the dealer...my guess is that they have someone there that actually knows what they are doing so I was a happy chappy!

I would take it back to the dealer and complain as this is your best option + for the record I have a genuine Ross-tech cable and struggled to do this myself i.e. some components I could activate/deactivate and others it would simply disable other components and which could not be re-activated, I even liaised with Ross-tech by sending them my downloaded configs and they could not work it out either so in the end I decided not to play around with Ross-tech cable anymore unless I really have too...my guess is that not all things can be enabled/disabled by using the Ross-tech cable and you need to be careful you don't cause other issues like I nearly did - sorry for the rant.

When it went back to the dealer a couple of months back all my issues were resolved - the car is now approaching 4 years - still love it tho and waiting for the MY15 when ever that will be.

HTH

[scottyc]

Get the LED emulator, If it needs it. Then go back to the dealer and get them to code the tow bar control unit correctly. When you then connect your wiring harness to the car the park sensor are deactivated and your RNS will display a picture of a trailer connected to your tow bar.

[David F]

I don't understand the need for an LED emulator - what is it, what does it do?
I can understand the car not recognising the trailer because the LED's don't draw enough current, and I could rig up a "dummy" trailer with a few lamps and a spare trailer plug .......
I also don't understand the comment about the RNS showing a picture of a trailer ....... I've only got the basic sound system.

Perhaps best if I borrow someone else's trailer with "conventional" lamps, see if that solves the problem! ( Anyone know if the Bunnings trailers are LED or conventional ? )

( It only took three trips to get the reversing sensors fitted, first time they had not been painted the right colour, second time they had so much paint they were always on ....... )

[Umai Naa!!]

It's a box of resistors that tricks the trailer control module into thinking you're towing something with incandescent globes not LEDs.

[David F]

"It's a box of resistors that tricks the trailer control module"

I've found a reference to something similar and supposedly 100 ohm x 3 watt resistors. These would draw around 1.4 watts. I will cobble something together and see if that overcomes the reversing beeper issue!