Any success stories with trailer brake controllers in multivans?

[tennysonian]

I am getting a trailer built for camping and heading off to Tassie after Christmas. Have been thinking about electric brakes for the trailer but have seen some threads in VWWatercooled re difficultly of wiring up brake controllers in VW Multivans due to CANBUS system and /or lack of knowledge among dealers/autoelectricians re the VW electrics.

But it is hard to know if the disaster stories are representative.

I have seen the thread re installation but I would not tackle this installation myself....

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/forums/f136/brake-controller-trailer-63283.html

Just thought I would ask if there are any success stories out there in regards having a brake controller installed successfully and it all working well?

Recommendations for make/model of controller competent Sydney based installers also welcome.

[njg02]

What mass will you be towing? My '06 van with 128Kw 6sp manual towed my boat with ease. The trailer has dual axles and single cable discs. The all up mass of the boat, trailer and gear was close enough to 2 tonnes.
Neil

[tennysonian]

Not aiming to be towing more than about 1 tonne but would like to be able to tackle good dirt roads very securely where I hear having electronic braking can be very useful as mechanical brakes can fail to activate - if momentum of trailer leads to car sliding on gravel especially say down hill.

Maybe mass of mutivan van makes this unlikely?

[Guy_H]

You just need to find someone who knows how to do it (VW dealer might be best bet) - access to a wiring digram is most helpful.

The problem is the brake light switch has 4 or 5 wires in it, instead of 2 or 3 found in "common" cars. I did my own (09' T5 4 Motion) took me a while to find the correct one

[tennysonian]

Thanks both for your input

[Umai Naa!!]

It's very doable.

I've not wired them up on a Transporter yet, but I've done a few Amaroks, Touaregs and Tiguans.

Personally, I wouldn't be using the brake pedal switch as a trigger. They're not all that reliable. There is a couple of plugs under the passenger's seat, with wiring that has various signals. One of those will be a brake light signal.

[Sunny43.5]

Just as a matter of interest ,we frequently have problems getting a suitable point to wire up our sunroofs {not just VW,s } whilst contant power is no problem , sometimes getting an accessory feed is , what we found that works perfectly is to fit a diode protected relay it will then switch on by just a simple pulse and will not draw down on the host signal . howard

[tennysonian]

Thanks for these posts

Have played it safe and dropped the brake idea for the trailer for now.

Trailer builder also warned against LED lights with the VW. The VW then also confirmed (VW looking for the resistance of an incandescent bulb). Would have been nice for this tip when they installed the towbar..

So good old fashioned lights ordered with the trailer.