Electric brake controller/brake light switch

[joe2006]

Getting ready to install the electric brake contoller in my D40 & glanced at the brake pedal yesterday. I saw 2 switches & very small gauge wire.

Does anybody know the the colour of the switched power wire ie. the wire that becomes active when the pedal is depressed? (a link to a wiring diagram would probably have me soil my pants!)

How have you "spliced" into this power supply?

I will check with a test light anyway but it will save me a bit of time working out the correct switch & wire. I'm hoping that there is a spare terminal on the brake switch plug for the purpose.

Quite confident with the other aspects of the installation.

Little bit off topic (how is that possible when it's my topic???) I had a the towbar fitted yesterday & not by Nissan. Asked whether they use Scotch locks on the loom. Told that they plug into the loom. Great I thought no Scotch locks (= intermittent faults).

Get the car home & I take the insulation tape off the mess. Yeah they plug into the loom & then use Scotch locks to join onto the wires from the trailer socket. Oh & still use a Scotch lock to take earth from the number plate light (white wire in bottom of photo).

Nice job boys.

That's why I like to do things myself. That way it only gets done once. Hey and I'm just an amateur.

Happy with the fitting of tow bar though.

Thanks

 

[Old.Tony]

The manual shows the wire to be yellow. However, I've just looked at mine and they've spliced mine into the red wire.

 

[joe2006]

Appreciated Tony,

At least that should narrow it down.

Dare I ask what they used to splice into the wire?

 

[Old.Tony]

It's under some insulation tape. I suspect, looking at it, that they took away the insulation, soldered the new wire in line, and wrapped it up.

It might not come apart, and electrically it will be good, but it's a little different to how auto electrics are usually done.

 

[joe2006]

Sure is different, no short cut.

"I like".

Thanks again.

 

[nicksnavara]

Hi Guys
may seem a silly answer but when i installed mine, i simply ran a cable all the way from the back of the trailer plug (break light connector obviously) back to the controller in the front. No Scotch locks just good honest crimp connectors with a drop of solder for extra protection .
Nick

 

[joe2006]

G'day Nick,

There should be another wire from the brake light switch to the brake controller. When the brake pedal is pushed, power goes to the brake controller which in turn applies the caravan brakes.

At least that is the situation for the brake contollers that I have had.

I was a bit slow, only just noticed your post!

 

[jeno]

G day Joe, I have just started to install a tekonsha brake control. I see there are 2 plunger switches on the brake pedal.Onthe larger switch there are 4 wires and i get power to the light green thick wire and also to the small dark green wire when the brake is on. Which onr did you go for the splice? D40 2010 auto king cab
regards Chris

 

[joe2006]

Jeno,

Mine is spliced to the yellow wire on the bottom switch. The top switch only has one wire on mine.

 

[jeno]

Thanks mate, just checked again and yes the yellow is active when the brake is depressed.

 

[UpTheCreek]

Guys
I’m about to instal an electric brake controller (Teckonsha P3) in my 2012 ST-X V9X, however I have a concern that connecting the brake sense wire directly at the brake light on the brake pedal may cause issues to the ECM or BCM.
On reading this,
learning.nissan.com.au/DOTS/media/libTopics/60/V9X-TM-FULL.pdf‎
it says the brake switch sends to the BCM.
From friends with new ford Ranger connecting at the pedal switch does cause problems with the BCM, & a trailer module is needed.
Does anyone know if you can pick up the brake light wire at the rear of the vehicle to avoid any hassles. (I don’t want to let the smoke out.)
If I run twin 6mm cable (which I already have) to the rear, I can pick-up the brake sense wire & feed the trailer connector in one cable.

 

[Old.Tony]

Since the brake sensor doesn't actually drive the unit, it shouldn't cause any trouble. If you're concerned, consider a low-power relay - coil from brake to chassis, then ignition live power from somewhere to brake controller via the switched relay poles.

The 6mm cables are good enough for brake power - each brake magnet will draw at most 6.5A but the controller will only pump about 12A so the 6mm cable is fine.

 

[BazzaP]

Guys
I’m about to instal an electric brake controller (Teckonsha P3) in my 2012 ST-X V9X, however I have a concern that connecting the brake sense wire directly at the brake light on the brake pedal may cause issues to the ECM or BCM.
On reading this,
learning.nissan.com.au/DOTS/media/libTopics/60/V9X-TM-FULL.pdf‎
it says the brake switch sends to the BCM.
From friends with new ford Ranger connecting at the pedal switch does cause problems with the BCM, & a trailer module is needed.
Does anyone know if you can pick up the brake light wire at the rear of the vehicle to avoid any hassles. (I don’t want to let the smoke out.)
If I run twin 6mm cable (which I already have) to the rear, I can pick-up the brake sense wire & feed the trailer connector in one cable.

Mate can you put up the PDF you're talking about. I had my brake unit fitted by nissan and am having some problems. If I leave the unit connected when the vans not on it has started to switch in and out of recovery mode. I'm sure this is related to how the unit was fitted and am thinking about getting them to fix the problem but from experience I like to go in prepared.

 

[Old.Tony]

Bazza, unplug the P3 (it's fiddly if you leave it in position and try it) wait for a minute and then plug it back in.

My P3 did some weird stuff just once and by doing this it fixed it - it's been right ever since.

 

[BazzaP]

Bazza, unplug the P3 (it's fiddly if you leave it in position and try it) wait for a minute and then plug it back in.

My P3 did some weird stuff just once and by doing this it fixed it - it's been right ever since.

I'm plugging it back in this weekend (had it off for about a month while I wasn't using the van) so will see how it goes. I know the ECM was being affected as the doors wouldn't lock and a whole bunch of other weird things. Here hoping your right.

 

[Old.Tony]

If yours has been affecting the doors it's possible that they've tapped into the wrong wire on the brake - the BCM (Body Control Module) controls the doors and the indicators and brake lights. I wonder if there's some signal back-feeding into the BCM?

I'll have to dive under the dash and have a look which wire mine taps into. Won't happen until after Sunday - I've got work in the morning, and then I'm driving to Melbourne - coming back on Sunday.

 

[santa]

Hi there just a quick question

Where did you mount the brake controller??

 

[Old.Tony]

Picture from my garage explains it best:

 

[santa]

thanks for the pic's

Thanks
Does the controller get in the way of your knee?

 

[Old.Tony]

Only in a head-on collision. I'm 186cm tall (give or take a haircut) and it is in the perfect position for when I need to manually operate it.

I should point out that the pictured controller is no longer the one I have installed - I replaced the pictured Tekonsha Voyager with a Tekonsha Prodigy P3.