Fitting Brake Controleer to new Toyota 70 Series

As I said in a follow up to Autosparky below, I was a bit worried about voltage drop, with current running from front, back to stop light, forward to controller, then back again to brakes.

But if Tekonsha has recommended it, I guess it is OK.

I assume your brakes are working OK?

I'll be towing a 3,500 KG dual axle caravan, so brakes are pretty important.

Norm C

Hi Norm. As autosparky said. The wire from the brake light is a signal or activation wire so only needs to be a light gauge wire(I used 2mm) The wire to the caravan brakes carries a much higher voltage so needs to be around 6mm. This was all recomended by the Tekonsha guy I spoke to on the phone.( I rang the distributor in Sydney who passed me on to this fellow in Melbourne,He seemed to know his product) The 200 Cruiser is towing a 3 tonne Boroma Caravan and has had no problems as yet. He is currently staying at Pialba if that happened to be near you I could put you in contact if need be.Regards, Bob.

Hi Bob,

I wired up my P3 in my 200 but connected the brake wire off the pedal switch (its the solid red wire out of the 4 in the switch). I thought about bringing the wire back from the rear plug (had to run a the brake power wire anyway) but was concerned that the cruise control may not cancel if I manually applied the trailer brakes.

Also, the 200 has a relay box in the back for the lights (it has LED brake lights and the wiring is too light to tap directly into) so not sure if the brake lights are activated from a manual brake application.

If the brake controller is wired from the rear trailer lights, do you know if the cruise control is cancelled and/or the brake lights activated when manual trailer braking is used?

Cheers

Captain

Hi Captain. I wired this unit into my brother's Sahara a couple of months ago when he was visiting us in NSW. He is currently in Qld so have forwarded your email and will reply when I get a response. I'm not sure if he would have used cruise control towing as the van is a 3 tonne Boroma but the brake lights definitely activate in manual mode. Regards,Bob.

Hi Captain. We have finally got to test both vehicles regarding the controller manually operated for brake light and cruise control operation. On my Prado the brake lights work and the cruise control cancels. On the 200 neither the brake lights work nor does the cruise control cancel so looks like it has to be wired in before the relay. Thanks for bringing that to our attention. It has me wondering now, how does it cancel the cruise on my Prado when I have a four wire switch at the pedal. Regards,Bob.

Hi Bob,

Your Prado doesn't have a relay box in the trailer harnass (200 has LED lights and factory wiring is too thin, hence the relay box). Thus tapping in at the rear is effectively tha same as tapping in at the switch.

In the 200, the relay acts as a "one way" switch and thus when the electric brakes are activated there is no "reverse flow" back to the brake switch if you have tapped in after the relay box.

I hope that explanation makes sense.

Cheers

Captain

Hi Captain. I follow all that you have explained OK. I just don't get how the controller cancels my cruise(on the Prado) when the cruise cancel is on another part of the brake light switch separate from the brake light wire. Just curious. I'll talk to a local sparky when I get a chance. Will also get back to the Tekonsha guy and let him know about the 200 relay.Thanks,Bob.

I was going to do that, but it seemed a bit daunting.
I thought - what if some wires come loose while I'm stuffing around, I'll be buggered then.

Given your screen name, I assume you have done this on a 70 Series a few times, and it is simple to do with no risk of me ending with a heap of loose wires, or otherwise stuffing things up???

Otherwise, without advice from an 'expert', I was going to do as others have suggested and run from the stop lights at the back. But that seems a bit nutty. Getting the power from the rear and sending it to the front to activate the controller, then sending it back to the rear to activate the brakes. I was a bit worried about voltage drop over that distance, but don't know how serious an issue that is with electric brakes.

Hi Norm,
Voltage drop is no issue here, the brake controller has a permanent 12v connected, the connection to the brake light is merely providing the controller with a signal to then apply voltage to pin 5 of the trailer plug which in turn applies power to the electric brakes.

As said previously, run a twin to the rear of the vehicle....1 core to pin 5 and tap the other into the brake light at the tail light.

my adress is waconsofraptors@iinet.net.au send your ph no ican talk you thru it i have been an autosprky for26yrs , new vehicle wiring harnesses dont fall apart any more

do use 5mm twin it will assure you of no volt drop and you will have a spare wire you can use for aux power etc if needed to caravan or trailer. number5 pin for elec brakes if number2 pin is free and you dont have reverse lights hooked to trailer , i can be used for ahot wire thru a fuse