Wiring a toad.

[JerseyJerry]

I've learned a lot from you gentlemen in the past two years and I thank you all. I have (I hope) last question for you. We've finally decided to pull a toad I'm a little confused regarding the wiring of said toad. I've got a 2005 Jeep Liberty 4x4, new Aladin tow bar and base plate that I installed. I'm now ready to install the wiring for brakes and turn signal which I'm confident I can do. While watching a diy video everything seemed simple until the instructor stated that he would cover the wiring for the Patriot brake in a future video. My question is why would I need additional wiring for the Patriot brake if the brake lights on the toad are already wired to work along with the MH brake. I'm confused. Please enlighten me one more time for the road.

[AquaMan]

The Patriot brake has its own braking relays and connections and is separate from the taillights. Not a big deal from what I've seen.


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[360true]

And realize as long as you own a MH there will be more questions.... For all of us!

[Iggy]

Don't you want tail lights and turn signals to work when towing?
That is why you need the wiring.
Might as well just wire stop lights also to the Georgetown

[OldCoot]

Saw a neat idea used on a pickup toad in FL, they drilled a hole added an extra dual element receptacle to the stock tail light assembly and ran a complete set of wires back to them in lieu of cutting into the factory harness or adding external lights.

[bluefin]

Originally Posted by OldCoot

Saw a neat idea used on a pickup toad in FL, they drilled a hole added an extra dual element receptacle to the stock tail light assembly and ran a complete set of wires back to them in lieu of cutting into the factory harness or adding external lights.

yep blue ox sells a LED lite kit that does this. That's the way my focus was

Al

[waiter21]

Basic wiring toad lights - Left, right, and tail lights.

On two of my Toads, I tapped into the toads left, right, and running lights up front, and installed a flat 4 female connector that is under the hood of the toad. I did not use diodes to isolate the MH from the Toad. The only ramifications of this, if I turn on the Toad lights, they will also power the MH lights. The flat four connector is exactly the same that you would find on the back of the car, and plug your trailer into. The 5 ft long cord that connects the MH to the Toad has a flat four Male connector on both ends. I plug it into the MH, then plug the other end into the Toad connector.

One of the positives, I can see the toad lights work in my rear view camera.

On my Saturn Vue - I also tapped into the toads lights up front, but installed a 7 pin connector instead of a flat four.


Special wiring for BRAKE SYSTEM -

On my Add-A-Brake (toad brake system) - It detects when the MH brakes are being applied by looking at the left, right, or brake light signal coming from the MH (depending how the MH is wired to the toad)

On my Vue, I don't have a "brake" light electrical wire coming from the MH, so its wired to monitor the Left and Right turn signal lights, that also serve as the brake lights. The brake system is smart enough to know to ignore the turn signals. If it sees the light turning on and off, It knows this is a "turn signal". But if it sees the light stay on for more than a couple seconds, it interprets this as being a "brake Light" and applies the toad brakes.

The brake system releases the toad brakes when the brake light signal goes away.

One of the problems with detecting MH brakes by looking at the brake lights, if the toad brake lights are wired to the MH brake lights. When the brake system presses the brake pedal and the toads brak lights come on, the brake system could get confused and think the MH brakes are still applied, because the brake system see's the brake lights are turned on.

The brake system has some special wiring that may need to be implemented to prevent this from happening. (add a switch or relay to isolate the toad brake lights)

On my Vue, the brake lights are separate from the turn signal lights, so this isn't a problem. and I didn't need to do any special additional wiring.

[AquaMan]

Originally Posted by OldCoot

Saw a neat idea used on a pickup toad in FL, they drilled a hole added an extra dual element receptacle to the stock tail light assembly and ran a complete set of wires back to them in lieu of cutting into the factory harness or adding external lights.

The Hopkins wiring kit plugs into the factory wiring so there's no cutting or splicing. Very simple.


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[DaGrinch]

Originally Posted by AquaMan

The Hopkins wiring kit plugs into the factory wiring so there's no cutting or splicing. Very simple.


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x2!

So simple, I let my son do it!

[Darugs]

Originally Posted by JerseyJerry

I've learned a lot from you gentlemen in the past two years and I thank you all. I have (I hope) last question for you. We've finally decided to pull a toad I'm a little confused regarding the wiring of said toad. I've got a 2005 Jeep Liberty 4x4, new Aladin tow bar and base plate that I installed. I'm now ready to install the wiring for brakes and turn signal which I'm confident I can do. While watching a diy video everything seemed simple until the instructor stated that he would cover the wiring for the Patriot brake in a future video. My question is why would I need additional wiring for the Patriot brake if the brake lights on the toad are already wired to work along with the MH brake. I'm confused. Please enlighten me one more time for the road.

I have been using the Patriot Braking system on my Jeep Wrangler for 2 years and am very satisfied. The reason you need additional wiring is the Patriot system does not always engage when you apply light braking. The system needs to sense deceleration before it applies the brakes - you can adjust the sensitivity. So, wiring from your MH is necessary to show all braking efforts, blinkers, basic tail lights, etc. I used a external, freestanding wired system mounted with magnets ( like from Harboe Freight) for my first trip until I hard wired the Blue Ox light wiring kit (plug and play). There is also a break away wire that you install with the Patriot, but that has nothing to do with your lights.

[RedLdr1]

Here is the simple solution I used for tow lights. TowMate RVHW32 Wireless RV Tow Light Package. My Edge has OEM LED lights that are ridiculously expensive to replace. I didn't want any potential warranty issues from adding wiring, or even cutting holes. So I went with the wireless solution with the 7 Pin adapter / transmitter that just plugs in to the MH's trailer wiring connector.

That choice exposed a secondary issue... There is no horizontal metal to attach them to! The Edge's roof is covered with glass and plastic and the rear bumper is plastic. So I grabbed a spare 8 inch drop receiver, flipped it over for a "rise", and had a 2 foot section of 2 inch square tube welded to it. Installed that in my OEM tow packages hitch and I'm good to go! Now my wireless tail lights are level with the top of the bumper and solidly mounted. I store the light "mount" in my RV's hitch when it is not in use...it makes a serious bumper protector!

I am really happy with the TowMate system. And TowMate's customer service and tech support has been excellent. A bit pricey on their website but Ebay, and other websites, have them discounted to around $230. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend their system...

[Freds342]

Originally Posted by OldCoot

Saw a neat idea used on a pickup toad in FL, they drilled a hole added an extra dual element receptacle to the stock tail light assembly and ran a complete set of wires back to them in lieu of cutting into the factory harness or adding external lights.

That's how I wired my '05 Liberty. Blue Ox Makes a harness that works that way, but I just bought the lamps, sockets and the 6-pin receptacle.

BTW, the '05 Liberty is a great little toad!

[NCCoachMan]

Originally Posted by RedLdr1

Here is the simple solution I used for tow lights. TowMate RVHW32 Wireless RV Tow Light Package[/URL].

That is awesome! Didn't even know something like this existed - learn something new every time I come to this forum. Think I will try this for my Wrangler JK. Thanks for sharing!

[JerseyJerry]

Thank you everyone. Your expertise is priceless. I purchased the Hopkins wiring kit and found that I do not have to install a relay. Thanks again .