Brake Hookup for Toad---GMC

[Jim Shirley]

 I traded toads the other day from a Jeep GC to a GMC Terrain.  The owners manuel says to pull fuse #32 to prevent battery from running down.
When you pull fuse 32 it kills all the power ports.  I have a Blue Ox Patriot braking system that needs to be pluged in to 12 volts.  Could you just leave the fuse in and take a chance on the battery holding up.  What have others done that tow this same vehicle???

Jim

[Stan Simpson]

We tow a Honda CRV with a Brake Buddy that also has to be connected to 12V power. We have always left the fuse in place. The Honda owner's manual states that the car should not be towed longer than 8 hours without stopping and going through the initial procedure for setting it up to be towed, which includes running the car for three minutes and going through all of the transmission settings. We have towed up to 8 hours, and when we stopped for a break and went through the procedure again as required, our battery on the car was not run down.

[Gerald Farris]

Jim,
There are several options that you have in avoiding a dead battery on your toad while towing, but not disconnecting the fused circuit as outlined in the owner's manual is not one of them. Most GM vehicles will power up the BCM (body computer module) when you unlock the ignition so that the steering column can turn as necessary when towing.

The most desirable method is to install a switch in the circuit so that you can just turn the circuit off without having to pull the fuse, and run a 12V fused battery source wire to the outlet for your brake controller. The other commonly used method is to run a 12V source from the coach through the toad lights wiring cable to the toad battery to allow the coach to recharge the toad battery as it is being towed.

Gerald  

[Jim Shirley]

Thanks Gerald.  Will build a 12V source wire direct to battery hook up.  The suggested fuse to remove is a 5 Amp. Would a 5 amp inline fuse be
sufficient for the direct wire.  Does fuse go in common or ground wire??

Jim

[Gerald Farris]

Jim,
If you only power your brake controller from the outlet, you will need install a fuse that is rated for the controller. Otherwise I would install a 25 amp fuse so that you can power numerous other items from the outlet if the need arises. The 5 amp fuse that you pull is powering relays in the BCM that are fused elsewhere on their power lead, so the 5 amp fuse is really controlling a lot more than 5 amps.

The power outlet will have two wires, a power wire that is 12V positive, and a ground wire that is 12V negative. The fuse goes in the power (12V positive) wire and it should be fused as close to its source as possible incase the hot wire develops a short to ground between the source and the outlet.

Gerald