Author Topic: Towbar electrics  (Read 10137 times)

Eddie Honda

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Re: Towbar electrics
« Reply #15 on: November 03, 2017, 01:04:05 PM »
Weights:

Unladen weight: 1030 - 1093 kg

Maximum Authorised Mass (MAM / GVW): 1510 kg
Gross Train Weight (GTW / GCW): 2310 kg
1 - Front Axle max: 800 kg
2 - Rear Axle max: 730 kg

Nose weight: 70kg


2014-04-15_16-15-43_769_colour_code by E Honda, on Flickr

(Ignore the red ring, that's just the paint code ;D )

guest7207

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Re: Towbar electrics
« Reply #16 on: November 03, 2017, 01:51:05 PM »
Hi eddie thanks for that mate, do you think there ever be a need for an extra gearbox cooler..
Thanks
Andy

Elsketcho

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  • My Honda: Jazz 2004 1.4 auto
Re: Towbar electrics
« Reply #17 on: February 25, 2018, 03:41:54 PM »
Hi, new member from the U.K. here.

I’ve owned a jazz since 2002, I’m now on my second one that I got off my mother in law. A 2004 1.4 auto. Absolutely love these cars. In our first one my wife and I drove from london to the alps with 2 mountain bikes in the back quite comfortably for a lovely week. These cars are like a Tradis with what you can fit in them.
 This Jazz was speccced with leather interior and I don’t really want to get this one filthy inside by putting mountain bikes in it. I’ve had bike racks that strap onto the tailgate in the past  but I’ve never been 100% confident in them so I brought a Bonsal trailer hitch rack. I’ve recently had the tow bar fitted, but my mechanic got a bit scared at the wiring so I’m attempting to wire in the electrics. Got the Honda plug in and play one which wasn’t that hard to do. Was hoping to avoid fitting the earth wire from the battery all the way to the rear, but just finished everything else and the lights in the bike rack don’t work.

Does anyone have any ideas of
1: the easiest way to chance this wire from the battery to the N/S tear cluster?
2: Another way of earthing the lights without having to wire into the battery


Thanks

Andy

Jocko

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Re: Towbar electrics
« Reply #18 on: February 25, 2018, 03:51:03 PM »
Welcome, Andy. An earth wire onto a clean (paint removed) part of the bodywork should do the trick. Once the paint has been scraped off slap some Vaseline on the metalwork. This will prevent corrosion and make for a good contact (other petroleum jellies are available).

Elsketcho

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Re: Towbar electrics
« Reply #19 on: February 25, 2018, 04:42:12 PM »
Thanks Jocko, that’ll be a job for tomorrow, too bloody cold now.

guest1372

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Re: Towbar electrics
« Reply #20 on: February 25, 2018, 07:03:28 PM »
Definitely do as Jocko says, I used an earth from the light cluster at first but it was not thick enough. Hazard lights would cause the tail/brake lights to dim as the single earth was not enough to support 4x 21w bulbs at the same time, a chassis earth resolved it, although I also swapped to leds in the trailer board.

You can wire some 7N sockets to support fog light cancellation, but that's probably not worth it for a bike rack. Don't forget your beeper that proves the trailer board indicators are working.
--
TG

Eddie Honda

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Re: Towbar electrics
« Reply #21 on: February 25, 2018, 08:27:06 PM »
I got a plug-in electrical kit for RHD by Right Connections. The instructions were rubbish and hadn't been visually translated (mirrored) to apply to RHD cars although the loom was correct.

I haven't done the full write-up yet on installation, primarily because I haven't quite finished it yet. :-[ It's 99% complete, but I need to make connections to the fuseboard permanent.

Anyway, the RC kit shows the loom running from the battery through a pair of 10A fuses down the passenger/nearside/left of the car to the rear and across the back. I worked on a mirror image and ran it down the driver's/offside/right beside the car's own loom and stopped at the fuseboard below the right-hand end of the dashboard.

Whilst I had the trim out on the right-hand side of the boot, I fitted a Honda 12V socket to the little cubby hole in that panel. I had to fit it to the rear so the wiring would clear. The idea was/is to the run a cool box via an ignition live.

I fitted a (Polish made) towbar by Autohak, model Y27A with detachable swan neck,


DSCF8746 by macplaxton, on Flickr

but if I remove the neck, the 12N socket sticks out too far when the bracket is attached to the rearmost bolts. In order to fit the electrics bracket to the forward most bolts, a spacer/washers/longer bolt would be needed.


DSCF8779 by macplaxton, on Flickr


DSCF8766 by macplaxton, on Flickr

Right connections kit 19070506RC:


IMG_20151217_161520_972 by macplaxton, on Flickr

The electrics kit suggest drilling a hole in the spare wheel well, or at least enlarging an existing 20mm. (above and to the right of the jack in this pic:


IMG_20151227_085335_692 by macplaxton, on Flickr

I chose not not drill anything and use the existing 30mm body hole below the nearside rear lamp.


DSCF8745 by macplaxton, on Flickr

Also the two boot side plastic trim panels needed a large hole boring in them (nearest the rear luggage hooks) to clear the boltheads either side (another thing not in the instructions):


DSCF8785 by macplaxton, on Flickr


DSCF8782 by macplaxton, on Flickr

Wasn't happy the way the large washers sat against the ridges in the pressing of the rear valance, so trimmed them:


IMG_20151227_103540_976 by macplaxton, on Flickr


IMG_20151227_105258_524 by macplaxton, on Flickr

The bumper cutout needs to be only 60mm deep, rather than 80mm in the instructions:

DSCF8770 by macplaxton, on Flickr

The big reg cable (size chosen to avoid too much voltage drop) is for the 12V socket, the trailer loom has twin red feeds. I forget which is which.


DSCF8695 by macplaxton, on Flickr

Midway behind that inner sill plastic cover (driver's side rear door) is the main earth point for the rear of the car, I ran my 12V power socket electrics earth back to here:


DSCF8694 by macplaxton, on Flickr

Earth I used for the trailer electrics, nearside inner panel just ahead of the nearside rear light cluster. Top is some relay I can't remember what for (cutting the foglight when electrics attached?) and bottom is the AFC unit for the indicators. It quite happily powers all of my incandescent bulbs without dimming or disco light effects.


DSCF8784 by macplaxton, on Flickr

Here's some other clues as to the wiring:


Honda Jazz GD Offside rear light wiring by macplaxton, on Flickr


Honda Jazz GD Nearside rear light wiriing by macplaxton, on Flickr


DSCF8256a by macplaxton, on Flickr


DSCF8257a by macplaxton, on Flickr


DSCF8259a by macplaxton, on Flickr


DSCF8261a by macplaxton, on Flickr


DSCF8263a by macplaxton, on Flickr

And finally, the "in a hurry because in 4 hours I've got to get the ferry which is 2½ hours away" bodge. Don't copy this and finish the job properly...


DSCF8795 by macplaxton, on Flickr

a) the two 2A fuses (fuses 20 & 21) are just there to hold the wires into the live side of the fuse holder.
b) the two wires have an in-line fuse of 10A each.
c) the idea is to work out which of those green/grey plugs has spare holes that actually connect to the fuses holders for 20 & 21 and then properly crimp the terminals onto the relevant connectors and insert them into the appropriate multiplug.
d) The wiring instructs show the two wires connected onto the battery live, so always live. IIRC, 21/22 are always live and not ignition-switched live.
e) the fuseboard shown is used in the facelift 2005 UK (KE) model, the fuseboard is different on the 2002-04. Both my Jazzes are 1.4SE CVT models (one with sunroof and one without).

As I've said, I'll do a proper write-up one day, but this is just point out some of the pitfalls to avoid with the quite frankly sketchy instructions for both towbar and electrics kit.
« Last Edit: February 25, 2018, 08:33:14 PM by Eddie Honda »

Elsketcho

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Re: Towbar electrics
« Reply #22 on: February 26, 2018, 11:45:52 AM »
Well, this morning I cut the earth wire down, angle ground to bare metal on the body inside the boot and attached the wire there and connected the other end (Orange) to the tow bar wiring loom. Still nothing  :(
The rear lights still work on the car but nothing on the bike rack.
I’m fast running out of ideas.

Eddie Honda

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Re: Towbar electrics
« Reply #23 on: February 26, 2018, 12:10:00 PM »
I cut the earth wire down, angle ground to bare metal on the body inside the boot and attached the wire there and connected the other end (Orange) to the tow bar wiring loom.

Why is "the other end" of the earth wire orange?

Earth wire is usually coloured brown or black.


Elsketcho

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Re: Towbar electrics
« Reply #24 on: February 26, 2018, 12:27:41 PM »
I thought it was the earth. In the incredibly vague Honda instructions it states one end is connected to the negative of the battery and the other end fits into the orange wire in the rear tow bar loom.

guest1372

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Re: Towbar electrics
« Reply #25 on: February 26, 2018, 12:51:47 PM »
Maybe work back a couple of steps, unplug a few things and just get the tail lights working first, I think troubleshooting is about eliminating the possibilities. 

Does the plug in kit contain a relay and does this need it's own power? Sorry I can't be more specific but I just tapped into the existing wiring behind the offside cluster.
--
TG

Elsketcho

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Re: Towbar electrics
« Reply #26 on: February 26, 2018, 12:54:50 PM »


Does the plug in kit contain a relay and does this need it's own power?
--
TG

Think it might, further down the wire ( near the battery connection end) there seems to be a small box of some sort underneath a load of tape.

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