LC 200 electric brakes pick up point for installation?

Submitted: Thursday, Jun 26, 2014 at 14:36
ThreadID: 108502 Views:20969 Replies:9 FollowUps:8
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Can someone please advise where the correct pick up point is to install electric brakes on the Land cruiser 200 GXL current model?

I have the Toyota wiring harness and the Red ARC TowPro controller and all I need to know is where is it correct to pick up the brake input?

Tried "googling" but no specific answer is forthcoming...apart from lots of posts stating the sensitivity of the Toyota electrics etc...hence the reason I have purchased the authentic harness...just need to know where to join in the r red Arc controller

Thanks
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Reply By: Gone Bush (WA) - Thursday, Jun 26, 2014 at 15:17

Thursday, Jun 26, 2014 at 15:17
Graeme,

The electrickery on the LC200 is quite involved. I had my dealer do all that stuff just so there was no comeback on me or a third party if something goes wrong.

All the other stuff that only needed a connection direct to the battery I did myself and made sure it was not connected to the OEM wiring in any way.

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Follow Up By: Member - bungarra (WA) - Thursday, Jun 26, 2014 at 15:24

Thursday, Jun 26, 2014 at 15:24
Hi S

yes I worked that out but I like to do a few things myself...hence the question.....cant be rocket science...and I refuse to pay the exorbitant fee for something that is largely plug and play with the genuine harness

hence the reason I purchased the genuine package.....its all simple stuff...the only issue is the safe pick up point for activating the controller

:)
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Reply By: John and Regina M - Thursday, Jun 26, 2014 at 20:02

Thursday, Jun 26, 2014 at 20:02
This is what I do for a living and have done for 38 years.....but I will not tell you how to do it I'm sorry.

The current systems are VERY susceptible to transient and spurious voltages when plugging in and unplugging equipment, things and harnesses. A very simple mixup in the hookup sequence can see you having to replace the BCM or/and the ECU. Read a bleep load of dollars.

There is a reason people train for years at great expense to charge you money to plug in your 'plug and play' harness/equipment.

So, good luck.

Id be paying an expert to do it
AnswerID: 535051

Follow Up By: The Bantam - Sunday, Jun 29, 2014 at 10:39

Sunday, Jun 29, 2014 at 10:39
helpfull as usual.
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Follow Up By: fisho64 - Sunday, Jun 29, 2014 at 18:26

Sunday, Jun 29, 2014 at 18:26
Id hazard a guess John that the first 30 of those 38 would have been pretty easy as there was none of this stuff to deal with.
Question is, who trained you to do this part of it? Not Toyota Id say, Tekonsha and Redarc tell you what to do but not how to do it .
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Reply By: Member - John - Thursday, Jun 26, 2014 at 21:21

Thursday, Jun 26, 2014 at 21:21
G'day, Redarc instructions are usually pretty clear, if not, email them or ring them
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Reply By: fisho64 - Friday, Jun 27, 2014 at 02:42

Friday, Jun 27, 2014 at 02:42
On my 200 I did the following to fit a Tekonsha
if you are agile stick your head into the driver footwell and find the plug near the brake pedal that goes to the switch.
From memory it has 4 wires in it.
Find which of the 4 is the one that lights up when pedal is pushed with your digital multimeter into the back of the plug (while its still plugged in).
Once you have identified it, separate the plug and using a fairly small wire (similar to the existing brake wire) remove insulation of about 10mm (from memory), slip if into the terminal you identified then push the plug back together with the wire trapped in the relevant plug.
Be careful of course that no stray strands bridge other terminals.
Use this as the signal wire to your controller.
If you use a wire from the rear brake light, when activating the manual brake control, neither your brake lights will activate nor you cruise control will disengage.

I didnt use a Redarc (dont like them too much) but on the Tekonsha the brake feed is a signal trace only-Id be pretty sure the Redarc is similar.

Mine has been running perfectly for 12 months towing my boat with electric over hydraulic system.
AnswerID: 535065

Follow Up By: fisho64 - Friday, Jun 27, 2014 at 02:47

Friday, Jun 27, 2014 at 02:47
note-when I rang around to get it fitted neither of the local autosparkies had done a 200 and quoted $500.
I rang Toyota, the guy was "too busy" and rang back later quoting $1000. I asked what controller "umm Im not sure".
Found out later they had rung the same auto sparky and doubled it!
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Follow Up By: The Bantam - Sunday, Jun 29, 2014 at 10:48

Sunday, Jun 29, 2014 at 10:48
Oh dear.....both autosparkies did not know what was involved and quoted high just in case....they where going to ring a mate or check on line..or ring thebarke controller manufacturer.

the Toyota dealer as going to sub contract the job out to a bloke who had not done one and was going to ring a mate.

So much for people with training and experience.

Make sure you get the correct information.....pay attention to the issues raised.

If in doubt ring the manufacturer of brake controller...no doubt they will be aware of the issues...they will have autosparkies ringing them every day.


cheers
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Reply By: Iza B - Friday, Jun 27, 2014 at 07:21

Friday, Jun 27, 2014 at 07:21
You need to pick up a trigger downstream from the computer. Easiest place I have found is the wire (power) leading directly to the rear brake lights. In a couple of installations I have done, the place to physically make the connection is in the loom in the driver's door sill. Doing it in the sill saves running a wire all the way back from the rear brake light assembly.

Do not try connecting directly to the brake light switch. Do run power to the controller direct (fused) from the battery.

In use, make sure you do some reading on the issues around using motion sensing brake controllers, especially in the emergency situation.

Iza
AnswerID: 535066

Follow Up By: Member - Leigh (Vic) - Friday, Jun 27, 2014 at 09:25

Friday, Jun 27, 2014 at 09:25
For what it's worth I ran my trigger wire from the rear, off the brake light wire, as was recommended by my auto elec. This was easy as I was already running a loom of wires to the rear so just incorporated another wire. Worked a treat for me on my Prado! There are too many issues/risks arising from tapping in under the foot well in my humble view. Cheers
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Reply By: olcoolone - Friday, Jun 27, 2014 at 09:19

Friday, Jun 27, 2014 at 09:19
There is nothing fancy about the 200 series and brake controllers, picking up from the pedal is fine as is from the back.

But like most things even if you got correct or misleading information it is your responsibility to double and triple check to see if the information supplied is correct.

As for giving information out I'm with "John and Regina M".... not because I want to make money out of someone but the chances of legal action if something happened to the vehicle or worse human life. If humane life was involved and the police and state coroner got involved there is a very real chance of legal action being taken against all involved that could lead to imprisonment or high financial costs for all involved including the forum owners.
AnswerID: 535074

Reply By: Member - Rosco from way back - Friday, Jun 27, 2014 at 13:50

Friday, Jun 27, 2014 at 13:50
How about running twin core (of adequate size) from the brake light of your trailer plug up to your controller, then running the other wire from the controller to the trailer plug as your brake activating wire for the trailer brakes?
AnswerID: 535091

Reply By: fisho64 - Saturday, Jun 28, 2014 at 02:19

Saturday, Jun 28, 2014 at 02:19
If you pick up at the brake light rather than pedal;
1/ the cruise control will not deactivate when applying manual trailer bakes
2/ the brake lights will not activate when applying manual trailer brakes.

Which do you reckon will be safer and LEGAL?
Im no stickler for the law as such but would prefer to avoid being snotted from behind when applying the trailer brakes to straighten it out.
AnswerID: 535126

Reply By: dublediff - Sunday, Jun 29, 2014 at 21:59

Sunday, Jun 29, 2014 at 21:59
The correct way, and easiest way, apart from removing the inside panels, is to connect it directly to the blue cable tag to,the rear of the trailer lighting module. This is located inside the rear drivers side quarter panel. Yes, you do have remove the third row seat to do this. The plastic panel and the door jamb panels simply click out. There are a number of bolts you have to undo, such as seat belt mounts but most people,should be capable of doing this. Have a loo on the LCOOL forum.
AnswerID: 535232

Follow Up By: Member - bungarra (WA) - Monday, Jun 30, 2014 at 16:02

Monday, Jun 30, 2014 at 16:02
Hi

that blue cable you refer to is the wire that receives the signal from the brake controller and continues on down to the trailer pin connector....it simply terminates there in the trailer harness coming up from the rear of the vehicle...in order for the brake controller to connect into...in other words downstream from the area I queried......

all sorted now .....general consensus is half say use the brake pedal area (or lights and cancel of cruise control wont work in manual mode) area...
the other half say works just as well picking up from the rear lights and sending forward as it is easier to get at

so I have made up my mind which way to go and will be testing both concepts for my own satisfaction..

thanks anyway
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Follow Up By: dublediff - Monday, Jun 30, 2014 at 18:20

Monday, Jun 30, 2014 at 18:20
OMG! You are right. It must be the sea air, chilling heels in Maroochydore after 4 weeks inFNQ. I remember taking the signal feed off of the brake light! That was easier than off of the brake light switch on the pedal.
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