A look at how I wired my bypass relay to my caddy van for my new tow bar. This can be used as a guide to any car as they are more or less all the same.
Hi Timothy my van is 2013. My bypass relay only needed one brake and one dip light the other wire is just rolled up and taped. When driving with no trailer the relay clicks and makes a lot of noise so I am going to put a switch to turn it of while not pulling a trailer as it is annoying me. I used that live as it comes straight from the battery. I used good heavy duty cable not the crap that came with the tow bar because I also added a 12volt socket so needed to make sure I had plenty power. Handy for electric cooler boxes drill chargers what ever. Thanks for the comment.
The video is very useful as I am doing this exact job now. The only thing I would say is that you should not wire the 12v feed from a wire in the harness. That wire will be fed by its own fuse so there is the danger of overloading the original fuse. If you follow that harness forward you will find a flexible rubber bulkhead seal. Take a long shaft cross head screwdriver and follow the harness. Push the screwdriver past the seal. Open the bonnet and remove the battery. Remove the battery box. Now you should see your screwdriver. Push the feed wire past the screwdriver and remove the screwdriver. Fit the wire to the battery terminal nut (M6). Make sure the fuse is close to the terminal. I tie wrapped mine to the main power cable.
Thanks for the vid. I’ve just fitted my tow bar today and am tackling the wiring tomorrow. Great to see where to pick up the wires. My only thing I started doing is I don’t wire the fog I put it to the reverse lights and I’ve reverse lights on my trailers.
Hi, I have caddy from 2011 and I need help with electric parts towbar, I bought from westfalia and all the wire is going direcly to the security panel and I'm not sure 100% where to conect
Bob what year is your van? Mine is 2014 hitch and relay should be on the way Monday I will be taking a live from the fuse box. Just wondering does only one feed for the brake need to be brought to the relay for both brake lights to work on the trailer? Great video again, thanks :-)
Hi, I think you are supposed to wire up the left and right tail lights separately, that's why they have separate pins on the socket and plug. The reason is that you should be able to switch each side, left or right, separately as parking lights. If you wire both trailer tail lights from one side you will either get both trailer tail lights on or no trailer tail lights on when using the parking light function. So you should have had a three (3) core cable coming over from the right side of your vehicle. One wire for the fog light, one wire for the right hand indicator and one wire for the right hand tail light. Only then would your wiring be fully legal, and road safe.
Really helpful, thanks for your post. I was wondering tho, given the constant vibration factor, would it be useful to use both heatshrink AND then wrap with electrical tape too to avaoid any chance of a short to the chassis? Nice work bobs vidz!
what year is your Caddy? Mines a 2016, do I still need to do all this? I don't mind having a go at anything but electrics I hate, great video but still leaves me a little unsure to doing this myself.
That caddy was 2016. Yes u need it on your caddy. Electrics are tricky I wouldn’t do it unless u are confident. Please subscribe and like the video. Thanks
@@bobsvidz7181 I was just about to buy a tow bar and electric kit but unsure which one I need, they are saying -'with bypass' £30 and 'vehicle specific' £100. Do you know which I need mate?
Can anybody tell me if this works on a 2012 caddy? Would I need anything else done after installing this kit or will it be good to tow a trailer as soon as the wiring is completed. Thanks
Helpful video but i am still having problems :(, All lights on trailer and van work correctly and i have the same bypass relay as this video - wired and fused directly to battery, BUT i still have a light fault on dash, could this be a faulty relay? i tested everything before permanently connecting wires and had no faults then, can anyone help!! PLEASE??
RyanGriffiths have you check all the bulbs are working seams stupid but could be as simple as that if it was perfect before you hard wired it in. Caddy’s if it is one have problems with the connections on the front indicators. Have you tried plugging in to a diagnostic tool to see what the fault is also could help.
+mmc 10 that just means there is a bulb in the van not working somewhere or maybe an led not suitable. Usually it's the rear number plate light or front indicators that give trouble. It won't do any more harm I would think but not a good way of doing it really. Hope this helps thanks for the comments.
eric mourinho it basically stops the light on the dash that says you have a blown bulb which is what happens if you wore directly to the vehicle. So using a bypass relay separates the van lighting wiring circuit from the trailer lighting. Thanks for the comment like and subscribe if you liked the video please.
kristof vermeulen hi. Yes it does is why u need to do this. Other wise u will have a light in the dash for a blown bulb always when the trailer is connected.
Lone Wolf basically if you wire the Towbar up direct in a modern vehicle the light for a blown bulb will be illuminated on the dash panel ever time you connect trailer lights. So this uses a relay to keep them separate from the vans electrical system therefore stopping this problem hope this helps. Thanks for the comment like share subscribe if you like what you.
