Brake controller and Anderson plug

[Pete and Marg]

Hi All,
First post, just joined. I have a brand new one week old GC, WK Limited with Off Road option, Quadra Lift and tow-bar. I have been studying how to do the electric brake controller and anderson wire. On the Jeep USA sites it states that the Jeeps have existing wire for the brake controller under the dash going back to the rear of the car. Has anyone wired in these and where did they route the wires?
Many thanks,
Peter

[Brown Dog]

Hi Peter

I am in the exact same position as you however I think I put the cart before the horse by purchasing a brake controller similar to the red arc with remote dial switch. I purchased a GSL Electronics RBC-12 remote brake controller. I hope it works as no room to place existing prodigy controller due to air bags.
I noticed that a Mopar brake controller harness can be purchased however I'm not sure what it does and if I need to run additional wiring.

The Anderson plug is an interesting discussion as I want to achieve 2 things; 1- charge battery in caravan and 2 - charge a battery in the back of the jeep for the engel. Not sure what to do for engel, either buy thumper, make a thumper, or find a sheet metal worker to make a tray to mount underneath using flat glass mat battery. Heaps of room and able to use bolts off tow bar both sides and rear tow hook mount. Just got to find someone willing and cheap enough.

I have had numerous opinions about the type of battery isolator as apparently the Jeep alternator is controlled to cut off charge? So existing redarc from Pajero is no good? I was told the redarc battery isolator BCDC1220 will do the job and condition charge both batteries however GSL have one as well much cheaper to suit Jeep? But not charge as well?

I hope someone can put us both on the right track?
I am visiting an auto electrician next week that has just done all the work on a new Jeep so I will see what he did and used.

Cheers

Browny

[grand_wj]

Regarding the Anderson plug, go talk to your local auto elec and get some 6.5mm(may be wrong, ask auto elec for correct size) two core wire. Place the Redarc sbi12 12V Battery Isolater ($90.00) as close as you can to the car battery (closer the better) and then run your wire from your redarc under the car to ther rear of the jeep and add the connections..

Regarding the electric brakes.. Yes Chrysler does have an electric brake wire, but only problem is that it finishes just after the rear door. Meaning you have to spends ages pulling everything off just to get to the bloody wire.
your best off running the two wires from the electric brakes back to the the trailer plug and connecting it there..just my opinion..

Hope this helps

[David Scott]

Hi there
I have a redarc remote brake controller mounted on the consule, works well. Just remember re the anderson plug if you have a compressor fridge in the van that is running off the van battery due to the long length 6 gauge wire may do but if you have a 3 way fridge that is running on 12 volt whilst driving you will have to increase the cable size. The fridge will suck most of the power and the vans charger for the van battery will suffer. I have a second battery in the Jeep which is charged via the vehicle and then continues to the anderson plug to the 3 way fridge which draws about 25 amps and then also charges the vans battery a 200 amp hour battery. I had a compressor fridge in my previous van and when I got my new van the 3 way fridge draws 4 times more power and with the voltage drop the van battery would not charge any where as quick as before. Remedy bigger cable. The bigger the cable the less voltage drop.
David Scott

[Pete and Marg]

Hi Again,
Peter here, many thanks for comments and ideas.
The brake controller I have is a Tekonsha Prodigy P3 which will go inside the storage bin under the Lower switch bank. This was recomended by the dealer as the knee airbags would make the mounting under the steering wheel area impossible.
I have also purchased a Red Arc SBI12 which I was planning to mount next to the positive terminal under the bonnet near the brake fliud reservoir. Running the Anderson wire (I am planning on max size of 8mm) under the car is a good option - most likely wrap this in protective flex tubing. I have two batterys in the caravan and a RM2553 Dometic AES fridge. The fridge when driving runs 12v, 175 watss, 14.6 amps and the batterys are 2 x 100 amp. I have 8mm wire to them. I also need to run a wire to position 9 on a 12 pin trailer connector that senses when the engine is running for the smart logic AES fridge to draw from the Anedrson wire. I am hessitant to let any auto-elec tackle a Jeep GC unless they are experienced and have worked on one. The last auto-elec took many visits just to get a Prado correct for my setup and also charged double his quote.
I have the name of an auto elec that will do the work at home and will pre-prepare the car the day before -such as removing trims etc. for running wires.

[Brown Dog]

Hey Pete

Any chance you can draw up a wiring diagram of some sort explaining where you sourced power for solenoid, brakes, and brake switching wires ( off brake switch or trailer plug?).
How will you remove the stowage bin to fit controller?
Excuse my terminology.
It your assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Browny

[arkaba_b]

Hi Folks

In my experience I have found a van battery will usually not charge to the same voltage as the car battery as the cable length required (6-8 metres) reduces the charging voltage at the van end to below the necessary level for a good charge. Eg to charge a 12v lead acid wet cell battery you need ~ 14.2 to 14.5v across the terminals & this is practically impossible to obtain with the high current loads involved (15Amps for a typical van fridge & same or more for the van battery charging).

I believe this is the main reason why caravan batteries have such a short life – they only get charged properly when the van is connected to AC mains power. This is not such a problem if you stay at ‘powered sites’ regularly but if you are on ‘unpowered sites’ for a few days & you have a high van battery useage there should be some other method of charging the van batteries (solar/gen etc).

My suggestion would be to forget trying – at great expense & with a whole lot of hardware – to charge the van batteries from the car alternator as it does not work satisfactorily & just use the car battery feed via the Anderson Plug to keep the Fridge going.

Alternatively you could use a 12V/240V inverter in the van (powered via the Anderson Plug) & run both Fridge & Battery charger via 240V. This site has a good article on the issue and other relevant topics for the caravanner –

http://home.iprimus.com.au/rfh/batte...eproblems.html

Hope this helps

Cheers

A