Brake controller plug

[Rich&Cathy]

I have an Ace 29.3 does anyone know where brake controller plug is??

[DenverTransplant]

Exact location depends upon the year of the F-53 chassis (its a Ford installation, not Thor). I have a 2017 chassis. Mine was zip tied to a cable run to the left of the steering column and behind the emergency brake release. I think earlier than 2012 it was in much harder to reach position.

I have a Tekonsha controller and got the connecting cable from e-Trailer. It took two tries as the first one they had listed was for an F-550 which was a different plug than used in my F-53.

https://www.etrailer.com/question-131231.html

[Rich&Cathy]

Originally Posted by DenverTransplant

Exact location depends upon the year of the F-53 chassis (its a Ford installation, not Thor). I have a 2017 chassis. Mine was zip tied to a cable run to the left of the steering column and behind the emergency brake release. I think earlier than 2012 it was in much harder to reach position.

I have a Tekonsha controller and got the connecting cable from e-Trailer. It took two tries as the first one they had listed was for an F-550 which was a different plug than used in my F-53.

https://www.etrailer.com/question-131231.html

Thanks! We have a 2016 Ace F53 chassis. I will look under my dash and find it. I have a prodigy p2. Do you think i will need a adapter?

[DenverTransplant]

Originally Posted by Rich&Cathy

Thanks! We have a 2016 Ace F53 chassis. I will look under my dash and find it. I have a prodigy p2. Do you think i will need a adapter?

Yes, you will. Plug on the chassis is square and the p2 has all of the pins in line. I ended up getting mine from Amazon as I couldn’t get the right one from e-Trailer. 3035-P wiring adaptor.

https://www.amazon.com/Tekonsha-3035...apter+for+ford

[Rich&Cathy]

Originally Posted by DenverTransplant

Yes, you will. Plug on the chassis is square and the p2 has all of the pins in line. I ended up getting mine from Amazon as I couldn’t get the right one from e-Trailer. 3035-P wiring adaptor.

https://www.amazon.com/Tekonsha-3035...apter+for+ford

Thx DenverTransplant I'm gonna order it right away. So glad we have this forum. 1 more question on plugging my tow dolly in to the plug at hitch do I just plug it in to the eight prong at hitch and it should work with my roadmaster tow dolly?

[Rich&Cathy]

My bad it's a 7 prong not right. I looked at the hitch plug and it says blue is the brake wire so I got my answer. Doh

[DenverTransplant]

Originally Posted by Rich&Cathy

Thx DenverTransplant I'm gonna order it right away. So glad we have this forum. 1 more question on plugging my tow dolly in to the plug at hitch do I just plug it in to the eight prong at hitch and it should work with my roadmaster tow dolly?

You should have a 7 pin round plug at the back of the coach - but that depends upon what the manufacturer gave you. Whether it works or not with your dolly depends upon what the dolly manufacturer gave you. If you want to power your toad lights, or use magnetic ones on the toad, you may have to do some wiring yourself or buy a splitter cable.

I have an American Car Dolly that came with its own brake controller. There was a 7 pin plug on the dolly that plugged into the controller an a 4-pin cable that plugged into the tow vehicle. I had an adaptor and a Y cable to split off the wiring for the lights I put on the back of our Mini. I can't remember all of the details as I've since gotten rid of the on-dolly controller.

I didn't really like the ACD controller (too sensitive and I had to get out of the coach to disable it when the Mini wasn't on the dolly.) I ended up taking off the brake controller and using my Tekonsha. In order to do that I put a waterproof terminal box on the dolly tongue (you can buy them with 7 terminals) and a new 7 pin cable. I then tapped a 4 pin cable to the terminals for the lights. Not a terribly hard job, but you do need to keep your wire colors straight. In our case, the cable that ACD used didn't use standard wire colors so I had to trace which wire went to which pin in their cable. There are lots of places on the internet to find out what the pin designations are. One sample is attached.

[Rich&Cathy]

Originally Posted by DenverTransplant

You should have a 7 pin round plug at the back of the coach - but that depends upon what the manufacturer gave you. Whether it works or not with your dolly depends upon what the dolly manufacturer gave you. If you want to power your toad lights, or use magnetic ones on the toad, you may have to do some wiring yourself or buy a splitter cable.

I have an American Car Dolly that came with its own brake controller. There was a 7 pin plug on the dolly that plugged into the controller an a 4-pin cable that plugged into the tow vehicle. I had an adaptor and a Y cable to split off the wiring for the lights I put on the back of our Mini. I can't remember all of the details as I've since gotten rid of the on-dolly controller.

I didn't really like the ACD controller (too sensitive and I had to get out of the coach to disable it when the Mini wasn't on the dolly.) I ended up taking off the brake controller and using my Tekonsha. In order to do that I put a waterproof terminal box on the dolly tongue (you can buy them with 7 terminals) and a new 7 pin cable. I then tapped a 4 pin cable to the terminals for the lights. Not a terribly hard job, but you do need to keep your wire colors straight. In our case, the cable that ACD used didn't use standard wire colors so I had to trace which wire went to which pin in their cable. There are lots of places on the internet to find out what the pin designations are. One sample is attached.

Thx Denver my tow dolly has a 7 pin round plug and my coach has the same. The cover that keeps dirt out when not in use on coach has the pin descriptions on it. My dolly has lights but I like the toad to have lights too. Should be an easy fix by tapping into the dolly lighting wires and our toad wires. Then just terminate each one with a 4 pin plug one male one female and lights should work. That's my hope lol

[thor293]

Originally Posted by Rich&Cathy

Thx Denver my tow dolly has a 7 pin round plug and my coach has the same. The cover that keeps dirt out when not in use on coach has the pin descriptions on it. My dolly has lights but I like the toad to have lights too. Should be an easy fix by tapping into the dolly lighting wires and our toad wires. Then just terminate each one with a 4 pin plug one male one female and lights should work. That's my hope lol

Careful just tapping into the toad wires, depending on the vehicle it can backfeed and ruin electronics. Best bet is go to etrailer and buy a tow harness. If you do decide to just tap into the lines, do a google search and make sure you dont need diodes installed. Newer cars use much thinner wires and just send a minute signal to activate lights unlike the older cars running 14 ga wires to all the lights.
We use to tow a 2015 Honda Fit on a dolly and the tow harness was a breeze.

[thor293]

Originally Posted by Rich&Cathy

Thx DenverTransplant I'm gonna order it right away. So glad we have this forum. 1 more question on plugging my tow dolly in to the plug at hitch do I just plug it in to the eight prong at hitch and it should work with my roadmaster tow dolly?

I had a receptacle that had the 7 way and 4 way connectors both on it. That way I could connect the dolly to the adapter and also the toad itself to the adapter.

I assume you need a 5 way for the dolly and a 4 way for the toad.

I used an adapter 7way to 5 way and then just plugged the 4 way into the receptacle on the side of the 7way https://www.etrailer.com/Wiring/Hopkins/HM47570.html

[DenverTransplant]

I use these magnetic towing lights. I bough a sheet of 1/16" rubber with an adhesive back to put under the tow light magnets so they won't scratch the car.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Also used this splitter, but only could use it with the 7 to 4 pin adaptor.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I was never able to find a 7 to 7 adaptor with a 4 pin tap. Could find 7 to 6/4 but never 7 to 7/4. So when I went to using my own controller, I tapped into new junction box I installed on the dolly tongue.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Rich&Cathy]

Originally Posted by thor293

I had a receptacle that had the 7 way and 4 way connectors both on it. That way I could connect the dolly to the adapter and also the toad itself to the adapter.

I assume you need a 5 way for the dolly and a 4 way for the toad.

I used an adapter 7way to 5 way and then just plugged the 4 way into the receptacle on the side of the 7way https://www.etrailer.com/Wiring/Hopkins/HM47570.html

Thx for the input I'll check it out. My tow dolly is a 7 pin but probably only uses 5 wires.